Connections Interview re: Snape (1999)

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 171523

Jen:
> I know, this quote has been rehashed to death. <g>  I never heard 
the 
> audio for this particular interview until tonight and had a thought 
> about how JKR answers the question.  Link:
> 
> http://www.accio-quote.org/themes/book7-commentary.html
> (12th question down the page)
> 
<snip>
> I wondered if JKR was referring back to Snape's *ability* to fall 
in 
> love there, expressing her surprise someone sees him as a person 
who 
> could fall in love, who would be willing and able to open his heart 
> to another person after he returns to Dumbledore.  With everything 
> he's seen and done, his work as a double agent, and most notably, 
as 
> someone who represses emotions in order to be a superb Occlumens**, 
> JKR might not think of Snape as someone interested in or capable of 
> loving another person as an adult. (The question is asked of the 
> future and not the past.)  
> 
<snip>
> 
> My point is, JKR seems to be highlighting the differences between 
the 
> two at that moment, summarizing Snape's views and contrasting them 
> with Dumbledore's beliefs about Harry only a few chapters before.  
> And Harry *is* someone who has the 'ability to love' according to 
> Dumbledore.  What if that's something Snape has lost, the price 
he's 
> paid to stay alive and live the life of a double agent??  I'm not 
> sure what, if anything, this would have to do with the plot, but 
> perhaps there's some meaning for Snape's final characterization if 
> true.

Dungrollin:
I know what you mean. I've always felt sorry for Snape because I read 
him as someone who is profoundly unhappy (he reminds me in a lot of 
ways of an ex-boyfriend), and I'm hoping the final revelation gives 
us some insight into why he's so miserable. I've had this little 
thought buzzing round my head since HBP came out, that Snape is what 
you get when someone like Ron has a childhood like Harry had at the 
Dursleys. The HBP's "Just shove a bezoar down their throat" reminds 
me of Ron, and I think that's part of why Harry connects to him.

But I think you're right, that there has to be a reason for his 
unhappiness, and his inability (or lack of desire) to forge 
friendships. Whether Snape's ESE, OFH or DDM – I doubt that JKR's 
going to leave it as simple as "some people are just horrible", but 
how forcefully she wants to make a point I don't know. 

It could be the same miserable despair which drove him away from 
Voldemort and back to DD, love of Lily, or the death of Regulus or 
Snape's (hypothetical) wife and son. Or it could be a mixture of 
influences on his life, horrible childhood, bullying at school, 
always the outsider, saw horrific things as a DE, etc. Or, if she 
really wants to drive home a point, there could be a magical reason 
for his unsociable demeanour and (hypothetical) inability to love, 
for example the result of failing to repay a life debt.

Part of the reason I don't feel a need to see Snape punished is that 
I think he's already been suffering for a long time, and horrible 
though he certainly is, in an odd way I think he's doing his best. I 
might be wrong, but I don't think JKR has ever used the word `happy' 
in connection with Snape. There's the grim pleasure he gets from 
winding Harry up, and humiliating Neville, but he's never described 
as happy. Even Tom Riddle has wild happiness on his face when he sees 
Hepzibah's treasures, but not Snape, never Snape.

Jen:
> This ties into something else, i.e., the run across the grounds:
> Snape tells Harry to learn to close his mind, the opposite of what
> Dumbledore believes is Harry's strength. I'm pretty sure Snape is
> attempting to give Harry advice, information that's worked for Snape
> in his own life. 

Dungrollin:
It's worth noting that DD believes this too, throughout OotP while he 
wants Harry to learn Occlumency, and as others have noticed, in HBP 
DD doesn't seem to be encouraging Harry to let go of his hate. I 
wonder sometimes if what JKR's driving at is that it's all about 
getting the balance right, love can destroy just as well as hatred 
can (witness Merope's sad end), which is why that room in the DoM 
stays permanently locked. I'm not sure that she'd go so far as to say 
that hatred can be constructive, but I dimly remember a quote saying 
that she thinks it's important not to let yourself become immune to 
horror, to always maintain a sense of what's unjust and be affected 
by it. Perhaps she intends to point out that love and hate can be two 
sides of the same coin. Can anyone who can't love truly hate? She's 
already pointed out that hatred and indifference aren't the same 
thing.

Anyway, I think that the way she handled DD explaining that Harry's 
ability to love has so far protected him from going down the wrong 
path was done well, and I have high hopes that we'll see her show how 
Harry's ability to love (in general) gives him the edge over Voldy 
without it having to be love in any way directed *towards* Voldemort. 

Jen:
But it also speaks to what Snape values: That
> magical power (perhaps all power?) springs from the element of
> surprise and the ability to shield yourself and your intent from
> others. In Snape's mind, Harry can only be successful if he learns
> to value the same skills Snape does (my interpretation).

Dungrollin:
He goes on about controlling emotions, not wallowing in sad memories 
and so on during the Occlumency lessons, which he equates to handing 
your opponent weapons, but when it comes to hatred and anger on a 
personal level he doesn't seem to be able to let go at all.  

I think Snape is capable of loving, I suspect that he won't let 
himself until Voldemort's gone, because he's seen too often how Voldy 
uses it to manipulate people (Harry's love of Sirius took him to the 
DoM, Draco's love of his parents drove him on through HBP). I quite 
like the idea that one of Voldemort's worst crimes is turning playful 
and creative people like the HBP we saw through the textbook into 
people like Snape, who are so afraid of love and the power it can 
have over a person that they shut it down altogether.

One of the big questions for me is whether there's any of that 
playfulness left in him that we see in the HBP's book. Part of the 
reason I want Snape to survive (so long as he's DDM, if he's not he 
can go hang) is to see what he's like once Voldy's gone for good; is 
he permanently emotionally disabled, or is he just a *really* good 
Occlumens? 

Dungrollin
Rambling again.