J.K. Rowling continues to display her prowess as a writer in Chapter Two of The Half-Blood Prince: 'Spinner's End'.
At this point in her writing, Rowling knows that one of the key questions that still dominates the minds of her avid readership is which master Severus Snape truly serves: Albus Dumbledore or the Dark Lord.
And she knows that her readers are beginning to question how Snape could possibly be anything but a good guy, despite his loathing of Harry Potter -- he's just had too many opportunities to commit truly evil acts and failed to do so. He's had Harry at his mercy several times and failed to take advantage; he's been in a position to help Voldemort accomplish his plans on numerous occasions and hasn't done so; he has earned Dumbledore's trust and that trust is apparently unshakeable. As Lupin says, if we trust Dumbledore (and we absolutely do), then we have to trust Snape as well.
So she gives us 'Spinner's End', a chapter that is carefully crafted to address our doubts through a beautifully written confrontation between Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange. In this scene, Rowling has Bellatrix speak all of our doubts, all of our questions, and requires Snape to answer them.
Why didn't you kill Harry Potter on any one of the hundreds of occasions that you were alone with him at Hogwarts over the years?
Why did you help to thwart the Dark Lord's plans with regard to the Philosopher's Stone, the diary, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix?
Why didn't you fly to Voldemort when he called his Death Eaters to him in the graveyard, when he needed help to obtain the prophesy at the Ministry?
Why are you not providing better information on Dumbledore and the Order?
And many more.
We are thinking these questions. Bellatrix demands answers to them.
It's a brilliant strategy from Rowling. Even though we despise Bella, we find ourselves nodding as she fires question after question at Snape. We have had these doubts too! We wonder about Snape's allegiances as well.
And it's fundamentally necessary, critical in fact, to the effectiveness of the seventh and final book that we never suspect the truth about Severus Snape. We must believe he is a Voldemort disciple for much of the suspense in The Deathly Hallows to work, for the surprise at the end to be effective.
So it is crucial that the explanations Rowling places in Snape's mouth be convincing.
And they are. Snape is witty, and sarcastic, and... honest (we think) both in admitting to his mistakes and asserting his successes. He repeats, over and over again, that Voldemort asked the same questions of him and that Voldemort is satisfied with his answers.
In a wonderful twist on Lupin's we-trust-Dumbledore-so-we-must-trust-Snape motto, Snape himself challenges Bellatrix to say that she believes Voldemort to be mistaken in choosing to accept Snape's answers. Bellatrix, of course, refuses to do so.
In essence, Snape says, 'if you trust Voldemort, you trust me'.
And then, to seal the deal in this amazing chapter, Snape submits to entering into the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, a submission that Bellatrix never expected, an action that finally convinces Bellatrix and, in doing so, convinces us.
Rowling has effectively dealt with our doubts about Snape and prepared the way for her own seventh novel: Snape is a Death Eater, Voldemort's most ardent supporter. He has Dumbledore hoodwinked and, when he kills Dumbledore at the end of the sixth book, that final act simply confirms the belief that has been created in this epic second chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment