Snape and Harry

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 188666

Bart:
    In regard to Snape's treatment of Harry, once again, I see parallels 
between the story of Severus Snape and Dicken's A CHRISTMAS CAROL (you 
can read the actual short novel by going to Project Gutenberg 
<http://www.gutenberg.org> and searching on "Dickens", without quotes, 
as author and "christmas carol", without quotes as title words. The 
novel has never been 100% faithfully rendered on the screen or stage, as 
far as I know, so it's worth reading).

    Frankly, when I read the novel, the only character I had any 
sympathy for was Fred, Scrooge's nephew. I suspect that he was probably 
there to have a point of self-identification to the reader (not unlike 
Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories). But it is in Fred that I see 
the parallel. Scrooge had a duty to provide at least minimal support for 
Fred, but he blamed Fred for the death of Scrooge's beloved sister, who 
died in childbirth. Similarly, what I see in the Snape/Harry 
relationship is that Snape has a moral duty to protect Harry, but when 
he looks at Harry, he sees what Lily lost her life over, not to mention 
a constant reminder of his own tormentor in youth who took Lily away 
from him (in Snape's point of view).

    I do think that, between HBP and the climax of DH, Snape mellows 
somewhat, and thinks more kindly of Potter. Perhaps being forced into 
the role of the secret protector of the student body (like assigning 
detention of anti-Morty students to Hagrid) helped in this.

    Bart


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]