Rowling and Snape: was: Snape, Apologies, and Redemption

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 152730

Leah:
> I find this answer quite depressing, because it makes me feel that 
> JKR's view of Snape is most closer to Alla's, than it is to mine or 
> Carol's.   

Leslie41:

It may be, on the surface.  But I am of the mind that deep down, 
whether she has planned it or not, Rowling is extremely drawn to 
Snape, and probably spends more time thinking about him than any 
other character.  HBP only reinforced this for me.  

I "love" Snape because I think he's the most interesting character in 
the books.  I'm fascinated by the way Rowling will absolutely *not* 
let us get a firm handle on him.  There are so many ways that she 
could have *assured* us Snape is truly bad.  She never does.  The 
idea that she could have Snape actually kill Dumbledore right before 
our eyes and still allow us to think that Snape might be "good" is 
the work of someone who really is a master of her characters.  She 
takes great pains to complicate Snape for us.  I analyze literary 
characters for a living, so it takes a lot to keep me interested.  
Snape is a great conundrum, a mystery. I have canonical support for 
my assessment of him, but no one will be able to say anything with 
surety until Book VII.    

> I just get the feeling that Snape is a character that's run away 
> from his creator- but then, what's with the healing; why make him 
> more complex than ever?    
> 

Leslie41:
Yup.  I think he's run away from her, too.  I would not be surprised 
at ALL to find out that when she planned the books, she had something 
entirely different in mind for Snape than what actually ends up 
happening.  

The real reason I don't think Snape will turn out to be "bad" has 
nothing to do with any "evidence" I can compile to support that he 
isn't.  The real reason I think Snape will turn out to be DDM is 
because I believe it will be more dramatic and fascinating in Book 
VII if he is.    

Snape being "evil" is a bit too easy, and Rowling is not one to take 
the easy way out when it comes to her characters.  Throughout the 
series, she has taken great pains to undermine Harry's rock-solid 
beliefs about certain people.

Is Sirius Black a murderer, who wants him dead too?  Whoops!  No! Not 
only isn't Black a murderer, he loves Harry, and escaped from Azkaban 
to try to protect him.  

Are Harry's father, and his godfather, the paragons of virtue and 
upstanding behavior that Harry believes them to be?  No there as 
well.  

Thus, to my mind, presenting us in book VII with a Snape who is not 
only nasty outside but also nasty inside would be, well, kinda 
predictable and *boring*. 

It would also deprive her readers of the very important lesson that, 
as has been pointed out, "nice" is not always "good".