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<  Personae  ~  Thoughts on the SS/HG pairing

sevisnape
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:18 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 4
Well I've finally got round to reading 'Lolita' By Vladimir Nabokov
(which I thoroughly enjoyed) I found myself thinking about how Severus
Snape might have viewed Hermione in her earlier school years.

By this I don't mean that I perceive him to be a pedophile, far from,
for I don't even think of the books subjects as a pedophile. He didn't
love little girls for being little girls it was only certain ones,
that turned out to be far less childish than the eye would have you
believe. they always conceal a hidden sexuality even at the age of 12,
'nymphets' as Nabokov calls them.

It got me thinking if perhaps there was this nymphatic quality to
Hermione in her younger years, for we only ever see her through the
eyes of Harry and as a boy of the same age, and already with eyes for
someone else, won't have seen.

I have never written a story with Hermione under the age of consent,
and I never would, but what if the allure was already there and
Severus Snape saw it?

Could it be another plot device to drive these two together?

(I am fully aware of the fact that JKRowling never intended these two
to be together and this notion is purely of my own mind.)

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Circle_of_Echoes
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:17 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 9
Hmm. IMHO, the Lolita concept would be impossible as a plot device in this pairing. Read the canon descriptions of Hermione again: physically, she's about as far from the nymphet mold as it's possible to get, and her mental/intellectual makeup virtually guarantees that she will never fall into it even as she grows up.

Bearing in mind that the Lolita/Humbert relationship is a two-way street:

Nymphets are defined--and define themselves--by their physicality alone. That's what they use, appropriately or inappropriately, to attract men (again, either appropriate or inappropriate ones). No way in any universe could I imagine Hermione Granger *ever* placing that kind of value on her body to the exclusion of her mind, and I think she'd be utterly disgusted by any man who would be attracted to her for that reason.

From Snape's standpoint, do I think he could end up as a Humbert? To put it bluntly, hell no. It's made very clear from the outset that he despises children, and the thought of having anything physically to do with one would no doubt make him just as physically ill. I can't remember whose story I read it in--and if you recognize your creation, please let me know!--but it was written that no matter how many years passed, and no matter how far they grew into adulthood, he always saw his former students as first-years. They're noisy, demanding, all-consuming locusts who give him a headache, not a hard-on.

That said, how would Snape have viewed Hermione in her early years? Actually, I think it would have been just as the author stated: he would have seen her as a vastly irritating know-it-all who didn't know how to keep her big mouth shut. Perfectionists annoy everybody (including their teachers), and Hermione is nothing if not that. Hardly alluring.

And there would have been something else thrown into the mix: intellectual jealousy on Snape's part, whether or not he would ever admit it to himself. So many stories picture him as being hopelessly attracted to a girl who is his intellectual equal or superior, when, in this particular case, such a thing would have threatened his view of himself as a top-of-the-food-chain scholar, and it would have made him furiously angry. If HBP and DH made nothing else clear, it was that his accomplishments were downplayed or ignored in favor of those made by students who were more attractive and popular (an unfortunate fact in real life, too; and yes, studies have been done that prove it), and he would hardly appreciate being undermined in the one area that bolsters his pride and shores up his shaky self-esteem. Even if Hermione were the most gorgeous, flirty Lolita of the century--and making the truly off-the-wall assumption that Snape could be drawn under her influence--her intellectual prowess alone would insure that any attempt at such a relationship would fail.

Echo
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MaliciousWisp
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 22 Feb 2012 Posts: 2
@ Circle_of_Echoes - You're thinking of 'You can't have one without the other' by RachelW.

---

I can fully understand your desire to try and put Lolita and SS/HG together. When I was younger I read this story in class and stalked my teachers(But let's not get into that).

Funnily enough, just today at work before seeing this thread I was trying to make the same two things stitch together, but I couldn't pin any ideas down hard enough to form anything solid, but I'm more than happy to share my musings with you.

I don't really see Hermione as a Nymphet at all, as Echo said, and I feel Severus is far, far too sophistocated to be a Humbert. Humbert, at his finest was a bit of a fool with little to no conviction. However, there are still some central themes that can be taken, here.

The idea was that Severus fixated on her in her earlier years not as an object of love or sexual affection, but as a prodigy. After all, what's the most obvious thing about her? Super intelligent over-achiever. Snape could privately be driving her by giving her slightly lower marks than she deserves in order to entice her into working harder and harder for him- Perhaps he gets some kind of power trip over seeing how hard she works for him?

Perhaps as she gets older, his concept of 'prodigy' changes? That would be something for you to get inside your Snape's head and decide. However, I've seen FF of Dumbledore and a house elf, far be it from me to tell you what you can and can't do ;D

Hopefully I've helped.
Wisp
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