Character Bias, Objectivity, Similarities, Sondheim!

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 175282

va32h:
> Assumptions and extrapolations are made with the scantest 
> of canon. Such as the James/Sirius conversation on the Hogwart's 
> Express, which is not long enough or substantial enough to "prove" 
> anything about Sirius' pre-sorting opinions of Slytherin house, but 
> which both sides have used as "evidence" that Sirius is either a 
> noble kid who desperately wants to leave his evil family or a 
> pathetic loser who completely rejected his family in an instant for 
> no other reason but to impress James Potter <snip> 

SSSusan:
Yes, and we've long done this. :)  Remember the "Whoops" broken phial 
incident in Snape's classroom?  What I assumed was *certainly* 
Snape's revenge upon Harry for his Occlumency intrusion, others were 
equally certain was truly an accident, or not even of Snape's doing 
at all.  Go figure. >;-)


va32h:
> I don't think it is any coincidence that Snape and Sirius are 
> actually very much alike. 

SSSusan:
Heh.  See my handle. 


va32h:
> Both fiercely loyal to a friend (Lily, James), both consumed with 
> guilt over the role they played in that friend's death (Snape in 
> telling the prophecy, Sirius in persuading James to change secret 
> keepers)...

SSSusan:
I'm with you so far!

va32h:
> ...both sworn to a lifelong pursuit of vengeance (Sirius stays sane 
> in Azkaban by focusing on finding and killing Wormtail, Snape keeps 
> up his facade as spy by focusing on ensuring Voldemort's downfall). 

SSSusan:
Here's where my question comes in.  *Is* that what Snape was all 
about?  Was he acting all those years because his primary goal was to 
ensure Voldemort's downfall?  I guess I'd like to think that that was 
a part of it... and yet DH leaves me thinking that most of Snape's 
goal or motivation was personal, that it was all about *Lily.*

What do others think?  Was Snape's lifelong pursuit *vengeance* on 
Voldy (and so he did, then, mirror Sirius in this way, too)?  Or was 
it more a sense of a personal desire or obligation to honor Lily by 
protecting her child?  

Of course, if it's the latter, that would be just one more way that 
Sirius & Severus were alike:  protecting Harry... albeit for 
*exceedingly* different reasons. 


va32h: 
> And Sirius and Snape, like Voldemort and like Harry, found their 
> true home at Hogwarts. 

SSSusan:
I wonder if Sirius' true home wasn't the Potters' (senior), rather 
than Hogwarts?


va32h:
> It is certainly no coincidence that Harry has so much in common 
> with a disparate collection of characters: his own father, 
> Voldemort, Sirus, Snape, Neville, Draco, Lupin, Hagrid. Harry comes 
> to see that they are not so disalike after all, surely we are 
> supposed to see that too. 

SSSusan:
I did like the way Harry saw similarities between himself and Snape 
and Voldemort/Tom Riddle; I loved the [paraphrased] phrase 'abandoned 
boys who found a home at Hogwarts.' 

Did Harry find similarities in himself and Draco?  That I'm blanking 
on.  He felt a measure of pity for him in HBP, but did he notice 
things he had in common with him?


va32h: 
> But anyway, the song is "No One is Alone", and it's about 
> understanding that our actions, our thoughts, our ideals, do not 
> take place in a vacuum. And really, the entire song is such an apt 
> commentary on Harry Potter, But the part I am specifically thinking 
> of is:
> 
> "People make mistakes, 
> Fathers, mothers
> People make mistakes
> Holding to their own, 
> Thinking they're alone. 
> 
> Honor their mistakes
> Fight for their mistakes
> Everybody makes
> One another's terrible mistakes"

SSSusan:
Decidedly makes me think of the Dumbledore we discover in DH.  I 
wonder how Harry felt about DD after a few years had passed...?

Siriusly Snapey Susan