Dear me, I really feel I must jump in here. I'm currently finishing Whitehound's amazingly thorough, fair, and impartial explication of All Things Snape called, "But Snape is Just Nasty, Right?" This long (about 80 pages, I think) article is required reading for anybody who wants to discuss Snape's character, behavior, history, and motivations. She covers literally every reference to him and every scene involving him in all seven books from both pro and con Snape angles. I can't recommend it too highly. The link is here: http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/Fanfic/good_or_bad_Snape.htm
As for what Severus did or didn't know when he joined the DEs: Mary has astutely pointed out Moldy Shorts was running a cult. Cult expert Steven Hassan says that cults present two faces to the world: a benign face for the world at large and new recruits, and their true, malignant face once the recruits have gotten sucked in and can't escape. He adds that anyone can be tricked into joining a cult. Hassan himself came from a loving, supportive, two-parent family, but he still joined the Moonies.
Hassan's BITE model of cult characteristics sounds like JKR's template for constructing her wizarding world. That is, the entire WW in these books is one giant cult. So no matter what Severus did, he would have been a cult member just by virtue of being a wizard. Once you realize this, the bigotry, immaturity, paranoia, moral corruption, and emotional flatness exhibited by the characters in the WW makes perfect sense. Cults are evil by definition because they force people to (1) never grow up, but remain children dependent on the cult leader, and (2) forfeit their genuine personalities in favor of becoming clones of the cult leader. Hassan's section on the BITE model is not required reading for HP readers, but it certainly enhances the experience of the books and makes sense of JKR's incoherence. His website is freedomofmind.com.
Last, if I were going to compare Severus to a superhero, it would be Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer. They are both exceptionally powerful yet vulnerable mortals who frequently chafe against the restraints on them and exhibit resentment about their sacred duty but always end up doing the right thing anyway. And for us Snape fans, he is the Chosen One. ;-)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-12 07:59 am (UTC)http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/Fanfic/good_or_bad_Snape.htm
As for what Severus did or didn't know when he joined the DEs: Mary has astutely pointed out Moldy Shorts was running a cult. Cult expert Steven Hassan says that cults present two faces to the world: a benign face for the world at large and new recruits, and their true, malignant face once the recruits have gotten sucked in and can't escape. He adds that anyone can be tricked into joining a cult. Hassan himself came from a loving, supportive, two-parent family, but he still joined the Moonies.
Hassan's BITE model of cult characteristics sounds like JKR's template for constructing her wizarding world. That is, the entire WW in these books is one giant cult. So no matter what Severus did, he would have been a cult member just by virtue of being a wizard. Once you realize this, the bigotry, immaturity, paranoia, moral corruption, and emotional flatness exhibited by the characters in the WW makes perfect sense. Cults are evil by definition because they force people to (1) never grow up, but remain children dependent on the cult leader, and (2) forfeit their genuine personalities in favor of becoming clones of the cult leader. Hassan's section on the BITE model is not required reading for HP readers, but it certainly enhances the experience of the books and makes sense of JKR's incoherence. His website is freedomofmind.com.
Last, if I were going to compare Severus to a superhero, it would be Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer. They are both exceptionally powerful yet vulnerable mortals who frequently chafe against the restraints on them and exhibit resentment about their sacred duty but always end up doing the right thing anyway. And for us Snape fans, he is the Chosen One. ;-)
oneandthetruth