Hmmm. What's your favorite *now*?

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 183092

 


>  Mike:
> OTOH, the choices he made while at Hogwarts, when he should have  
> thrived, made me despise the adult Snape even more. He had proved  
> that he was an exceptionally bright youth, he had a strong willed  
> guiding friend in Lily, and he *still* chose Voldemort and the  
Death Eaters; that led eventually to his life of muted  desperation.

Potioncat:
I find this part of the plot, the most  difficult to understand. It 
does sort of mirror a plot found in Southern  historical fiction 
stories set in either Ante-Bellum period or the time of  segregation. 
But I don't think there's enough information to show us why  he made 
those choices.





Julie:
This is a problem for me also, but where I have the problem is with Lily  and 
Sev's
friendship. It's true that here we don't really have enough information  
either. But in
my reading I don't really see where Lily was a "guiding" friend to Severus,  
at least
in any manner that showed she was in any way determined to offer him  other
options. Sure she was "good" in the sense that she didn't hang out with  
future
DEs, but she was in a different House, and we don't have any real  indication 
that she and Severus spent a great deal of quality time together at  
Hogwarts. In
fact it seems quite the opposite to me, as none of the Marauders nor anyone  
else
who was at Hogwarts during that time (including various professors) ever  
brings
up the oh-so-close "best friends" relationship between Lily and Severus.  
They 
got together enough for Lily to chide Severus about his Slytherin  
housemates, 
but we don't see any moments where they are openly enjoying each  other's
friendship at Hogwarts, the opinions of others be damned. And why  not?
 
I feel JKR dropped the ball somewhat here, and I know it was partly because  
she
wanted to keep their BF status a secret. Thus no mention of it throughout  
the books,
and a Pensieve scene where Lily seems to have absolutely no personal  concern 
for
Severus or his feelings (barely avoiding laughing at him hanging  upside down 
with his
grey underwear on display, protesting the Marauders actions on a basis of  
principle
rather than with any specific indignation for her supposed BF,  etc). But in 
DH JKR 
could have shown Lily actually being supportive rather than simply  
judgmental (e.g.,
"Sev, I'm really worried about you. Let's go get a couple of butterbeers  and 
talk, and
I don't care WHO sees us together. I'm your friend, and I want to be there  
for you."
rather than "Your friends in Slytherin are evil jerks. And quit  whining 
about what the
Marauders did to you. If you shape up, let me know, just not when I'm busy  
with my
Gryffindor pals."
 
Okay, I exaggerated and paraphrased (a lot) but you get the idea. It  
wouldn't have
been hard for JKR to insert a moment or two, or a sentence or two showing  
Lily really
caring deeply about Severus and his feelings. This would have certainly  
explained better
why Severus was so fond of her (though with his damaged psyche, I guess him  
being
infatuated with Lily's imagined perfection and blinded to the  fact that she 
was no more
or less compassionate or purehearted--nor any more likely to love  him--than 
any other
teenage girl makes sense. It just doesn't do much for Lily). It would have  
also proved
that Lily truly and deeply cared about Severus, something that just doesn't  
come across
to me in DH. OTOH, Lily being nothing truly special as a  "best" friend 
(.i.e. exceptionally
compassionate or determined about maintaining their friendship), does fit  
better with Severus
falling so easily in with those who interacted with him on a daily  basis, 
his fellow Slytherins.
 
And Mike, I'm not arguing whether you should despise Severus Snape more for  
the choices
he made as a student at Hogwarts. I'm just arguing whether  Lily's influence 
involved either
enough concern or effort to have the effect on Severus that you think it  
would, which would
in effect offer him a very attractive and viable option besides  following 
the same destructive
path as his Slytherin friends. I don't think that level of influence  (or 
interest) was there on
Lily's part. 
 
Julie, who wanted to see Lily express one moment of true affection for  
Severus as a person
and friend, but didn't get it.
 
 
 
 
 



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