Oooookay. I'm having a hard time with most of this because I totally don't see how Snape is a father figure for Harry. Draco, yes; Snape does treat Draco with a preference that implies at least a mentoring relationship, and can be interpreted as a surrogate father relationship. But Harry? You're going to have to convince me of this.
I think we're just using the term differently--and your way is more accurate. Usually when we say "father figure" we mean someone who is a father, which means they're supportive, they care about you, you look up to them. I agree Harry and Snape are none of these things.
What I think of Snape as is more of a parody of the Bad Father or the Dark Father--which is partially why it amuses me from Snape's pov. He has no fatherly feeling for Harry at all, but he still winds up put in the position of being the older male with which Harry interacts more than others. Dumbledore mentors Harry from a distance in his headmaster's office, there to explain things at the end of the story, but Snape is more like the fairy tale Ogre of a father who always punishes, always says Harry will never do anything right, is the guy Harry wants to beat, the guy who was his real father's enemy etc.
I may not be explaining it well, because you're absolutely right in the way you're describing Snape's relationship with Harry and Draco. It just seems like in a mythological or fairy tale sense, Snape is the Dark Father figure--if this were Cinderella he'd be the stepmother that we hate, split off from the fairy godmother/dead perfect mother.
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Re: Snape as father figure to Harry
Date: 2005-07-22 03:29 am (UTC)I think we're just using the term differently--and your way is more accurate. Usually when we say "father figure" we mean someone who is a father, which means they're supportive, they care about you, you look up to them. I agree Harry and Snape are none of these things.
What I think of Snape as is more of a parody of the Bad Father or the Dark Father--which is partially why it amuses me from Snape's pov. He has no fatherly feeling for Harry at all, but he still winds up put in the position of being the older male with which Harry interacts more than others. Dumbledore mentors Harry from a distance in his headmaster's office, there to explain things at the end of the story, but Snape is more like the fairy tale Ogre of a father who always punishes, always says Harry will never do anything right, is the guy Harry wants to beat, the guy who was his real father's enemy etc.
I may not be explaining it well, because you're absolutely right in the way you're describing Snape's relationship with Harry and Draco. It just seems like in a mythological or fairy tale sense, Snape is the Dark Father figure--if this were Cinderella he'd be the stepmother that we hate, split off from the fairy godmother/dead perfect mother.