Could Harry have saved Snape? (was Reacting to DH...)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 178103

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> 
wrote:

> Alla:
> But quick question about high standards for fictional characters, do 
> you have the same high standards for Snape? Not wanting to debate his 
> teachings again, but does his treatment of Harry over the years 
> lowered him in your eyes at all? Because if it does not, I am sorry, 
> but I do not agree that you have high standards for the fictional 
> characters.

Montavilla47:

I think this is an interesting question.  I don't really approach 
fictional characters the same way I approach people in real
life, so I don't use the same criteria.  A real person who is
mean, I would avoid.  A fictional person who is mean I can
either enjoy because their meanness is comical in some way
or enjoy because their meanness leads to an enjoyable 
pay-off.  (Like Umbridge can be enjoyed because she gets 
her comeuppance.)

But, looking strictly at Snape, the difference between him
and Harry is that Snape starts out at a much lower point
than Harry.  Harry naturally has our sympathies because
he's the hero of the story.  The first time we see Snape, 
his very glance seems to cause Harry pain.  Five ticks down 
on the Snape Sympathy Scale (SSS) for that.  

Three ticks up for the cool potions speech.
Ten ticks down for hard questions and unfair taking of 
points.
Three ticks up for strange behavior during the troll
attack.
Two ticks down for the library book.  Two ticks up for 
the bloody leg.
Ten ticks down for "trying to kill Harry" during the 
Quidditch match.
Two ticks up for getting set on fire.

And so it goes...

Snape continued to get ticks up and down from me
until the end of HBP.  (His snide behavior when he
collected Harry at the gate?  Many, many ticks down.
However, Harry was losing a few ticks himself.)

But, at the end of HBP, his ticks went up into the 
stratosphere for me.  Why?  Because I knew he had
to have killed Dumbledore under Dumbledore's 
orders and I knew he hated doing it.  And when he
went off on Harry for calling him a coward, I knew it
had to be because he had either just done the 
bravest thing in his life or that he was about to 
do something even braver.

Mind you, he lost a few ticks, even as he earned 
a ton, when he attacked Harry and had to be 
chased off by Buckbeak.

During DH, all tick-taking was suspended until
the Prince's Tale, because I knew we weren't 
getting any real information about Snape until
then.   

So, with Snape, it's constant tick-taking.  Should
Snape be down-ticked for impassively watching
while Charity Burbage is killed and eaten by a 
snake?  I tick him up for that, because he wants
to help her, but if he does, then the DD's plan
is ruined and there isn't any other plan out 
there.  

In the same, I don't (myself) down-tick Harry
for sitting by while Snape is attacked by the 
Snake.  When I first read DH, I didn't down-
tick Harry or Hermione for not helping Snape
and leaving his body lying in the shack.  

But, when it's pointed out that Hermione
does have the herbs and the skill to heal
people, it does seem very sad (or perhaps
"convenient" is the word I want) that she
doesn't even try.

Montavilla47