Would Harry forgiving Snape be character growth for him? Re: CHAPDISC: HBP 29,

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164230

Lupinlore wrote: 
> Which points to the reason Snapey-poo almost certainly has to bite 
> the big one/kick the can/travel to that great Ministry in the 
> sky/etc.  The entire character is oriented "backwards" so to speak, 
> in that whatever alphabetical flavor you like with your Snapey-poo, 
> he is as a character defined and motivated by the past.  Once the 
> issues rooted in the past are resolved, what on Earth would he do?  
> The entire purpose of his character would be complete, and he would 
> then be in a world to which he had no real reference -- a world in 
> which he does not belong.  For Snapey-poo, growth means resolution, 
> and resolution means death.
> 
> So here's to hoping for plenty of growth to the reprehensible and 
> indefensible, child-abusing twerp!
> 
> 
> Lupinlore, who finds that idea vastly amusing as the justice in it
is quite poetic
>
Carol reponds:
 
I shouldn't even respond to such an outburst of subjectivity, but I
just want to say, not necessarily. For those of us who see Snape's
remorse as genuine and his aid to Harry as essential to the defeat of
Voldemort, poetic justice will have an entirely different form. While
there is no hope of redemption for Voldemort or the insane fanatic
Bellatrix or the self-serving coward Wormtail, Snape has been set up
for redemption since the first book, in which Harry mistakes him for
the villain and he saves Harry's life.

Killing him would be both unoriginal and unimaginative. We've already
seen Boromir, thank you, and there's no topping that death scene. Nor
can I imagine a dying Snape telling us everything that Harry and the
reader needs to know.I agree that a revelation of Snape's past is
necessary to clarify his motives and loyalties, but I don't think his
character growth ends there. What's the point of redemption without a
second--make that third--chance? But no apology for "child abuse,"
please. It would be out of character and anticlimactic, not to mention
unnecessary (and, for me, nauseating in the extreme).

Carol, who expects Lupin and Hagrid to die but Snape to survive as a
researcher for St. Mungo's, perhaps writing vastly improved textbooks
for DADA and Potions on the side