CHAPDISC: DH33, The Prince's Tale

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 184841

> Carol's Question:

> 21. Did this chapter change or confirm your view of Snape? What
> surprised you? What disappointed you? How did you feel at the
> end of the chapter the first time through?

Mike:
First off, thank you Carol for a wonderful, thought provoking summary 
and question set. I'm sorry I only have time to respond to one, but 
it's the biggy for me.

In a way, I was waiting for this chapter since I read the first HP 
book. I've always been big on backstories and this is the ultimate 
backstory, isn't it? Has anything else intrigued Potterphiles as much 
as the question of from whence Snape got his motivations and 
loyalties?

When I first started this chapter, I actually felt sorry for young 
Sev. How could you not? An awkward kid, at an awkward age, in an 
awkward situation of confronting another young magical person in 
front of her non-magical sister. The obvious implication of an 
abusive and poor homelife peeking out from around the edges of Sev's 
whole personna. I actually started to question whether I would 
continue to dislike this character by the end of this chapter.

Sev stays the more likeable of the newest Hogwartians through the 
train ride and the sorting. Now I'm actually questioning my 
allegiances, at least as far as James is concerned.

But then Sev starts to show his true colors. Sure, he wants to be 
accepted by his peers so he's going to try to blend in with hs fellow 
Slytherins. But he shows himself to be jealous of Potter and his 
mates long before Lily has ever shown any interest in James. He's 
sneaking around, trying to catch those Gryffs at something when Lily 
is still thinking of that Potter boy as a "toerag". And Sev is 
breaking the rules himself to do it, which makes him no better than 
the boys he's trying to get something on.

Aside: I find the criticism of Lily's actions in all this a bit 
harsh. She's remained friends with this geek of a boy (admit it, he 
was) despite all the probable peer pressure on her to drop him. So 
while Sev is giving in, to some degree, to his Slyth buddy's peer 
pressure, Lily is not. And her actions in SWM take on a new light 
after reading the backstory that lead up to it. She wasn't flirting 
with James, she was actually trying to come to Sev's rescue. And that 
smirk when Sev's greying underpants are revealed; come on, what 16-
year-old girl wouldn't smirk for a fraction of a second upon seeing 
that, even if it was your friend? It wasn't until Snape calls 
her "Mudblood", a slur she knew he was using with some regularity, 
that she decides enough is enough. And Snape not denying that he was 
a DE in training tips the scales all the way for her.

Back to Severus: The fact that he was a young DE in training, does 
bother me more, in his case. Who knows, maybe Voldemort was still 
being his charming self to the outsiders and maybe Severus was taken 
in just like so many others were. OTOH, with all we know and all 
we've been lead to believe about this guy's intelligence and savvy, 
shouldn't we have expected a little more out of him than from the 
likes of Mulciber or Crabbe or Goyle? Sure, lots of kids joined the 
Hitler youth. But that whole country was subsumed with that dogma, 
there really wasn't any other way to go. Severus doesn't have that 
excuse, there were alternatives for him. Maybe not as appealing, but 
certainly more moralistic.

The final straw, the one that sealed the deal for me, was the scene 
on the windswept hill. That's when I knew I had pegged Snape for who 
he was. You see, I kept looking for a sign that Snape had joined up 
with the DEs as an infiltration move. Or, lacking that from the 
start, had quickly realized his mistake and opted for spydom and 
working against LV as an alternative to turning tail and running, 
leading to his probable early demise. But no such altruistic reason 
was forthcoming.

Instead, we get the sad and disappointing lost love but still pining 
for his Lily reason. OK, that's not an altogether unexpected nor 
totally self-centered reason for changing sides. Yet it is somewhat 
egotistic and very much too sappy for my taste. But the basis for my 
belief that Snape doesn't win my support is the timing. I know JKR is 
poor with her numbers, but I think in this case holding to the 
timeline to be a credible exercise. 

The windswept hill scene must be after Harry's birth, which means it 
has to be a good three years after they all left Hogwarts. Severus 
Snape joined a terrorist organization and found nothing wrong with 
being a member of that organization for three years. It is obvious 
from Dumbledore's words that Snape remained a loyal DE, right up to 
that meeting. I cannot abide these actions and I cannot forgive him 
for that. In my eyes, this is not forgivable. Penitence for the rest 
of his life will not wash away this sin. He will forever remain a DE 
that converted, but a DE first.

Nothing that came later in this chapter was either surprising or 
transformative of my opinion of Snape. I thought he would prove less 
malleable to Dumbledore, but that was not a big revelation. I ended 
the chapter with the same opinion I had of Snape going into it.

There, how's that for recalling what I felt the first time through?
I'll just never like Severus Snape!

Mike