I agree that I think she got a little too famous for her own good. A less famous author would have gotten a better edit.
Now, I don't have as negative of a view of Snape as all that, but I do see fear as his most important motivator. But when Dumbledore says that maybe they shouldn't use the sorting hat so young, I think that does touch on an important part here.
See, Voldemort was evil from the beginning. Crabbe and Goyle were sadistic and stupid from the beginning. I don't think the same is true of Snape. I think Snape could have made better choices. The very fact that he was friends with Lily, the fact that he worried that James would hurt her, shows that he did have some compassion in him. However, he was tortured by Sirius and James and his only protection came from the Slytherins. Given his weakness, that is the perfect set up for a pretty screwed up kid.
I think Dumbledore is right: if Severus had been allowed to spend the first two years in an "open" school where he could have attached himself to Lily and seen how good people treat each other, if he had time to recover from the abuse at home, I think he would have become the person he had the potential to be. The early sorting took a boy who I felt like could have been Ravenclaw and took his fear to put him in with people who promised to alleviate that fear through giving him power. So, I see Snape as someone who had potential, but he wasn't strong enough on his own and he didn't have the support from outside to ever develop that potential.
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Now, I don't have as negative of a view of Snape as all that, but I do see fear as his most important motivator. But when Dumbledore says that maybe they shouldn't use the sorting hat so young, I think that does touch on an important part here.
See, Voldemort was evil from the beginning. Crabbe and Goyle were sadistic and stupid from the beginning. I don't think the same is true of Snape. I think Snape could have made better choices. The very fact that he was friends with Lily, the fact that he worried that James would hurt her, shows that he did have some compassion in him. However, he was tortured by Sirius and James and his only protection came from the Slytherins. Given his weakness, that is the perfect set up for a pretty screwed up kid.
I think Dumbledore is right: if Severus had been allowed to spend the first two years in an "open" school where he could have attached himself to Lily and seen how good people treat each other, if he had time to recover from the abuse at home, I think he would have become the person he had the potential to be. The early sorting took a boy who I felt like could have been Ravenclaw and took his fear to put him in with people who promised to alleviate that fear through giving him power. So, I see Snape as someone who had potential, but he wasn't strong enough on his own and he didn't have the support from outside to ever develop that potential.