With less than a month to go until Deathly Hallows is released, I'm finally well into my re-read of Half-Blood Prince. It took me a while to dive in, reluctant as I am to admit that once this book is done, there's only the final book to go.
But now that I'm in, I'm really in. In fact, I'm zipping along at a rather alarming pace, especially considering how much I have going on right now (including some rather large job and health insurance stresses). Well, maybe it's not surprising then that I'm enjoying my escape to Hogwarts!
This is the first time I've done a full re-read of HBP since a few months after its initial release. What's striking me this time around is how front and center the question of Snape's loyalties is. That may sound obvious, but it's not something I'd stopped to consider. We all know what happens at the end, and I guess in my mind I was remembering and counting that scene so prominently when it came to reflections on Snape's ultimate loyalties, that I'd half-way forgotten how deep that set-up goes. Rowling puts it front and center with the *Spinner's End* chapter (chapter 2); then has Harry overhear the conversation between Snape and Draco; then has him talk about the conversation in turn with Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid (and we get another clearly significant overheard conversation, this one the one Hagrid overhears between Dumbledore and Snape); then Harry talks it over with Lupin who gives us what I have to believe is a major authorial nudge when he says what you believe about Snape all comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore.
All this build-up is about as subtle as a bludger, at least in hindsight. I think that's what makes Rowling such a good storyteller. She can do these fairly obvious things, put these issues right on the table, but she interweaves them with other story strands so skillfully that sometimes you miss it -- until it about knocks you off your broom.
There's certainly no doubt in my mind that our consideration of Snape's loyalties is important, and is what Rowling wanted her readers to be doing in the space between books 6 and 7. Not, of course, that these reflections answer in any way where those ultimate loyalties lie...
25 more days and we'll know though!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yes, re-reading book six, the Snape issue really does jump out, and knowing where the book ends up, Spinner's End seems especially significant. And all along, I've found myself thinking, "It's so obvious that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince!" But while I think I might have considered him a possibility the first time around, he was only one of several, and if I did zero in on him as the former owner of Harry's book, it wasn't until pretty late in the game.
Did you hear that evidently somebody got their hands on a digital copy of Deathly Hallows and is leaking plot details everywhere? How aggravating...
Oh no...I hope that's just a rumor (that someone got a copy of DH, I mean, and is leaking spoilers). That would be horrible. I'm not usually a big fan of litigation, but if that's true, I hope JKR's lawyers go after this person and sue them. Not only does she deserve more respect than that, but so do her readers.
I don't want to hear anything!!
It's funny that you mentioned Snape's identity as the HBP. I'd almost forgotten that was ever a big mystery, though I don't think I completely figured it out on my first read-through. I think what pushed me in the direction of considering Snape, part-way through, was the tiny little detail JKR gave us of the "cramped" handwriting. I can't remember where else she gave us that detail about Snape, but I think she did somewhere in an earlier book and so it jumped out at me.
I'm still not completely sure what to make of the whole connection Harry has with Snape's old book. What's jumped out at me this time through is how much Harry seemed to like and admire the young Snape of the book's margins (when he didn't know it was Snape) and how well he was able to "learn" from him when he was free of all the animosity and prejudice that usually choke up things between them...
Interesting observation! The year that he learns the most in Potions from Snape is the year when Snape doesn't realize he's teaching him, and Harry doesn't realize Snape is teaching him...
Post a Comment