Snape really was a Good Guy - Canon in the House

[chuck.han]

No: HPFGUIDX 174374

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Katie" <anigrrrl2 at ...> wrote:
> ...
> On my first read, I was very upset that Snape's character had been 
> reduced to Lily's puppy and Dumbledore's stooge. Snape has pretty 
> much been my favorite adult character throughout the series and I 
> expected more complexity and resolution for him in this book. On my 
> first few reads, I really didn't get anything more than: Snape loves 
> Lily, Snape hates Harry, Snape fears both Dumbledore and Voldy, Snape 
> does what he's told. This reduced him to a big stinker in my eyes, 
> but I felt like there was more...I felt like there must have been a 
> sea change at some point along the way that turned Snape into a real 
> good guy. Maybe I'm grasping at straws because I hated seeing him 
> reduced to what he was reduced to, but...
> 
> I do have some canon to back me up.
> ...

I, too, have struggled with the complexity of Snape's character, his
relationship with Harry, Dumbledore, and the rest of the Order of the
Phoenix.  While it was clear even before DH that Snape's remorse over
the death of Lily is what turned him around, to see it in print in the
Pensive was unnerving (the whole Pensive sequence is my favorite part
of the whole series).

While I too feel a sense of wanting more, I think that JKR did her
best: we now know that the ONLY reason that Snape turned was his
remorse over Lily's death.  Had she not died, he wouldn't have been
"saved."  So does that diminish his "good" acts from that point on? 
Is he only being "good" because of the remorse?

Also, it is not clear to me what Snape's feelings towards Harry are. 
Snape clearly hates the "James-ness" in Harry and Harry's association
with Sirius and Lupin, he treats Harry like dirt partly as a reaction
to not wanting to be discovered as Harry's protector, but I think he
must love the "Lily-ness" in Harry, something about which he is
initially in denial, but he can't contradict Dumbledore's observations
about Harry's true inner nature.

Dumbledore, too, must get beyond his initial contempt for Snape.  With
trust and time, he must come to love Snape, and I desperately want to
believe that Snape's saving of Dumbledore from the Resurrection Stone
curse is more about the love between them more than about keeping
Harry alive.

And just as Dumbledore wants Snape to tell Harry just at the
right moment that Harry must walk into Death's arms, Dumbledore waits
to tell Snape this news at the right time too, at the point where he
is comfortable enough to feel that Snape has moved on from just
protecting Harry, and that there is a greater good that needs to be
addressed.  Snape's protection of Harry is not a mother's love of a
son, so Dumbledore knows that Snape will convey the message.

The one thing on which I do feel cheated is the fact that Dumbledore
doesn't have as much of a struggle--he truly believes that Harry will
survive his encounter with Death because of Lily's blood that runs in
Voldemort's veins, so JKR has given Dumbledore a convenient out. 
Snape's stuggle is genuine--he truly believes that Harry must now be
sacrificed, yet he does indeed convey the message to Harry while
Dumbledore can pretty much be rest assured that Harry will not die.

Chuck