From the category archives:

Severus Snape

A Party and a Promise

by Travis Prinzi 06.08.2009

Harry was supposed to have been reading Quintessence: A Quest. Perhaps if he’d actually read it, he’d not have spent so much time wandering around and having to pass yet again through the three stages of alchemy in Deathly Hallows? “Quintessence” means:

the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was [...]

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Snape Victorious

by Travis Prinzi 05.23.2009

Am I missing something, or does the artwork for this chapter in the U.S. edition have nothing whatsoever to do with this chapter?
It’s always fun to see Rowling playing with quick lines of foreshadowing after having read what was being foreshadowed.  In the beginning of Chapter 8 of Half-Blood Prince, while Harry is paralyzed from [...]

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Severus Snape, Fiery Snake

by Travis Prinzi 05.06.2009

The last two words of Chapter 2 of Half-Blood Prince, “Spinner’s End,” are “fiery snake.”  These were very well-chosen words by J.K. Rowling, especially given what she wrote in Deathly Hallows. The term “fiery snake” is used to describe the third and binding magical movement of the Unbreakable Vow.
Dumbledore said to Snape in “The Prince’s [...]

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Sorcerer’s Stone Week, Day 4: The Snape Story

by Travis Prinzi 09.24.2008

It seemed pretty evident in the first book that Severus Snape was going to be an intriguing character.  This is a post dedicated to the greasy potions master.  Several questions for consideration and comment:

In what clever ways did Rowling set up the Snape plot in book one?  
Any Snape foreshadowing that you missed in the [...]

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Voldemort is a Failed Character (Part II)

by Dave the Longwinded 08.08.2008

by Dave
Part I of this series: Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails
“Behind the scenes” is a trope of long standing tradition in many forms of literature. In a recent essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Terry W. Thompson argues that the violent deaths occur off the page as a direct result of Shelley’s love of classical [...]

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Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails (Part I)

by Dave the Longwinded 07.17.2008

by Dave
Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both enlightens and befuddles the reader, at once shedding light on his origins [...]

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The Snaped Crusader (#2): The Rise and Fall of Harry’s Nemesis

by Dave the Longwinded 02.18.2008

by Dave
A standard literary trope is to set characters against each other, playing one’s personna in relationship to another. Typically, we find the “arch”-nemesis, especially in adventure or heroic stories. The main character is opposed by a primary antagonist, and the juxtaposition of these characters reveals something about one or both to the [...]

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Snape is Heathcliff is House, M.D.?

by Travis Prinzi 11.18.2007

by Travis
This is not an academic essay. It contains random musings, and I welcome all comments, questions, and declarations of heresy.
In many ways, my 6 year detour from English and literature studies into Theology prepared me well to be able to handle the fringe Christian response to the Harry Potter series, but put me [...]

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