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

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178104

Alla wrote:
<snip>

> I do not see how Harry could doubt for one second that he saw a 
murder IMO of course.
> 
> And his eyes did not play a trick of him after all, no? There was no
fake AK or anything like that. Harry did not have all information to
figure out what happened on the Tower - he did not know about the 
plan, etc.
> 
> But what he saw, was exactly what he saw - Snape killing Dumbledore,
just on Dumbledore's request. Made me think again that importance of
"Harry's filter" is really not that important in general.
> 
> Harry often does not have information, but what he sees, he sees
correctly often enough IMO.

Carol responds:

Which is exactly the point of the unreliable narrator (or,
specifically, the Harry filter. The words and actions are accurately
described (though JKR sometimes omits some crucial information, such
as who spoke a certain line or who cast a particular spell), but the
pov character's reactions and interpretation (based on misinformation
or mistaken assumptions or whatever) is misleading. Let's look at the
passage in question:

"Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

"'Severus . . . please. . . .'

"Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbleodre. 
"'*Avada Kedavra!'

"A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit
Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left
him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was
blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang, suspended
beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a
great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight" (HBP am. ed. 596).

This passage shows JKR's writing at its best. Who didn't feel a thrill
of horror as it happened? Who didn't feel as helpless as Harry? Who
but the most diehard Snape supporter didn't think, at least for a
moment, that DD had been wrong and that Snape had betrayed him?

We do have facts, a scene accurately described, in Snape's gazing at
DD, raising his wand, pointing it at DD, saying the spell we know to
be the Killing Curse, hitting DD with a jet of green light that sends
him over the battlements. But much of the rest of the narrator's
commentary is colored by Harry's interpretation of the scene as an act
of treachery and murder. The narrator describes Snape's face as
reflecting "hatred and revulsion," emotions that Harry attributes to
Snape, but the reader can only guess what Snape truly feels. Many
readers note a similarity to Harry's feelings in the cave when he
forcefeeds the potion to DD, but neither Harry nor the narrator
explicitly makes that connection. That the parallel is deliberate
seems likely based on similar parallels elsewhere in the books and on
the events of DH. Nevertheless, Harry's interpretation (as expressed
by the narrator) seems accurate at the time.

Similarly, the narrator accurately depicts Harry's silent scream of
horror, which in turn conditions the reader's reaction. Most readers,
whether they already thought that Snape was evil or had hopes that he
was good that seem to be destroyed here, are horrified along with
Harry. And the image of DD's body floating like a rag doll over the
battlements, seemingly suspended in time, emphasizes his frailty and
helplessness and somehow makes Snape's action seem more evil (despite
the fact that getting the body off the tower gets it away from Fenrir
Greyback and prevents him from having it for "afters").

Thanks to this depiction, which accurately depicts the action but
misinterprets it based on Harry's preconceptions, biases, and lack of
a key piece of information, most readers believed, along with Harry
himself, that Snape was a traitor and a murderer--an impression that
JKR deliberately sustained (though planting clues to the contrary)
throughout DH until it was time for the reversal/revelation of "The
Prince's Tale."

Carol, who thinks that the so-called "Harry filter" is extremely
important and that the reader should be aware of it any time that the
narration shifts from objective observation (e.g., "Snape raised his
wand") to subjective interpretation or emotional reactions