Was the eavesdropper unimportant to Harry? WAS: Re: Snape again

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 147024

Carol:
> > Dumbledore tells Harry that LV's information about the Prophecy 
> > was incomplete because "the eavesdropper was detected only a 
> > short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."
> > 
> > Instead of saying, "What eavesdropper? What are you talking 
> > about?" Harry only says, "So he only heard . . . ?" and DD 
> > finishes the thought.... *Harry* clearly doesn't regard him as 
> > important at this point.
 
Jen: 
> My guess is Harry had simply taken in too much information to 
> pursue the eavsdropper at that point. 
<snip> 
> A better case is made by the fact Harry never pursues this 
> information with Dumbledore until he hears Trelawney mention it. 
> Without being given specific canon, it does seem he forgot about it 
> until the moment he hears Snape was the eavesdropper. Now this is 
> conjecture, but I do think if Harry had learned the eavedropper was 
> *anyone* he knew he would have felt shock. 


SSSusan:
I totally agree with this.  Much seems to be being made of Harry's 
not pursuing information on the eavesdropper when he first learned of 
his existence... but to me it makes sense that he *didn't* pursue 
it.  DD did not identify the person by name, and I've always assumed 
that Harry assumed that this meant it *wasn't anyone he knew*.  
Perhaps not very smart of Harry to make that assumption, but doesn't 
it make sense that he did?  He probably figured if the eavesdropper 
was someone he knew or someone "important to the story," that DD 
would TELL him the name.  He didn't, so Harry didn't ask.

Thus, I think Jen is right that if Harry had discovered the 
eavesdropper was *anyone* he actually knew, he'd have been 
surprised.  Then to find out that it wasn't only someone he actually 
knew, but that it was SNAPE must have left Harry simply bouleverse!!

>From that, I'd go *totally* with what Magpie said yesterday here: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/146962

>>>The eavesdropper wasn't important until it was Snape
because it was JUST SO DAMNED SNAPE to be the eavesdropper.
Suddenly it's got an emotional component to it.  He can imagine
Snape being all Snapey--and probably imagines him doing it just to
spite Harry even though Harry hadn't been born yet.<<<

SSSusan again:
I think this is the key -- Harry didn't even expect to recognize the 
name of the eavesdropper.  That it was Snape only meant that his 
imagination could go wild with the possibilities!


Jen: 
> I think Snape's greatest sin is that he hated James and he can 
> never overcome that in Harry's eyes, just as Harry can never 
> overcome being James' son. In the abstract Harry can hate the 
> person who betrayed his parents but when actually facing his 
> father's old friends and learning they cared about each other once, 
> the feelings change. There's no room for Snape in either 
> generation, he's the hated outsider to both the Marauders and the 
> Trio.

SSSusan:
Precisement!  

 
Carol:
> > But I'm trying to point out how Harry's emotions shape
> > his perception of the events at Godric's Hollow, how the blame for
> > what happened keeps shifting away from Voldemort, and how Harry's
> > hatred of Black in PoA parallels his hatred of Snape in HBP, with
> > no such feelings attached to Wormtail. I see a parallel here
> > between Black and Snape, and I'm trying to determine its
> > significance. Can it be because Voldemort is insufficiently human 
> > to be an object of real hatred? Or do his parents' deaths become
> > more real and painful to Harry when they're linked to people who
> > knew them at Hogwarts rather than to the snake-faced monster for
> > whom they had no human identity? 

Jen: 
> I see this as a pretty classic psychological mechanism. 
> Voldemort is overwhelming in his power and domination and Harry 
> doesn't see how it's possible to defeat him, even after Dumbledore 
> attempts to show him where the cracks are.


SSSusan:
And add to that the fact that Snape is very much in the here and 
now.  Harry has encountered Voldemort, and he knows more is coming, 
but he doesn't have the ongoing interaction, the daily reminders of 
what's to hate and to suspect and fear that he has with Snape.  

I do believe Harry's hatred of Voldemort is real, as is his rage over 
the murders of his parents, and I believe in book 7 we *will* see 
Harry focus much, much more on that and on Voldemort.  Not that he'll 
forget about his hatred of Snape!  Oh, no, that'll continue!  But JKR 
could do so many different things with that part of the story that I 
can't possibly predict when Harry will find out "the truth" [if 
Snape's truly DDM!], and *that* will make all the difference in how 
much focus will be placed on Snape.  

But anyway, this is the series' conclusion, and we know that DD spent 
a good, long time in HBP showing Harry all about Tom Riddle and 
Voldemort -- MAKING him more real to Harry, helping him learn how 
to "read" him, to see his weaknesses and motivations -- and I think 
all of that will lead to a change in book 7 for Harry, in terms of 
his focus on Voldemort over Snape.  He is now more able to understand 
Voldemort, and that will make it easier to shift his focus to him 
(once he gets that matter of hating Snape for killing DD out of the 
way ;-)).

Siriusly Snapey Susan, thinking en francais for some reason today