Snape's memory

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164533

montims wrote:
> OK - maybe I need to take the books out *again*!  I was under the
impression that while the memories are Snape's, the characters in the
memories were NOT identified - where does Harry actually acknowledge
that any of the persons were (or were not) Snape?  I may be wrong, but
I thought that was misdirection - the reader assumes they are Snape,
advancing in order of age,  but it is not specified, and I don't think
we know who Harry recognised...
> 
> If I am wrong, I apologise for labouring this point, but I do think
it is important - the memories flash by really quickly, and are then
driven out of his mind - is the way I remember it...

Carol responds:

Here's the relevant canon:
 
"Harry did not speak; he felt that to say anything might be dangerous.
He was sure that he had just broken into Snape's memories, that he had
just seen scenes from Snape's childhood, and it was unnerving to think
that the crying little boy who had watched his parents shouting at him
was actually standing in front of him with such loathing in his eyes"
(OoP Am. ed. 392).

So, yes, we're seeing Harry's interpretation via the narrator and it
isn't necessarily accurate. But the idea that the little boy is Snape
isn't fan speculation. It's right in the text. (*Would* it have been
dangerous to speak? Maybe he'd have been surprised by Snape's answer.
Or maybe not.)

And since Harry knows exactly what Snape looks like and snape is
standing in front of him, I don't think he could mistake the identity
of the man if he were Snape himself. And Snape has to be in the memory
since it's his memory, which makes him the child (and the boy in the
other two memories). But I still think that Harry could be wrong about
the man being Snape's father for the reasons I stated in my previous post.

Carol, who agrees that we may be seeing some misdirection here, but
perhaps not to the extent you suggest

P.S. Sorry for accidentally offlisting this message!