good and bad Slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 175321


JudySerenity wrote:
> If you would rather talk about something other than Snape and don't 
> want to see fans defending him, the solution is simple: Don't attack 
> him.
> 

Julie in Chicago replies:
I've been trying to wrap my mind, for days, around what the heck JKR thinks we are 
'supposed' to believe about Snape after reading these 7 books. From secondary canon, at 
the very least, the picture isn't at all pretty:

http://www.accio-quote.org/themes/snape.htm

She repeatedly calls him "horrible" and says he was inspired by sadistic/bullying teachers. 
She admitted he had been "loved" (though never clarified by whom) but called the thought 
that someone might be in love with him a "very horrible idea." She says he abuses his 
power and that he is "not a particularly pleasant person at all."

OK, fair enough. HOw much of this is deliberate obfuscation/misdirection, how much is 
sincere? If we're to take her at her word in these interviews (dangerous, IMO), then the 
icky-obsessed Snape, DDM only through loyalty to Lily, is a very plausible argument. 
Certainly you can argue that this is supposed to be the take-away message from DH -- 
that his primary virtue, the one Harry chose to honor, is his bravery. (Now, this is high 
praise of course, given JKR's penchant for equating guts with virtue in general.)

You can be "good," I think, without being "nice" -- certainly no one ever accused him of 
"nice". But is he good in any sense? Is he only "good" out of a twisted sense of loyalty to 
Lily? Does he really not see much of a difference between the good guys and the bad guys? 
Does he give a damn? Or is his loyalty only conditioned by his internal logic -- the notion 
that by protecting this boy (whom he appears really to hate, as a person) he is paying 
penance for the sin of getting his beloved killed? If he truly feels he deserves the penance, 
perhaps in his weird way he believes that the harder and more painful it is, the more 
effective it is, and the stronger evidence of his love.

And how much does it matter in the Potterverse -- that you'd do the right things for the 
right reason (a la HP hating the dark side) or that you'd do the right things for the 'wrong' 
reason (not because you believe in the right but because you are obsessively driven to act 
that way via guilt)?

I think you can argue Snape very plausibly from the primary canon, either way. Certainly 
he appears very angry with Dumbledore for getting himself so badly cursed by the ring. Is 
he angry because Dumbledore's death might imperil Lily's son even further -- or is it 
because Snape has come to care for Dumbledore as a human being and is mad at him for 
making his deadly mistake? He seems hurt, similar to Harry, when he perceives 
Dumbledore isn't b being straight with him -- is this because his ego is insulted, or is he 
actually wounded by Ddore's apparent lack of trust (again implying that he actually cares)?

Just a few pages later, however, he himself (Scholastic edn page 687) says "Everything was 
supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe" and denies all motivation other than Lily-
love (by the symbolic patronus casting).

It's a tangle. I still honestly don't know what the author intends me to think about him in 
the end. My brain hurts.

Julie H