"mired in adolescence"

[arcanetrivia]

Reposted with permission from atdelphi, from this thread in persepolis130's journal. I just thought these were some really insightful comments:

Just chiming in as someone who likes to ship Snape with Dumbledore, Filch, McGonagall, Hagrid, or Slughorn. I had to fudge some of my answers - for instance, none of those listed pairings would make me spew, and none of the Lily options really described my view of the relationship (that is to say, looking at the character, I see a difference between how Snape would feel about Lily and how he would think he feels. To me, a defining point of the character is how his position at Hogwarts has kept him mired in his adolescence, living on grudges and wrongs, stunted emotionally and possessing a distorted self-awareness). In short, I think what he's in love with by the end of the series has more to do with ideals, guilt, himself, and lost opportunities than any real woman, but they all go by the name Lily. [emphasis mine]

I've always enjoyed the mirroring in PoA, where we see Snape and Sirius set up as the least mature adults in the series - Snape for his pettiness, Sirius for his recklessness, both for their obsession with the past - and you realise that just as Sirius is emotionally arrested at twenty-one from being locked away at that age, so is Snape. The presence of the Dementors at Hogwarts really needles in that image of Hogwarts as Snape's Azkaban, a place where he's forced to relive his unhappy memories. Then in HBP we get that chilling note of finding out why [emphasis original] Snape keeps asking for the Defence position - because he knows that the Defence professor never comes back the next year.


FWIW what she says about "mirroring" with Sirius is one of the reasons I like to ship those two, actually. :)

Comments

[nehalenia.livejournal.com]

That's a fantastic insight! I never thought of Hogwart's as Snape's Azkaban but it makes so much sense. Also, I figured him asking for the defense job was a screen -- just a story they let out -- but I love that interpretation: so he could be free.

Yup. Snape and Sirius are kind of each other's dark mirrors. Neat thoughts.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

"what she says about "mirroring" with Sirius is one of the reasons I like to ship those two, actually. :)"

Now that makes sense. When you look at it that way...well, lets just say that that interpretation is the first I've ever heard that would make me open to a ship between the two. It still think it would be pretty brutal and paiful and that the two of them would be honing one another's characters like crazy (i.e. clashing in intense, petty and immature ways), but I could buy it.

Thanks for sharing.

[elethian.livejournal.com]

It still think it would be pretty brutal and paiful and that the two of them would be honing one another's characters like crazy (i.e. clashing in intense, petty and immature ways)

Oh yes. That's what makes it so intense and fun. :)