/If Harry Potter is a hero because of the manner and purpose of his death, then so is Severus Snape!/
True, but maybe some fans don’t acknowledge that because of the alleged motivations for each. The narrative says that Harry sacrificed his life for the safety of all, but the narrative says that Snape only sacrificed his life for Lily. In other words, “Snape only turned to the Light because of a teenage crush” doesn’t sound halfway as noble or selfless as Harry’s reason, even though there are many examples in the text of Snape caring for people other than Lily.
/I find this whole snake = evil business really offensive. Rowling needs to use some of that money she’s earned to take a course in zoology. Snakes are very valuable animals. Their main prey is rodents; without them, people would lose many more tons of grain to mice and rats than we do./
It’s true that snakes don’t deserve their nefarious reputation. But to play the devil’s advocate, JKR is not the first nor will she be the last to use snakes as a negative symbol. As you’ve said, there’s been a long history of snakes being portrayed negatively in Western culture, so it’s not as if JKR came up with the idea by herself. On the other hand, she does nothing to challenge or subvert the negative image of snakes, so that was a choice on her part.
Thanks for the added info about the historical symbolism of snakes around the world, it was very interesting.
/The description makes it sound like a Laura Ashley showroom exploded, with the addition of decorative plates with nauseatingly cute pictures of kittens on them./
Either this is supposed to be an indicator of the deceptive nature of Umbridge’s evil (even though that was already made clear in OotP) or maybe JKR doesn’t like stereotypically feminine things like pink and cute kitty memorabilia (note how girly Lavender is depicted in HBP).
/It doesn’t surprise me that Rowling hates cats./
Well, Ms. Figg and Umbridge’s love of cats may be portrayed negatively, but McGonagall is a cat Animagus and I don’t think that we’re supposed to look down on her for that.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-04-16 03:27 pm (UTC)True, but maybe some fans don’t acknowledge that because of the alleged motivations for each. The narrative says that Harry sacrificed his life for the safety of all, but the narrative says that Snape only sacrificed his life for Lily. In other words, “Snape only turned to the Light because of a teenage crush” doesn’t sound halfway as noble or selfless as Harry’s reason, even though there are many examples in the text of Snape caring for people other than Lily.
/I find this whole snake = evil business really offensive. Rowling needs to use some of that money she’s earned to take a course in zoology. Snakes are very valuable animals. Their main prey is rodents; without them, people would lose many more tons of grain to mice and rats than we do./
It’s true that snakes don’t deserve their nefarious reputation. But to play the devil’s advocate, JKR is not the first nor will she be the last to use snakes as a negative symbol. As you’ve said, there’s been a long history of snakes being portrayed negatively in Western culture, so it’s not as if JKR came up with the idea by herself. On the other hand, she does nothing to challenge or subvert the negative image of snakes, so that was a choice on her part.
Thanks for the added info about the historical symbolism of snakes around the world, it was very interesting.
/The description makes it sound like a Laura Ashley showroom exploded, with the addition of decorative plates with nauseatingly cute pictures of kittens on them./
Either this is supposed to be an indicator of the deceptive nature of Umbridge’s evil (even though that was already made clear in OotP) or maybe JKR doesn’t like stereotypically feminine things like pink and cute kitty memorabilia (note how girly Lavender is depicted in HBP).
/It doesn’t surprise me that Rowling hates cats./
Well, Ms. Figg and Umbridge’s love of cats may be portrayed negatively, but McGonagall is a cat Animagus and I don’t think that we’re supposed to look down on her for that.