[HPforGrownups] Thoughts on Severus: how does he fit in?

[Janette]

No: HPFGUIDX 176709

On 9/4/07, John Paul Smith <johnsmithatx at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey Group,
>
> I'm new and noticed that you talk about the role of Snape a bit
> and I wanted to re-examine in the strata of modern literature as
> a whole as I think he is the most important literary figure in
> the books and we will more than likely see him emulated down the
> road.
>
> My overall thought after reading Deathly Hallows is as follows.
> With all of the HP series, Rowling uses timeless archetypes to
> fill out her stories.  If you take the obviousness of Star Wars
> you can see this quite clearly. Take the SAT Route: Harry Potter
> Series is to Star wars as:
>
> Harry = Luke Skywalker (the young hero)
> Dumbledore = Ben Kenobi (learned master)
> Hagrid = Chewbacca (loyal retainer)
>
> And so on and so forth, etc, etc. However, and what I have been
> racking my brain about is "Where does Snape fit in this equation?"
> Not Star Wars mind you but as an archetypal character? I have been
> racking my brain about him and I can't seem to locate one. The
> closest I come is close to an anti-hero but it doesn't quite fit,
> does it? A good example of modern anti-hero is Travis Bickle in
> Taxi Driver. But Snape always does the right thing throughout
> the course of the books. Maybe not his past history, but through
> the series he does, yes? So he is good, but he can't allow people
> to know. Why? Therein is the issue I think.


montims:
Good question...  Sydney Carton of The Tale of Two Cities?  Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights?  They're off the top of my head - I shall be interested
to read others' thoughts.  I do think, however, we must look to British
literature for this kind of character, though I'm not sure why I think this
- I must hurry to go to work now, but will ponder this...


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