Snapedom

Original poster: bohemianspirit

"Snape is vindictive. He's cruel. He's not a big man. ... But he loves. I like him, but I'd also like to slap him hard."

"Although [Dumbledore] seems to be so benign for six books, he's quite a Machiavellian figure, really. He's been pulling a lot of strings. Harry has been his puppet. ... When Snape says to Dumbledore, 'We've been protecting [Harry] so he could die at the right moment'--I don't think in book one you would have ever envisioned a moment where your sympathy would be with Snape rather than Dumbledore."

-- J. K. Rowling, 10-15-07 (source)



Seriously? J. K. Rowling needs to take her moral compass into the shop for repairs--or possibly return it to the manufacturer as defective. I am appalled at her lack of empathy with the victims of bullying and abuse, and her identification with bullies and abusers as "heroes" and "good guys." Dumbledore is revealed to be a crass manipulator, using people as pawns in his schemes, and yet he remains honored to the very end of the last book. Severus is revealed to be an honorable, conscientious man who hides his good side very well, and, well, he gets ignored until Harry, many years after the story proper ends, gives his middle child "Severus" as his middle name. In JKR's statement, above, Severus gets a nod for challenging Dumbledore's dubious ethics, but JKR persists in showing no real sympathy for Severus Snape as a human being, and for the life of me, given that she has portrayed him as a sympathetic character, I cannot understand why.

It's not that the bad isn't in him. It's just that the bad is mixed in with a great deal of good--and that the supposedly good people have an awful lot of bad in them, as well, so why pick on Severus as if he were some kind of, well, oddball?

"He's vindictive. He's cruel." So was James Potter, among others. But she excuses the vindictiveness and cruelty of James towards Severus, implying it wasn't really so bad because later he "grew up," or that it was just childish "pranking," after all.

"He's not a big man." What does JKR mean by a "big" man? That he hasn't forgiven and forgotten seven years of bullying by James and Sirius? Does she truly share Remus Lupin's view in Prisoner of Azkaban that Severus Snape's severe traumatization by a situation that could have killed him was a "schoolboy grudge"? The apparent attitude towards Severus is that he should really just "get over it" and that he is somehow at fault, and the "lesser man," for continuing to be wounded and in pain because of the bullying he suffered at the hands of James and others. Anyone familiar with the dynamics of trauma and recovery knows that that expectation is neither realistic nor humane.

If you constantly got the message that you were not worthy of respect and decent treatment, that you deserved to be abused simply because you exist, that you were ugly and greasy and odd and a blight on humanity, well, maybe you would eventually become a little bitter, yourself, and find that bitterness manifesting in seemingly petty, cruel, and vindictive behaviors.

Given the context in which Severus is "vindictive" and "cruel"--as the embittered response to a lifetime of being neglected, bullied, abused, and otherwise treated as undeserving of any real consideration, respect, or appreciation as a human being--I do not see his cruel and vindictive behaviors as who he is. I see them as manifestations of a deep woundedness that was not properly recognized by the people in his life--even the ones who supposedly were sympathetic to him, e.g. Dumbledore--nor given the tools and support to properly heal.

That Severus Snape is as FUNCTIONAL as he is evidences to me, at least, an underlying tenacity and resiliency of spirit that alone ought to command respect. He keeps getting kicked down, and it shows in his surface manner, and yet he remains loyal, principled, and steadfast in his commitments, and continues to watch over and work for the welfare of people who at best dismiss him and at worst despise him.

Does anybody every truly appreciate this man, and the good that is in him, during his lifetime? Does anybody ever express appreciation? Does anybody ever consider what kind of people we might be if our own lives were an unrelenting desert of lovelessness and ridicule? Many of us have experienced emotional and verbal abuse, and some physical as well; yet most of us also have experiences of being loved, appreciated, valued, that at least help to mitigate the impact of the abusive experiences.

Does Severus Snape ever get any such mitigating experiences in his life? It seems to me, rather, that he is continually seeking, but never finding: just some crumb of bread, some glimmer of light, that would suggest that someone values his existence, cares that he lives, sees something good in him, appreciates and, if possible, even loves him. It is no surprise that his dying plea was, "Look at me." He seems to have spent his whole life being neglected, ignored, unappreciated, unseen.

And then people wonder why he can be so bitter.


"[Dumbledore is] quite a Machiavellian figure, really. He's been pulling a lot of strings. Harry has been his puppet."

So tell me: Isn't Severus a big man when he takes a sound and sensitive moral stand in the face of shameless cold machination? Isn't Severus a big man for transcending his (in large degree justfied) hatred of Harry's father in order to protect Harry? And isn't Severus a big man for giving a damn about Harry's fate, and for being horrified at Dumbledore's callousness about Harry's fate, even though Severus doesn't (so he would have us believe) personally like the boy? Isn't Severus a big man for being able to see Harry as an end in himself, not merely as a means to an end?

Isn't Severus a big man for sacrificing his life and his freedom in order to not only protect Harry but to work for the Order of the Phoenix in order to bring down Voldemort? And isn't Severus a big man for taking on the role of double agent, for having to spend his life in psychological hiding, never allowing "the best of him" to emerge, even if he wanted to, because it would destroy his cover? And isn't Severus a big man for living his life in mortal danger, dangling on the arm of Voldemort, whom he despises, and ultimately playing his role so well that he must allow himself to be despised and thought a traitor by his true allies, all in the hope that his work will ultimately prove to be worthwhile?

Sorry, JKR and others who would disparage the moral character of Severus Snape. Severus Snape may have been flawed and fallible in the way he conducted himself, but even if I could hold against him his vindictive, cruel streak--and, understanding it as a reaction to a history of abuses for which amends were never made, I cannot--I think the greater moral weight must go to the good he revealed in himself.

Severus Snape, despite his failings, was a man who, besides owning the One True Virtue of Being Brave, was principled, idealistic, loyal, honorable in keeping his word, intelligent, creative, curious, inquisitive, sensitive (perhaps to a fault), possessed of an inward gentleness that made him vulnerable and so was strongly shielded, and, in the deepest sense of the word, loving.

"But he loved." Yes, and not only in his obsession with a childhood friend who later abandoned him: We see Severus behave in a gentle and caring manner towards Narcissa Malfoy, for example, perhaps because she treated him with respect in return. And one of the most moving scenes in the books is when he kneels by Draco's side, tenderly healing the cuts from Harry's blind use of Sectumsempra. The man who invented the curse as a defense against "enemies" also invented a countercurse--a musical countercurse--to heal its effects. His healing instincts manifest time and again throughout the books, applied to both students and peers.

Severus also showed love in his ongoing genuine concern for the overall welfare of the children he was responsible for. His nasty side manifested in petty ways, on the surface, but he never set out to inflict real harm, and in rare moments when he is caught "unseen" we see him exhibit genuine distress whenever the children are in danger. Clearly he valued their lives more than Dumbledore did: I'll take an asshole with a good heart over a sweetly-surfaced Machiavellian manipulator any day. Mind you, I'll still take the asshole to task for his assholish conduct, but at least I'll know he won't be plotting ways to sacrifice me for the greater good.

And yet for all of Dumbledore's manipulation, machination, and outright abuse towards Severus--and Severus, not being stupid, surely became aware of that side of Dumbledore, though apparently, being idealistic, he continued to cling to the hope that Dumbledore would prove to have a conscience, after all--Severus shows care and devotion towards this man. We see his concern in treating Dumbledore's injuries from the curse of Marvolo's ring, and in his horror at being asked to kill Dumbledore, and in his stubborn reluctance to carry through with that promise.

But Severus was honorable. He kept his word. Ironically, it was the virtue in Severus that enabled Dumbledore to exploit him so effectively: Promises extracted in moments of emotional vulnerability--and doesn't that seem to be Dumbledore's pattern with Severus?--would be held over Severus' head by Dumbledore; and Severus, to his credit, if also to his folly and self-defeat, honored his promises, even when he resented having been pressured into making them.

That, in my moral universe, is a big man.

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Pax vobiscum, Severus. People see the outward appearances, but Goddess sees the heart. ;-)