Is Snape Dumbledore's Man? [Spoliers for Deathly Hallows]

[RobRoy]

[But by his own representations, Snape served Dumbledores' ends in the war against LV only out of his love of Lily.

That makes him a man who served his own ends; "out for himself"; or, at best, "Lily's man".

Not Dumbledores'.

Not at all. Snape took sides because of his motivations. But he served out Dumbledore's will.

Note: I gather you are taking the view that Harry represent's Harry's voice, and Harry's viewpoint exactly mirrors the author's at every turn. But that means, Harry never does anything wrong, never has "unjust" thoughts, and so forth. When he spends most of Order of the Pheonix seething with anger at the entire Wizarding World, including his friends, JKR is angry at them too ?

Doesn't make sense to me.

An Author's Voice does not represent the author herself. Rather boring if that were the case. Instead, the Author's Voice is used to convey thoughts, emotions, messages, etc. held by the author. That does not mean said character will be free from error, mistakes, misjudgements. Simply that in the final analysis, we can see the author's point of view (to whatever extent) via that character.

[Darq Ali]

Not at all. Snape took sides because of his motivations. But he served out Dumbledore's will.



An Author's Voice does not represent the author herself. Rather boring if that were the case. Instead, the Author's Voice is used to convey thoughts, emotions, messages, etc. held by the author. That does not mean said character will be free from error, mistakes, misjudgements. Simply that in the final analysis, we can see the author's point of view (to whatever extent) via that character.

Doesn't this vary with the book?

JKR has things to tell us. The story is the means by which she does so.

Sometimes Harry is the vehicle; his thoughts, his actions, his motives, his emotions.

But other people represent the Author's messages, too.

For example, Parenthood, and the duties of Mothers and Fathers are major points. Lily's act to save Harry, Molly's greatest fear manifested by the Boggert, and Narcissa's fears for, and attempts to assist, her son Draco all illustrate this {as do other characters and their actions; the Dursleys' treatment of Dudley serving as a negative model, for example}.

Harry may serve the same, and often does as the protagonist. For example, his reaction to Lupin's proposal to come with the Trio on their Horcrux hunt ....... and his speech, about abandoning Tonks now that she is pregant, and what Lupin's friend, James Potter, would have thought about Lupin abandoning his own unborn child, to go off "on an adventure" .......... and later, Lupins' speech on the radio, about Harry trusting his instincts, which 'are nearly always right' ........... all fall into the same catagory.

Each speaks JKR's message about parents.

Harry, otoh, speaks, thinks and acts in ways that sometimes do not mirror JKR's message, attitudes or thoughts. I don't see JKR as an angry person, so "angry Harry" doesn't represent JKR's attitude.

I wholly agree that Harry sees Snape as "Dumbledore's Man". He tells LV exactly that. I do not see this necessiarly as the author's message about Snape, her opinion of the character.

[RobRoy]

Doesn't this vary with the book?

Nopers.

JKR has things to tell us. The story is the means by which she does so.

Yeppers.

Sometimes Harry is the vehicle; his thoughts, his actions, his motives, his emotions.

But other people represent the Author's messages, too.

Not in disagreement at all. I was simply defending the concept of Harry as Author's Voice against the assertion that "Harry never does anything wrong, never has "unjust" thoughts, and so forth" void him from that position. This is not the case.