Snape V. Marauders

[prep0strus]

No: HPFGUIDX 173294

I wanted to attempt to encapsulate some of my thoughts on the
characters, and why I find arguments for Snape being in some way
'morally superior' to the Marauders silly.  I'll say, though, as I
think it through... it seems that choice plays very little into how
characters turn out.  Or upbringing. It seems very much genetics. 
With the exception of Sirius, the family you're born into appears to
decide whether you will be a good person, or a bad person (or, if you
like... a good witch, or a bad witch ;) sorry.)

The Marauders:

James.  James is a talented, arrogant boy who comes from a proud
Griffindor family.  He's all wizarding world, all the way, and had a
great childhood.  He's a little bit of a bully  - to Snape - we don't
see how he is to other students. He may be perfectly nice to students
from all houses but Slytherin.  He has nothing to do with dark magic.
 He grows up to become a member of the Order, marries Lily, who is
described as having almost no bad qualities, and is extremely well
thought of by all members of the good wizarding world that we know,
barring Snape - Dumbledore, Hagrid, the rest of the order... sure,
they sanitize for Harry, but I see no reason to believe they didn't
truly like him.  He loved his son, his friends, and he was part of the
resistance against Voldemorte.  He died trying to give his wife and
son time to escape.

Sirius.  Sirius is another talented, arrogant boy.  His background is
a bit different than James' - but there are similarities.  They both
grew up immersed in the wizarding world, as privileged sons (Sirius
more so) of respected families.  Sirius bucked generations of
tradition to become a Griffindor. He went against a family that had
supported in word, and later in his brother's case, in deed, the
ideals of Voldemorte.  Though it had to be difficult adjusting
prejudices imbued in him since birth, he was not anti-muggle, or
anti-muggleborn.  It appears he became good friends with Lily later in
life, and was a member of the order fighting Voldemorte.  As an adult,
he was more reckless than James - but in the time we saw him
predominantly, he had spent years and years in Azkaban for a crime he
did not commit, having no joy, no friends, knowing everyone he loved
was dead or thought he was evil.  We see a lot of negatives in Sirius
- how he treated house elves, how he treated Severus as a child.  And
surely he was impulsive, almost childish.  But he did not go towards
dark magic or towards Voldy.  He was fiercely loyal to his friends,
brave in the fight against evil, and he did it all against his upbringing.

Lupin.  We don't know too much about Lupin's upbringing.  But he was a
werewolf.  Prejudiced against by a 'disease' he had no control over. 
Something that causes the majority of the wizarding world to hate and
fear you.  And something that turns many to dark magic and to
voldemorte, since they've been pushed from the mainstream of the ww
and want a place to fit in, to fight for rights, and perhaps to
succomb to darker natures that everyone assumes they have.  But Lupin
is smart, and brave, and also loyal to his friends.  We do see
negative aspects of Lupin's nature, as do we all the characters, but
mostly we see a brave man, tortured by demons most of the other
characters cannot relate to.  He too is loyal to his friends, to the
Order.  He fights to protect a society that will not even accept him,
finds love that racks him with guilt, and while he struggles to do the
right thing sometimes (and we cannot say we have not seen the same in
Harry, or of course, Ron), he is good and true, despite his magical
deformity.

Peter.  We know even less about Peter's childhood.  What we do know of
Peter is that he is weak.  Why he was put into Griffindor, we'll never
know, for he never seems to show that part of his nature.  Perhaps he
didn't have enough ambition for Slytherin, brains for Ravenclaw, or
loyalty for Hufflepuff.  Peter probably never would have turned to the
dark without external pressure, but it shows he wasn't brave.  He,
even more than any other DE, is ruled by fear rather than ambition.


Severus

Snape. Oh, Snape.  Loved by so many on this board.  Hated by as many.
He's a decent character, I suppose, and in the end, one fighting on
the side of good.  But how so many can defend him and raise him up
higher than our three good Marauders, I'll never understand.

Snape had a crappy childhood (I'll compare to our other 3 orphans
shortly), I'll grant him.  But perhaps not the WORST.  He did have
Lily as a child, while Harry had no one.   He did grow up in the WW,
like the Marauders, with the knowledge and prejudices this brings. 
But he was also half muggle.  Rather than give him sympathy, it made
him need to prove even more what a 'good' slytherin he was.  He was
raised to believe the brains were in slytherin (what's ravenclaw?
choped liver?), and a lot has been made of how horrible james and
sirius were upon first meeting Severus - was severus better?  they all
came in with their prejudices... james and sirius had made friends,
and were bigger than severus, but all of them were arrogant and
snippy.  simply because the griffindors become the heroes of the
school, i see no reason to believe that had snape been bigger, more
charismatic, more powerful, he wouldn't've treated the others the same
way.  And he turned towards the dark.  Something james, lupin, and
sirius did not.  Lupin and Sirius arguably had even better reasons to,
and they did not.  And what's more, they grew up. (well, James did...)
 Severus didn't grow up.  First, he became evil.  He was interested in
dark magic, even in school, and became a death eater.  Eventually he
saw how voldy would kill even someone he loved, and he turned away.
Perhaps he turned even more than most of us thought, and by the end
was fighting a little bit for the 'cause' and not just for the memory
of Lily.  but, regardless, he was a jerk.  A big nasty jerk who
treated small children terribly.  Not just Harry, who reminded him of
James, and a promise he had to keep.  But to Hermione, his best
student.  To Neville, a weak little orphan having a difficult time. 
Really, to most of the children, he was still a jerk.  He died on the
side of right, but I don't see how he becomes morally superior to any
of the other Order members.  Perhaps more interesting - turncoats and
double agents always are.  But he was a mean little child - with
prejudices the others didn't have, that I don't believe he ever truly
grew out of, despite his feelings for Lily.  And he was a nasty adult,
who has done evil, is drawn to evil, and stays away from it because of
the one good person he had in his life.  Look at Harry, who had no
one. Or Sirius who had all people who wanted him to be dark.  They
rose above it with much more aplomb than Severus.


Other Orphans:

We have 4 prominent orphans.  The one with the arguably best childhood
would be Neville, with a loving family.  He's weak in magic, but
apparently grows in strength and confidence as he gets older.  Most
importantly is his strength of spirit.  He could be another Peter -
but without friends who were as tightly loyal to him.  Neville was a
loner for the first few years of school.  The weakest member of the
class, and yet, he stood against his classmates to do what was right,
and by the end is a brave shining example of a good wizard.  He
follows his parents footsteps.  I think it almost would have been a
better story for him to remain weak in magic- not able to do a
patronus, or barely duel.  Good with plants, and willing to stand up
for what is right, to show that strength of character means something.
 But he turns out strong as well, and we can be proud of him.

Voldemorte had a bad childhood - but worse genetics.  I feel like he
could have perhaps had a better time of it than Harry, whose only
family was rabidly against him, but for Voldy's innate evil.  But he
goes to school, and has a very different experience than the other 3
orphans.  He is the king, the ruler, perhaps more popular than James.
 He's what Severus would be with charisma - except, perhaps, that
Severus had a small capacity to love Lily, while Voldy could only love
himself.

And, of course, Harry. A terrible childhood, and a most mixed time at
school.  He had loyal close friends, which is more than can be said
for Neville and Snape, but he also had a lot of opposition and
mistrust in periods over the school. Sometimes to them he was a hero,
sometimes a villain, and sometimes a joke.  But he was steadfast in
trying to do what he believed was right.

Final comparisons: Ron & Hermione.

I wanted to say, to everyone who dislikes Sirius and James... they are
Ron.  More successful, more talented, more popular, but... Ron.  Ron,
raised in the wizarding world, with the same prejudices.  He comes to
school ready to hate slytherins.  He has no respect for house elves. 
He's got his own issues of desperation, neediness, desiring acclaim. 
But no one can deny that he is good and brave and loyal.  But he
wouldn't've treated Severus any better. Or house elves.  he came to
school with prejudices that he keeps, but he is good. He is strong,
and he also tries to do what is right.

Hermione is much more like Lily.  A muggleborn, she comes to school
much more openminded than those raised by wizards.  She can see
prejudice against elves where wizards, raised with the status quo,
can't see it.  I think that we need to look at the Marauders through
those lenses, and remember that Sirius bucked his family and became
much more accepting.  And Severus didn't.

Lastly... the negatives we see in James... think of the time period as
well. Was it entirely unreasonable to come in with a prejudice against
slytherins?  Shoot, half the posts are us discussing that issue, and
most of us seem to come down on the side of, nope, jkr didn't make
them redeeming at all.  There were lines drawn when James et al were
in school.  Snape and his little slytherin friends were wanting to
join up with voldy.  for a young wizard growing up in the ww... they
knew what was out there. and they knew where they came from.
slytherin.  to go in with that prejudice... i'm not saying they were
nice, or couldn't have risen above it.  It's hard to look at a popular
jock who hangs a skinny boy upside down and say, oh, yeah, he's right.
 But in the world, there was evil, and slytherin represented that
evil.   And Severus would've done the same if he had the power to the
others.

And what's more, James grew up.  To fight for good, to love his
family, be loyal to his friends.  Sirius, imprisoned unfairly,
continues to be loving to his godson and fight for right.  Lupin,
prejudiced against to his death, was also a teacher like Snape - but
was kind to the children, taught them well, and was good and loyal to
all people, even those afraid of him who treated him badly.

And Snape... snape was a mean little boy, and a mean little man.  He
loved and lost a woman, and it changed him so that he stopped pursing
evil, and tried to fight on the side of good.

But he was still a mean little man.

~Adam (Prep0strus), who apologizes for the unexpected length of this post.