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Something I've been wanting to write about for a while is the subject of "Slytherin self-preservation" as a virtue, in contrast to the Gryffindorian emphasis on "self-sacrifice." Eventually, there will be an essay exploring that theme. Meanwhile, here are some thoughts related to that subject, originally posted to my personal journal. Probably not as organized as I'd like them to be, but it will do for a beginning. ;-)
In recent discussion on someone else's personal journal, a question about my story Light Between the Cracks has prompted me to collect my thoughts about why I am moved by the theme of having Severus "get over" Lily and "move on" with his life. One result, a beginning, is this little essay on analyzing Severus Snape through the lens of "redemptive survival" rather than the canon-preferred value of "redemptive sacrifice."
My motivation, in writing "Light Between the Cracks," was to find a way for Severus Snape to have a life--within the parameters of canon--that wasn't as thoroughly miserable and bleak as it appeared to be at first glance. Severus was revealed in Deathly Hallows to have a powerful capacity for love and loyalty. And I think it's fair to say that he was always shown to have a fair share of Slytherin self-interest as well. I wanted to find a way in which he might reasonably have directed his capacity (and desire) for love to a living person, requited, rather than solely to the unrequited and now-dead love of his youth.
Why would I want to write that? Why am I not content with canon as it is popularly presented and interpreted?
There are, to be sure, some aspects of the canon storyline with which I have no problem:
BUT:
My own experience and observation has taught me that the natural processes of grieving and healing have a way of having their way, sooner or later. While some wounds never really heal, they do eventually move off center stage as we get on with the business of living.
And, if we look at Severus throughout the series, that's what we see: wounded, deeply wounded, but still functional, far more functional than the "totally screwed-up" interpretation of him would allow. I think some people want to take the out-of-control scene at the end of POA--a scene I always found understandable, not ridiculous or contemptible, especially after learning the full backstory for it--and make that the sum total of his personality. Even the best people will snap under pressure.
Severus could also be calm and self-possessed as well as wildly raving and temperamental. When entertaining Narcissa at Spinner's End, he was downright gracious--for Severus--towards her. The man is not 24/7 bitterness and snark. We see a lot of bitterness and snark because we see Severus almost exclusively through Harry's eyes--and of course, given that Harry is one of the prime reminders of the sources of Severus' wounds, his manner in Harry's presence is going to be predominantly bitterness and snark. That doesn't make Severus evil; that makes him human. But we also get glimpses of Severus in private moments when he seems to be--shock and awe--something resembling sane, even personable. There is so much behind the scenes, off the stage of the Hogwarts classroom, that we never get to see fully, only a few hints and glimpses. The man had a good side as well as a bad side: If I tend to emphasize the good side, it's mainly because so many people want to see only the bad, and because I'm more interested (with any character) in what we don't see on-stage than what we do.
And, too, Severus was possessed of a fair degree of Slytherin self-preservation--which trait I admire far more than Gryffindorian self-sacrifice. After all, his youthful interest in the Dark Arts was clearly motivated by his need to feel protected against "enemies." He wanted to protect himself. He certainly never lost his capacity to look out for himself: see, for example, his blatant ambition to win an Order of Merlin. This does not strike me as a man who would throw all self-interest on the altar of Undying Love. Even for a love that was returned in full measure, I don't think he would utterly cast away interest in his own welfare and happiness. And so I think, sooner or later, the need to love and be loved would win out over the constrictions of grief and remorse.
Bottom line: It's possible to simultaneously "never really heal" from a deep and wounding loss and to undergo some measure of healing and get through the process of grieving sufficiently to get on with life and get some benefit out of it. So I wrote a story exploring how, exactly, such a process of healing and moving on might have played out for Severus Snape, between the lines of what we are shown in canon.
THIS is the sort of thing I find noble and inspiring: healing and integration, moving on in spite of our wounds, finding a way back to some semblance of happiness, triumph of the human spirit over adversity and trauma, triumph over tragedy, refusing to let defeat be the final word.
I'm not real keen on the myth of redemptive sacrifice. In fact, I think it's fair to say I positively loathe the mythologization of sacrifice as redemptive. But that's another essay for another day, one which I am just starting to pull together.
In recent discussion on someone else's personal journal, a question about my story Light Between the Cracks has prompted me to collect my thoughts about why I am moved by the theme of having Severus "get over" Lily and "move on" with his life. One result, a beginning, is this little essay on analyzing Severus Snape through the lens of "redemptive survival" rather than the canon-preferred value of "redemptive sacrifice."
My motivation, in writing "Light Between the Cracks," was to find a way for Severus Snape to have a life--within the parameters of canon--that wasn't as thoroughly miserable and bleak as it appeared to be at first glance. Severus was revealed in Deathly Hallows to have a powerful capacity for love and loyalty. And I think it's fair to say that he was always shown to have a fair share of Slytherin self-interest as well. I wanted to find a way in which he might reasonably have directed his capacity (and desire) for love to a living person, requited, rather than solely to the unrequited and now-dead love of his youth.
Why would I want to write that? Why am I not content with canon as it is popularly presented and interpreted?
There are, to be sure, some aspects of the canon storyline with which I have no problem:
- That he loved Lily in his childhood and youth, no problem.
- That the threat on Lily's life was the catalyst that brought him to his senses and forced him to face, unblinkered, the dark side of his chosen path to power and recognition, no problem. (I think, until this point, he had focused only on what was in it for him, and minimized or ignored how bad it really was. That seems to be borne out by his dismissals to Lily about Avery and Mulciber's behavior.)
- That his initial response to Lily's death would be a sense of grief and guilt so overwhelming that he thought he just wanted to die, then and there, no problem. Well, problem, of course, but an understandable early-stage response to profound loss.
- That out of grief and remorse for his role in Lily's death, in memory of the friendship they once did have, he would commit himself to the cause of protecting Harry and defeating Voldemort, no problem.
BUT:
- That the friendship, as we are shown it in the text, would be deep enough to inspire lifelong devotion, problem. (Lily always seems rather detached from Severus; not evil and hateful, but neither the close-knit "best friend" that she reluctantly agrees with upon Severus' insistent questioning. As I've said before, it looks like a childhood friendship that would have drifted apart one way or another, and Severus was slower to pick up on that than Lily.)
- That, regardless of how deep their friendship may or may not have been in childhood, he would become stuck all his life in an adolescent-level romantic fixation on a woman who had broken off with him, moved on to marry someone else, and was now dead, problem.
- That he would remain stuck in grief and remorse, and never emerge on the other side of the grieving process to get on with living his life, problem.
- That he would completely sacrifice himself and his life, for the rest of his life, abandoning all hope or effort at future happiness, above and beyond the risks and sacrifices necessary to doing the work of the Order, problem.
- That this utter self-immolation in grief and guilt and eternal clinging to an unrequited lost love is seen by anyone to be inspiring, noble, and good--big problem.
My own experience and observation has taught me that the natural processes of grieving and healing have a way of having their way, sooner or later. While some wounds never really heal, they do eventually move off center stage as we get on with the business of living.
And, if we look at Severus throughout the series, that's what we see: wounded, deeply wounded, but still functional, far more functional than the "totally screwed-up" interpretation of him would allow. I think some people want to take the out-of-control scene at the end of POA--a scene I always found understandable, not ridiculous or contemptible, especially after learning the full backstory for it--and make that the sum total of his personality. Even the best people will snap under pressure.
Severus could also be calm and self-possessed as well as wildly raving and temperamental. When entertaining Narcissa at Spinner's End, he was downright gracious--for Severus--towards her. The man is not 24/7 bitterness and snark. We see a lot of bitterness and snark because we see Severus almost exclusively through Harry's eyes--and of course, given that Harry is one of the prime reminders of the sources of Severus' wounds, his manner in Harry's presence is going to be predominantly bitterness and snark. That doesn't make Severus evil; that makes him human. But we also get glimpses of Severus in private moments when he seems to be--shock and awe--something resembling sane, even personable. There is so much behind the scenes, off the stage of the Hogwarts classroom, that we never get to see fully, only a few hints and glimpses. The man had a good side as well as a bad side: If I tend to emphasize the good side, it's mainly because so many people want to see only the bad, and because I'm more interested (with any character) in what we don't see on-stage than what we do.
And, too, Severus was possessed of a fair degree of Slytherin self-preservation--which trait I admire far more than Gryffindorian self-sacrifice. After all, his youthful interest in the Dark Arts was clearly motivated by his need to feel protected against "enemies." He wanted to protect himself. He certainly never lost his capacity to look out for himself: see, for example, his blatant ambition to win an Order of Merlin. This does not strike me as a man who would throw all self-interest on the altar of Undying Love. Even for a love that was returned in full measure, I don't think he would utterly cast away interest in his own welfare and happiness. And so I think, sooner or later, the need to love and be loved would win out over the constrictions of grief and remorse.
Bottom line: It's possible to simultaneously "never really heal" from a deep and wounding loss and to undergo some measure of healing and get through the process of grieving sufficiently to get on with life and get some benefit out of it. So I wrote a story exploring how, exactly, such a process of healing and moving on might have played out for Severus Snape, between the lines of what we are shown in canon.
THIS is the sort of thing I find noble and inspiring: healing and integration, moving on in spite of our wounds, finding a way back to some semblance of happiness, triumph of the human spirit over adversity and trauma, triumph over tragedy, refusing to let defeat be the final word.
I'm not real keen on the myth of redemptive sacrifice. In fact, I think it's fair to say I positively loathe the mythologization of sacrifice as redemptive. But that's another essay for another day, one which I am just starting to pull together.
I agree that Snape has a sense of self-preservation, too. He'd be willing to sacrifice his life if necessary, but only if necessary. The Shrieking Shack scene in DH bothered me immensely because Snape didn't even try to fight back against Voldemort--I couldn't believe that he didn't even lift his wand to defend himself. The only thing that makes sense is what someone from lupin_snape suggested, that he knew Harry was there, and he needed to live long enough to pass on his memories to him. If he fought back, Voldemort would just kill him instantly with an Avada Kedavra, while a slow death by snakebite would give him enough time to pass on the memories. Still, it seems OOC that such a clever Potions Master wouldn't have some kind of back-up plan--the bezoars and healing potions that show up in so many fanfics, for example.
And I don't think that he would have followed Dumbledore so blindly. He would, of course, continue to protect Harry and work to defeat Voldemort as he promised, but he knows what a manipulator the old man is, and he'd be more suspicious than he seems in DH. Again, I see him making back-up plans in case things go wrong.
I like an angsty Snape, so in my personal vision, I don't see him as healing completely until after the war. But I think he'd be capable of having a relationship, even though it might be tumultuous at times. And canon takes away the "healing after the war" possibility, so I like the idea that, at least in your universe, Snape found some happiness before he died.
I think we always need to keep in mind that Harry saw only what Severus thought he needed to see, by no means the whole story of his life. He certainly didn't see much that happened (certainly not Severus' inner thoughts and development) between Severus at 21 and Severus at 37. Breaking down over Lily's picture is quite understandable as a "trigger" event that can happen to anyone who is otherwise functional but carrying a deep and painful regret.
I can't see a Snape that broken being able to function properly as a spy well enough to fool Voldemort.
EXACTLY. He'd have crumbled a long time ago, if he were that fragile a flower.
The Shrieking Shack scene in DH bothered me immensely because Snape didn't even try to fight back against Voldemort--I couldn't believe that he didn't even lift his wand to defend himself.
I explained it, in "Still, Life, With Modifications" (third story in the "Light Between" series) as a case of paralysis: He saw what was coming, he knew it was time to break his cover and Apparate the hell out of there, but he was frozen with terror and could only watch as his doom approached. I think that's very believable; as another story put it, "He's only a bloke." ;-)
I like an angsty Snape, so in my personal vision, I don't see him as healing completely until after the war.
As I said, I think he would not be "completely" healed, but he does seem to have undergone some healing since Lily's death.
But I think he'd be capable of having a relationship, even though it might be tumultuous at times.
Um, yeah. ;-) I only alluded to it in a few places, but he and Dora had their share of volatile arguments. The second story in the series gives us the best idea of how she appeared without Severus' bias. She had a spine, suffice to say.
Why am I not content with canon as it is popularly presented and interpreted?
I agree. My problem is not the text but how others think I should interpreted it, or what I should call canon. I don’t count JKR interviews as canon. (Here is where I get tomatoes thrown at me.) There is an article that explains it better than me.
“Canon Versus Fanon Versus Authorial Intent” by Merlin Missy.
Canon is what happened. Sometimes that's hard to determine.
Fanon is any personal canon held in common by two or more people.
Author intent is the personal canon of the person (or people) who wrote the source. When J.K. Rowling said that Harry and Ron became Aurors as adults, that is author intent.
Author intent is not canon.
Let me repeat, because it's going to be important: author intent is not canon.
The same thing can be said for authorial interpretation of the source material. Canon is what is in the source material. Reader/viewer interpretation is up to the individual, although the author may have intended something else entirely.
Authors don't always intend to show what appears in the text, but the text is the canon.
Authorial intent tends to lead to fanon.
http://firefox.org/news/blogs/20/Ca
For the most part this is how I look at canon, fandom and author’s intent. So when it comes to Snape’s SWM I interpret differently than fandom, and I know there are others who do also, but we are in the minority.
I know author’s intent is the lost of friendship at SWM, because JKR wants to show us how bad some words are and friends. Okay, the intention is good, but she also had many other intentions that failed for some of us. I’m talking about the many subjects brought up from previous discussions and essays that have been posted here.
Many of us don’t have a problem why the friendship would end at SWM, but have a problem on why Snape would do what he did for a person that no longer care for him or never did. For me, I do not find it believable or realistic. Most people wouldn’t do it. Give up their life for a memory.
So what kind of character would do that? What makes sense? I tried to think of characters that held on to a memory and sacrificed their life for it. Healthcliff spent his life pining for Cathy, but something went on between them no matter how dysfunctional. Sydney Carton gave up his life and even though the love for Lucie was not retuned the same way, he had her love, her husband’s friendship and other things. These characters were loved in returned.
For me, a person to give up their life for a child hood friend would have to be very Nobel, crazy or something more had to have happened.
I have read essays and comments explaining why Snape would, but it is never to my satisfaction. This isn’t the man I saw at Spinners End, or a man that would be a great spy.
I’m not saying those interpretations are incorrect, but they just don’t satisfy me.
Side note: Before the DH came out I always thought there was a Lily and Snape connection because of the potions book. And the way Slughorn’s spoke of Lily and his Slugclub. I thought that was canon evidence that they were friends during their sixth year, and I still do, but it gets snubbed at because of author’s intent. I also don’t see that Hogwarts is so highly populated that Snape and Lily wouldn’t have any contact for the next two years. The trio and Draco seem to have a lot of contact for them hating each other.
I think they must have, because they would both be taking Potions from Slughorn--as well as other N.E.W.T.-level courses. I think what happened is that Lily held to her no-Snape line (and, of course, Snape respected her decision). It must have made those last two years horrible for Snape.
Snape was presenting Harry with a very abbreviated version of his friendship with Lily--just enough to get the message across. So, it's quite possible that Lily forgave him to some extent without going back to the same relationship. In other words, she might have been warm, but held the line at "friendly, but not friends."
I also think that Snape might well have had other relationships in his life. But I think he would always have a soft spot for Lily. It might be that if Voldemort had killed--say--Lucius instead of Lily, Snape would have had a similar turning away from the Dark Lord (without the numbing grief and guilt, perhaps). One thing that JKR does consistency show is that the Slytherins lose their enthusiasm for Voldemort when he threatens people they care about.
The only difference is that they have to wait until their loved ones are threatened, whereas the superior Gryffindors will hate him all along. (Although Harry probably didn't have much of an opinion about Voldemort before his parents were killed. And Ron had already lost uncles to the Death Eaters... Okay, need to find a different difference....)
Anyway, getting back to Snape. The simplest gut-level reading is that Snape was doing everything for Lily. I don't think so. I think he might have started doing it all for Lily, but long before he produces his patronus for Dumbledore, he's expanded that focus to an adamant anti-Voldemort stance (that he can't tell anyone about, except for Dumbledore who would never bother to ask). That he still draws inspiration from Lily (and most assuredly NOT from Harry or James) is beside the point.
That is also one way I imagine what happen. I have so many versions in my head. Anyway, I also think that he would have thought about what happened and also have some anger toward her. I could see him giving her the cold shoulder. There was a fan fic I read where they were set up as potions partners and he was very formal with her and would call her Miss Evans and would just talk to her when he had too. I thought to myself, hey that sound good.
I also think that Snape might well have had other relationships in his life. But I think he would always have a soft spot for Lily.
I also think so. It would be hard for him to really consider a serious relationship when he was acting as a spy. I don’t think he would want to risk someone else getting killed because of him.
If my husband were to die tragically, I would carry an eternal torch for him like Severus does for Lily. However, you do have a point when you say "very noble, crazy, or something more had to have happened". In the case of my husband, obviously "something more" has happened; he's not a childhood friend I grew apart from.
Still, though, "most people" isn't everyone. By definition an unusual character wouldn't be "like most people" and might do things "most people" wouldn't.
I always thought there was a Lily and Snape connection because of the potions book. And the way Slughorn’s spoke of Lily and his Slugclub. I thought that was canon evidence that they were friends during their sixth year, and I still do, but it gets snubbed at because of author’s intent. I also don’t see that Hogwarts is so highly populated that Snape and Lily wouldn’t have any contact for the next two years.
They definitely had contact. They would have shared a number of NEWT classes at the very least. I'm not sure whether they were both in the Slug Club or not, but it's not impossible. They could have bumped into each other at Hogsmeade weekends, too, although Severus would probably have been with the friends that Lily so detested in that situation, so maybe not.
Whether their contact was reasonably friendly, distant but civil, or downright icy, we don't know. Personally I'd like to believe that while Lily would never again think of Severus as her best friend, that after her temper cooled down (over several weeks, or maybe the whole summer), she did approach and talk to him. She's supposed to be "charming" and "vivacious" (Slughorn's words) and very kind and all that (author intent only as far as I know), so if she really is, then it seems like something she might do.
True. Then why would I want to read about them if they were like most people.
Because some people read to identify, connect, and empathize with the characters. ;-) It's being able to relate to the character and put ourselves in the character's shoes (empathy) that makes us care enough about the character to want to know what happens to him or her and keep reading the story.
Exactly. That's my point of contention with the "romantic" interpretation of Severus' motivation. I think initial guilt and grief, followed by a years-long process of growing into allegiance to the good for its own sake, makes more sense.
By definition an unusual character wouldn't be "like most people" and might do things "most people" wouldn't.
True, but it still has to make sense and be somewhat logical in terms of human psychology as well as that particular character's psychology. I can see love of Lily being the initial factor that spurs Severus to first seek to protect her and then agree to protect her son; I can't see it remaining static, over a long period of time, because there are so many other factors to his personality that come into play. And he does grow over the years: People need to keep in mind that Severus at 38 is NOT Severus at 21.
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Many of us don’t have a problem why the friendship would end at SWM, but have a problem on why Snape would do what he did for a person that no longer care for him or never did. For me, I do not find it believable or realistic. Most people wouldn’t do it. Give up their life for a memory.
I think he did it all for guilt. She was his friend since before Hogwarts, and that bears something in a person's heart. She didn't seem like much of a friend to me - I thought she was manipulative and bossy, even in the scene where the branch drops on Petunia. I mean, sure, Lily the all-perfect could control her magic to a startling degree without a wand, but most kids have instances of accidental magic.
Still, it was his information which led to her being targeted, then killed. A certain type of person - maybe an obsessive one, or maybe an extremely upright person in one way or another, would feel as if a "life debt" had been placed on them. A life was lost for his mistake, so his life was owed, outright or figuratively, to redress this.
Then there was Dumble- "You disgust me" -dore. I don't think he would have ever let Snape's grief (and guilt) go away. He might allow it to diminish to a dull roar so he would have a functioning spy and teacher, but he would never let it go away. He would - he did - also continually play on Snape's initial feelings of unworthiness after the death - see the sudden giving out of points at the farewell feast in PS/SS. Those points could have been awarded the minute they were earned, vanishing the need to replace all the Slytherin banners etc. with Gryffindor ones, which was merely an indulgent pat for Harry's head anyway. He also reminded Snape about how much he knows after Sirius got away in PoA. Dumbledore had a tight rein on Snape, and manipulated him the same way he manipulated everybody and everything else, IMO.
So, I'd say old friendship and guilt coupled with a sense of honor squashed together by the master manipulator himself could have had Snape putting life on hold until the whole unholy mess was over with and he could go on with his life. At least, that's the way I think of it.
I think as geri chan essay says it best, that Lily is more of a symbol. So many possibilities.
Geri chan http://community.livejournal.com/snaped
I don't think it was cowardice. You don't leave Voldemort's service except by death, it seems. Severus is not afraid to lose his life in general, I don't think, if the risk of death were balanced by a chance to accomplish something, but he is not up for reckless suicide. He has a bigger sense of self-preservation than that.
Some, yes, but I liken it to when he shrieks at Hermione in the Shack in PoA, "don't talk about what you don't understand!" Harry has no idea of all the stuff that led up to Severus firing that Avada Kedavra, yet he shoots his mouth off. "Don't you presume to call me coward! You have NO idea what my motivations are and what I've been doing on your behalf for six years and how hard that was for me to do, you whiny little brat."
I think that guilt, and nostalgia for a childhood friendship that held a special place in memory, explains the "Lily" connection better than harboring a lifelong passionate love for a woman who didn't return it. For one thing, if he was that passionate about her, wouldn't he have tried to win her back? But I don't think he did it ALL for guilt. As I've said many times, I think he did grow and evolve over the years; the intial guilt and grief over the loss of Lily served as the catalyst, the turning point for change.
She didn't seem like much of a friend to me - I thought she was manipulative and bossy, even in the scene where the branch drops on Petunia. I mean, sure, Lily the all-perfect could control her magic to a startling degree without a wand, but most kids have instances of accidental magic.
I agree. Some people accuse me of "Lily-bashing" when I point this out, but the reality is, it doesn't seem like she really treats him like a true friend, but more as a hanger-on that she tolerates for whatever reasons until he becomes more of a liability than an asset.
Snape putting life on hold until the whole unholy mess was over with and he could go on with his life.
And that's a poignant thought: that he wasn't crippled by love, simply carrying out his sense of duty and hoping for the day when he could be done with it and move on. Aaaaahhh.
Exactly. Thank you for highlighting that point of mine; it was an important one. A lot of what's being slung around the HP fandom as "canon" is really assumptions and interpretations people are reading into canon. I have a few of my own, but I would rather argue them as my interpretation vs. another person's interpretation, not my interpretation vs. "canon" (which the other person just happens to have The Final Word on!).
I don’t count JKR interviews as canon. (Here is where I get tomatoes thrown at me.)
Heh. Not around here, likely. As for me, I do generally consider an author's meta-ing of her own work to be a source of added insight and enrichment in understanding how the text was created, but "canon," technically, is the text as it appears on the page. In JKR's case, it's just odd that what she had in mind seems so at odds with what she presented in the text; I have come to explain it as a case of what she VALUES isn't necessarily what I and others value in a person's character, hence the disparity in how we view and value the various characters in the text. Make sense?
have a problem on why Snape would do what he did for a person that no longer care for him or never did. For me, I do not find it believable or realistic. Most people wouldn’t do it. Give up their life for a memory.
I think it makes more sense to see the initial trigger as guilt rather than continuing romantic love. I can see him having a crush on her when they were still friends, and even being slow to let go of that crush in hopes that she might change her mind. But to still carry the torch after she marries someone else, and years and years after her death? Well, there's always Charles and Camilla, on the marriage point ;-) but we're talking about childhood/teen puppy love, here, something that we generally outgrow. And the Severus we see in canon just doesn't seem that far gone that puppy love would have a grip on him all his life; it must have been the guilt, at least at first. I do believe he grew into caring about doing good for its own sake, as the years went by.
I have read essays and comments explaining why Snape would, but it is never to my satisfaction. This isn’t the man I saw at Spinners End, or a man that would be a great spy.
YES. Exactly. I think people are assuming that because we get glimpses of Severus having "vulnerable" moments when his old grief and regret are triggered, that must mean he was still in the same place at 37 or 38 that he was at 21--and the rest of the depiction of the character just doesn't bear that out. He seems too damned competent and in control most of the time--too grown up, even if he does have occasional lapses of temper. ;-) Don't we all? And, as I've said before, I take the whole "doe patronus" scene to show that Severus had, indeed, come to care about Harry's fate for Harry's own sake--even if he didn't come to love and adore the boy, necessarily--and his angry denial to Dumbledore was a defense against sudden exposure on a most vulnerable point, not to be taken literally that it was always and only For Lily.
I agree. And I can look at one scene and interpret it many ways. I personally just don’t stick to one interpretation. That’s the fun of fiction you can play around with these characters and scenes. I always enjoy reading fan fiction that brings a new take on a scene, which sometimes changes my mind about something and goes into my personal canon. I tend to get a bit irk when reviews start telling the author that their work is counter canon or not canon, when canon never said it happen or didn’t. It might not be the author’s intent or popular interpretation, but it still canon compliant.
As for me, I do generally consider an author's meta-ing of her own work to be a source of added insight and enrichment in understanding how the text was created, but "canon," technically, is the text as it appears on the page.
I also don’t mind, because that is one way to look at the piece of writing. What was the author’s intent? But it isn’t the only way or the right way. It is just another way.
Just my two cents worth!
Alison
I know White Hound has an essay about the population.
http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_white
In earlier books he seems more strong and confident then in DH he's this little worker-bee, and I hated that he rushed back to 12 Grim to take that last "love" line from that letter, and the whole Doe Patronus, which clearly indicates he still loves her desperatly. I guess at first I was in shock so I paid no real attention to it but the more I think of it, the more it just seems weird that he'd be that fixated and that capable and sane at the same time.
Perhaps he felt a need to re-connect with his original reason for leaving Voldemort. Perhaps he came upon that picture by accident in a moment of extreme emotional vulnerability.
At that moment, his action of taking the prophecy to Voldemort has resulted in Dumbledore's death in addition to Lily's.
and I hated that he rushed back to 12 Grim to take that last "love" line from that letter,
The way I see it is that he stumbled across it. I don’t know how he would know about the letter in the first place. I bet there is some Sirus/Snape fics out there that might explain it. But the way I see it was that he just finished killing DD, and he had been under tremendous stress for years. The man was on a verge of a break down, and he just needed to let it all out. I know when I get to that point anything can set me off and I’ll start crying. I think he had a good cry and then got a hold of himself and marched on. I believe that if he didn’t find the letter something else would have made him cry.
and the whole Doe Patronus, which clearly indicates he still loves her desperately.
I totally take a 180 on this. And I know what JKR said, but I just want to look at the text. One needs happy memories. It can change. DD is a phoenix. Harry’s is a stag. Harry didn’t know his dad’s animagus was a Stag when he cast the patronus spell. So I see the patronus picking the person, and not the person picking the form of the patronus. I see Harry’s stag as James’s way of watching over his son and Lily’s doe as her watching over her son. So I saw it as both parents watching over Harry. I like to think of the patronus as a protector and guide. It gives it more meaning to me, than its main purpose is to send messages. Okay my interpretation, and I know there might be things in the text that contradict what I think. I think. (scratching my head) I'm still musing over this.
I guess at first I was in shock so I paid no real attention to it but the more I think of it, the more it just seems weird that he'd be that fixated and that capable and sane at the same time.
Yeah, it seems weird to me and unrealistic. And not believable. And I can understand that if it was only for a few years, but from his early 20’s to 38. Huh. For me there is something missing to this puzzle and might be found in the memories that never made it into the bottle.
* That, regardless of how deep their friendship may or may not have been in childhood, he would become stuck all his life in an adolescent-level romantic fixation on a woman who had broken off with him, moved on to marry someone else, and was now dead, problem.
* That he would remain stuck in grief and remorse, and never emerge on the other side of the grieving process to get on with living his life, problem.
* That he would completely sacrifice himself and his life, for the rest of his life, abandoning all hope or effort at future happiness, above and beyond the risks and sacrifices necessary to doing the work of the Order, problem.
* That this utter self-immolation in grief and guilt and eternal clinging to an unrequited lost love is seen by anyone to be inspiring, noble, and good--big problem.
See, the whole thing about Snape is that his entire life is defined by this regret. Should it be? Probably not; a good therapist could have done wonders for him. But he didn't have that. Like it or not he was the catalyst for a series of events that resulted in the death of his dearest childhood friend, and he was never able to shake the guilt off. I realize this is a community of Snape sympathizers, but I think he should have felt guilty. He was remorseful for the rest of his life, and rightly so. He spent the rest of his life atoning for that one choice he made, and it was never enough. It was never going to make it okay. Sometimes it's just never okay.
I also never got the sense, reading DH, that Snape was in love with Lily all those years. He loved her, obviously, that's not debatable. But in love? For all those years, after she was dead? Where is that in canon? Voldemort is the one who suggests that Snape wanted her; I don't doubt that at that time, when he pleaded for her life, a part of him did. He might have thought to himself that if James and Harry were both killed, he and Lily could run away together (an idea that is both disturbing and incredibly selfish).
But then Lily was killed. I don't think it is possible to be in love with a dead person. To be in love with a person implies hope. There was no hope that someday they could be together; all he had was the memory of her, and the knowledge that he was responsible for what ultimately happened to her. Everything he did from that point on was in honor of her memory. It was in atonement. He did it because of his love for her, not because it would bring her back, not because he would get anything out of it, but because he loved her and couldn't rest doing nothing to make up for what he had done.
So I don't think he was in love, romantically, with Lily when we see him in the series. I think that would have been impossible. Every choice he made from the time she was threatened until the moment he gave his memories to Harry was borne out of his love for her - a love that I don't think was necessarily romantic. I don't see him holding a torch for her, moping around and sighing. I see him very determined to do everything he could to at least ensure that her son was safe. It was the least he could do after everything that happened.
He spent the second half of his life atoning for one mistake. Overkill? Maybe. But Snape strikes me as an all-or-nothing kind of guy.
Of course he should have acknowledged his guilt. It's the degree to which his remorse presumably crippled him from building any happiness for himself that bothers me.
and rightly so.
I absolutely disagree. As I wrote in "Light Between the Cracks," after some years have passed, "it occurred to him that remorse was supposed to lead to absolution, and absolution to release from the sins of the past." What we are seeing in the story is relentless remorse and self-condemnation, with no absolution and no release to "go and sin no more."
And remember, I did say, That out of grief and remorse for his role in Lily's death, in memory of the friendship they once did have, he would commit himself to the cause of protecting Harry and defeating Voldemort, no problem. I don't object to him deciding to "do the right thing" and commit his life to the cause. I object to the idea that he should be "punished" for the rest of his life by living in misery and unrelenting guilt. Surely there's a middle ground in there, in which he can still find something for himself as well as for The Cause.
He spent the rest of his life atoning for that one choice he made, and it was never enough. It was never going to make it okay. Sometimes it's just never okay.
So what, then, is the point of Severus continuing to suffer and be miserable over his guilt? All the misery and self-punishment isn't going to bring Lily back from the dead. What's done is done. Acknowledge the guilt, do what you can to make amends, and carry on with life from there. I see no constructive purpose to expecting that he should throw away his life and happiness and future as if somehow that would restore Lily's to her. This is what I mean by sacrifice not being "redemptive" in and of itself; it has to serve a reasonable purpose, and it is the purpose, not the act of sacrifice, that is good and "redemptive."
also never got the sense, reading DH, that Snape was in love with Lily all those years. He loved her, obviously, that's not debatable. But in love? For all those years, after she was dead?
I have a hard time believing that, too, as I think I noted in this essay. But in any case, that is a widespread interpretation of his character and his relationship to Lily, and that is what I am arguing against, here: how it's presented and interpreted. I'm not quite sure, but I think JKR wants us to see it as unrequited romantic love, too.
Surely there's a middle ground in there, in which he can still find something for himself as well as for The Cause.
I got the sense, when he says "only those whom I could not save", that he was doing this for himself as well, because he felt it was right, not just out of a sense of duty and remorse. I think he was able to move on from doing it just because he was trying to atone for Lily's death, but also because he was simply the right thing to do.
And also, I don't really think that Snape sacrificed his life in the end. He was killed because Voldemort felt like killing him. He dedicated his life to the cause, but didn't sacrifice himself; I think there's a difference.
And if JKR wants us to see an unrequited romantic love, then why not write that expressly in the text? What she says in her idiotic interviews is not canon.
I get frustrated seeing reader after reader try and whitewash his character, as though he was this poor innocent victim who is for some reason holding himself responsible for a bunch of really bad things that happened. I think it's important to remember that he did do really bad things, and that making up for said really bad things can ultimately be impossible.