Victory for TEWWW EWWW?? Snape the hero

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 173179

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <rdoliver30 at ...> 
wrote:
 
If we are not going to allow arguments from authorial intent, perhaps 
we shouldn't worry about what she obviously wants.  Or, if we are going 
to worry about what she wants, I suppose we have to accept that Snape 
is, indeed, not a hero.  Rather, he is an emotionally stunted, morally 
weak man who would never have protected Harry without the driving force 
of a rather sick obsession. Indeed, as I recall she did not even cry at 
his death, as she did at the deaths of Sirius and Dumbledore.

Or are authorial tears also worthless?
 
va32h:

I think I understand what JKR wants us to think, but I can't agree that 
she always does a good job of convincing us. I didn't cry over the 
death of Sirius, for example. I was sorry that Harry lost someone he 
loved, but Sirius never came across as anything but an arrogant a-hole 
to me. James as well. I definitely "get" that JKR wants us to like 
these characters, but find scant evidence that they are indeed likable. 

The best that can be said for James is that well, his son turned out to 
be very good, so he must have genetically contributed to that. And 
Hagrid and Dumbledore liked him, and I like those characters so he was 
probably okay.

But in the text, we see James and Sirius being bullies and jerks. James 
dying for his family isn't an example of his great character - 
protecting your child is the bare minimum that we should expect from a 
parent. I'm not going to be falling-over impressed with something that 
ought to be the natural instinct of anyone who has a child. 

And I understand that JKR doesn't want us to like Snape - but she 
hasn't made him completely unlikable. 

Perhaps it does sound presumptous to say that I disagree with the 
author's own assessment of her characters. But since she has chosen to 
share them with an audience, they are our characters as well. And I 
won't ignore what I consider valid textual evidence just because the 
author says "well I didn't mean it that way."

va32h