My topic is Snape's worst memory in the pensieve: what does it say about him as a person if childhood cruelty is his worst memory? The question has been raised - is this truly Snape's worst memory or just one he planted hoping Harry would see it and raise doubts about James? What could his worst memory truly be?


I've wondered on this, and many more aspects of Snape for a long time. There are so many things about the pensieve scene that can be discussed, but I would like to focus on - why is this memory his worst? Certainly, for many people who have lived through an abusive childhood (as inferred by Harry's glimpse into his mind during occlumency lessons) and the torment we saw by his peers, it is reasonable that a memory in which he is humiliated in front of others could be his worst memory. But this is Snape we are talking about here: double agent spy, former? Death Eater, member of the Order of the Phoenix. Surely he has faced worse horrors then school-yard bullying in the presense of Lord Voldemort? Do the atrocities perpetrated by the Dark Lord not affect him as much as the pain suffered in youth? Does painful experiences in one's youth make it so one could deal with worse later in life? All interesting questions to me. I think, perhaps, if this is truly his worst memory it shows the sad, tormented and lonely person we can't see from the outside and that the oldest scars are the ones that do not heal.

However, I think there is a good chance that he planted that memory in the pensieve hoping that Harry would view it and have doubts about his father. James was not nice to Snape. It can't be denied. And Snape holds a long lasting grudge that seems to carry over to James' son. Would he not wish the son of his enemy to see that his father was not the perfect memory he would like to think? I think he would do that.

If this were not Snape's true worst memory, I would speculate upon it being something to do with a revelation he made to Dumbledore, which in turn made him trust Snape. It may have been a deciding factor in his decision to turn away from being a death eater, because it is my assertion that he is Dumbledore's man. But that is yet a different topic.

*discuss*

i think you're right about being his worst memory. surely there could have been another bad memory.
Maybe he did hope Harry would see what James did to him & Harry would start thinking his father was no good & stop talking good thing about him cos Snape's jelous cos Snape was never good at anything James was good at.

I'm going to reread this scene today at work so I can actually put some input into this conversation. But offhand, I have never thought about this possibly being a ploy on Snape's part. You're right. Being a Death Eater, there has to be something that he experienced that was worse than this. Snape did want Harry to see his father for who he was, because he hated how he worshipped James like a hero when he was a pretty cruel person as a teenager. On the other hand, your teenage years is a time when your ego is very fragile, and coming from personal experience, there is a great chance that wounds incurred during that time are very hard to heal. I believe it did all start with his parents. They abused him, and this combined with his unique personality didn't exactly make him a person that people wanted to be friends with. He didn't have the social skills to make friends, and when Voldemort came to power, he turned to him because at least he would receive some shallow form of a friendship.

Wait a minute, did JKR state that it was Snape's Worse Memory (outside of the chapter name) or did Harry automatically assume that it was Snape's worse memory?

Well, JKR titled the chapter that way. I don't think it was explicitly stated in the chatper that it was, but I haven't had a chance to read over that chapter again. I don't think Harry assumed it was his worst memory, just a bad one. But again, I need to reread this chapter tonight!

I'm not sure if JKR titled the chapter as an assumption by Harry (which is her point of view anyway) or a true stated fact that this was Snape's very worst memory. But I think unless she says right out that: "yes, this is his absolute worst," then I take all observations as purely Harry's point of view and therefore colored by his interpretation, i.e. not necessarily a fact.

I completely agree with you Caitlin about teenage wounds being very hard to heal and given Snape's personality and background and his obvious holding of grudges that this could be his worst. I still have that twinge of a doubt... A question... there are years and so many experiences after this scene which could have ranked up there as bad memories. Snape, as said by JKR, was once loved by someone... did he lose that someone? *ponders* And again, that penchant for holding grudges... I could still see him planting that memory for Harry... hhmmmm

Snapes worst memory was the title of that chapter. If I'm not mistaken, there were three memories in that pensieve. Harry only saw one. Could the others have been worse. For example, could he have witnessed what happened at Godric Hollow? Also, the pensieve was used to store memories so others couldn't read your thoughts. Who was he hiding them from. Dumbledore could have accessed the pensieve at any time, but LV couldn"t.

It could easily have been named after the assumption made by Harry. JKR is sneaky in that way and wouldn't give it away. Harry needed to know what his father was like, and that trip into the pensieve certainly pushed him into relaity and got him questioning what he knew of his father. It would have been extremely clever, but surely it would have been quite a risk. Would Snape have had any control of which memory had been seen? Or maybe, just maybe... Dumbledore wanted Harry to see it? Because as Darlinga said, Dumbledore had access it at any time.

i dont believe it is his WORST memory either i mean yes it was sad and all but im sure worse things have happened to Severus in his life..

That was ain interesting scene though

It would be rather interesting to hear about his childhood... then we may have a little more to base this on... but I understand that that may not be possible. However, it could be brought into the next book and if not, I'm sure JKR will enlighten us...

yeh see how he learn all the spell befor hogwart that would be good.

Well, we already have a glimpse into his childhood, at least from what we've seen from OotP and HBP. It wasn't a happy childhood, and as I've said before, that can scar a kid for life!

I have trouble believing it was REALLY the WORST memory.....with the kind of childhood alleged in the book, it just seems like he MUST have experienced worse things. However, IMHO if Snape just wanted to plant a memory for Harry to find, surely he would have planted a vicious one, showing Harry's father in a much worse light?

hugs,
sue

Actually, I think that this was a great memory to get planted in Harry mind, if that was the intention. Anything worse, and maybe Harry wouldn't believe him. But this memory, Harry had been told that James liked to get in trouble, so it was a believable one!

If it was the intention, it would have been the perfect memory to get Harry thinking... it certainly raised many doubts in him.
However.. I still hold onto the possibility that it was because that was the day Lily gave up on Sev... Lol

LOL. Can you imagine what life would have been like if Lily and Sev had gotten married and had kids? But I suppose that's another discussion board...lol

Maybe he unalterably lost that someone in this very memory ... The young couple had had a quarrel about let´s say using the Dark Arts or joining Voldemort. Snape was angry to Lily. He called her mudblood without thinking, because that was what some of his Slytherin pals, the ones that became Death Eaters, called her. Lily knew how much Severus hated being called Snivellus, and - fair enough - called him that.

The worst part of the memory - along with Lily using that hated name - might be that he thinks he maybe just then lost Lily to Potter. Well, calling someone a mudblood is not very nice either, have to admit. If I were Lily I might have done the same thing. Words can make deeper wounds than knives, sometimes.

I agree he might have also put the memory into the pensieve on purpose, knowing that Harry cannot keep his long nose away from things that doesn´t concern him (have to admit, though, they usually concern Harry very much, lol!), but would he in that case have chosen a memory with such an embarrasing scene with his underwear?

The Snapes probably couldn´t afford to buy much clotehes and the undies were probably accidentally washed with black robes and turned grey ... Or he was given someone´s old clothes ... Wait, maybe this was Dumbledore´s orders, in order to make Harry understand Snape! They had both had to use someone elses clothes ... But still, hard to believe he would have agreed to put that scene there.

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LOL. Can you imagine what life would have been like if Lily and Sev had gotten married and had kids? But I suppose that's another discussion board...lol

LMAO you should request that as a topic of discussion... that would be so funny...
*Points out that that is her theory as well* That is the day she gave up on him... and I'm sure that that kicked in later in life...
Can't argue with that... but it certainly made Harry see that his father was not who he thought...maybe it was worth the humiliation?

Um... I don't understand the clothes part there... why would Dumbledore order him to wear somebody elses clothes?

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*Points out that that is her theory as well* That is the day she gave up on him... and I'm sure that that kicked in later in life...

I noticed you saying that And I know we both are supporters of this "Lily and Severus are likely to have had something between them" -theory. Even though I didn´t say it was either of them that dumbed the other, but they somehow grew - very fast - apart after that scene

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Um... I don't understand the clothes part there... why would Dumbledore order him to wear somebody elses clothes?

*doesn´t have time go re-reading what she wrote*

Did I write that way? I meant Dumbledore might have wanted to show Harry he (Harry) is not the only one who has had to wear someone´s old clothes ...

Another thought. Could Snape have realized that Harry was real close to finding out what really happened at Godric's Hollow and that he was involved in it. Could the memory have been trying to justify, to Harry, why he did what he did? We have no way of knowing how much more of the memory there was because of Snapes interruption. Or, how long Snape was standing behind Harry before he interrupted. Could he have been somehow monitoring the memory by reading Harrys mind?

He might very well have observed the scene for a while, then stopped it at a suitable moment, before it gets any worse. I don´t think, though, it has anything to do with justifying Godric´s Hollow. We are just making theories, and we cannot assume Harry would have thought about similar theories about his mom and Snape, since he was only a teenaged boy ... And would he have thought about it, he´d probably tried to kill poor Snapey, just like some Snape-hating fans do (How can anyone hate Snapey ... )

But yeah, I like your theory about Severus watching the scene before interrupting it. Also that monitoring is very much possible, because Harry was still even in the sixth book a bit too "openminded" to Snape, who could easily block any of his pathetic spells

Ooooh I like that!!! Makes a lot of sense that Snape was standing there for some time and knew just when to interupt!

Oooh I like that too! That sounds like a good idea.

It could have been Snapes worst memory because Lily saw him get humilated and for no other reason.

I think that Snape and Lily could have met in Slughorns class and since they were both so exceptional at potions became friends.

He loved her while she loved James and that is why Snape feels so strongly towards Harry's father.

It was not that he was bullied by James but that he allowed it hoping that Lily would fall for him instead of the mean kid. When that did not happen and after she married James he became a Deatheater.

When he found out that Voldemort intended to go after the Potters he turned spy only to protect Lily and when he failed he became bitter and placed the blame at Jame's feet.

Snape is torn between protecting the boy who looks so much like James and looking in the eyes of Lily and failing her a second time.

I don't think that was his worst memory but it is the one where it began. His worst memory would be when he found out that Lily had been killed.

That is one of my theories anyway. I have the one where Snapes is evil to but I like to think even he will get a second chance or third depending on who is counting.

Very awesome theory, Oona! You always have good ones! LOL. Only thing is that Lily didn't start to like James until her seventh year, but your theory is still very strong despite that! I think we'll find out a lot about Lily and Snape's backstory in the final book! I like the idea that Snape's worst memory is finding out that Lily had been killed. That is very possible.