Continuing to work with the theme of "redemptive survival" versus "redemptive sacrifice" in literature, religion, and culture, I've been doing a lot of Googling on my cell phone and a lot of reading. It's clear that I need to address the root concept of "redemption" and what that means--something I've shied away from, because I know it's kind of a hot-button issue for many religious believers, especially Christian. But you know, I shouldn't let that stop me from thinking and questioning, or from writing about what I'm thinking and questioning, so I'll trust that self-expression wins out over considerations of diplomacy and press on. ;-)

(And in case anyone is unaware, I do have Christian roots: grew up Catholic--or, more precisely, "grew up Vatican II," guitar masses and all--spent a number of young adult years, off and on, involved in some form or other of evangelical Protestantism, and later explored mainline, liberal Christianity and its offshoots such as Unitarian Universalism--which, if I ever join a formal religious group, it will probably be the UUs, just because they're so inclusive that I don't risk no longer "fitting in" if my spiritual journey takes a new direction or starts drawing on a new tradition. But I digress. My point is that I am familiar with Christianity, if not at the seminarian's level, then certainly at the reading-and-thinking-about-it layperson's level. So what I write is not due to lack of exposure, but to questioning, and in some cases rejecting, the beliefs I was taught at various times.)

When I think of a person or a literary character being "redeemed," I don't think primarily in terms of being "forgiven" or "absolved" of their "sins" or wrongdoings. I certainly do NOT mean, well, they screwed up, but they paid in spades, so all is well. I don't think in terms of crime and punishment, sin and penance, when I think of redemption.

What do I think of, then?

"Redemption," to me, means being healed, integrated, made whole. It is a process of restoration to wholeness. The lamb wandered astray, and the goal is not to make the lamb suffer (or be "sacrificed") to "atone" for its screw-up but to bring the lamb back home, restore it to the community, restore it to a place of being at peace and made whole. Insofar as redemption involves "making amends," the point is to do what one can to correct errors and injuries one has committed, not to suffer simply for suffering's sake because one has forfeited the right to future happiness.

In sum, redemption involves restoration to others and to the community, but redemption also involves the restoration of the self, body, mind, and spirit, to healing and wholeness.

Those of you interested in the character of Severus Snape will, I'm sure, make the necessary applications. ;-) Those of you not interested in the character of Severus Snape won't care, so I'll spare you, at least for this post. This is what I do for fun. Have a great weekend, all!

NOTE: Even if you aren't one of the people on my f-list interested in Severus Snape and/or the Harry Potter series, please keep reading, because this post discusses one of the themes about which I am most passionate: redemptive survival as a guiding value and paradigm. I really want as many people as possible to join with me in exploring this theme. You'll figure out enough about this particular character and his situations to understand the ideas driving the discussion.

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In recent discussion on someone else's personal journal, a question about my story "Light Between the Cracks" has prompted me to collect my thoughts about why I am moved by the theme of having Severus "get over" Lily and "move on" with his life. One result, a beginning, is this little essay on analyzing Severus Snape through the lens of "redemptive survival" rather than the canon-preferred value of "redemptive sacrifice."

My motivation, in writing "Light Between the Cracks," was to find a way for Severus Snape to have a life--within the parameters of canon--that wasn't as thoroughly miserable and bleak as it appeared to be at first glance. Severus was revealed in Deathly Hallows to have a powerful capacity for love and loyalty. And I think it's fair to say that he was always shown to have a fair share of Slytherin self-interest as well. I wanted to find a way in which he might reasonably have directed his capacity (and desire) for love to a living person, requited, rather than solely to the unrequited and now-dead love of his youth.

Why would I want to write that? Why am I not content with canon as it is popularly presented and interpreted?

( Severus analysis behind the cut; conclusion below... )

THIS is the sort of thing I find noble and inspiring: healing and integration, moving on in spite of our wounds, finding a way back to some semblance of happiness, triumph of the human spirit over adversity and trauma, triumph over tragedy, refusing to let defeat be the final word.

I'm not real keen on the myth of redemptive sacrifice. In fact, I think it's fair to say I positively loathe the mythologization of sacrifice as redemptive. But that's another essay for another day, one which I am just starting to pull together. I'm totally passionate about exploring this theme of "redemptive survival" vs. "redemptive sacrifice" as our guiding cultural mythos. Deconstructing Dulce et decorum est, deconstructing the Grey Havens, deconstructing Gryffindor. Do any of you find the subject as exciting as I do? Please tell. I'd like to know I'm not the only one thinking along these lines!

O.K. So, because in a winter txtmsg discussion of Der Bingle with jemby, I said, oh, hey, maybe Ned should be into Bing Crosby's music in the 1930s, I started reading about Bing and his influence on American popular music. Dude, I had no idea. I was born in 1963, so I remember him mainly as the Minute Maid Orange Juice man in the floppy hat. But it turns out Bing was hugely influential and hugely popular in the 1930s and 1940s, and on into the 1950s. So, yeah, even though my novel will NOT be a mere compendium of cute-ass "see how much I know!" cultural references, I do need to include some cultural references for the sake of establishing Authenticity of Setting and all that.

I found a book called Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903-1940, by Gary Giddins. It proved to be just the overview I needed. I didn't have time to read all of it before I had to return it to the library--maybe because I've got about ten different projects going at the same time, in addition to working and getting a little exercise now and then and making time to get online now and then--but I gleaned enough to realize that Ned would naturally gravitate towards a personality like Bing Crosby.

Then I checked to see what his big watershed hit was that put him on the road to stardom. It was his second solo released under his own name (earlier recordings had been under the name of the group he was with), "Just One More Chance." One look at the lyrics, and I was saying, OMFG, is this apropos, or WHAT?!

Just one more chance
To prove it's you alone I care for
Each night I say a little prayer for
Just one more chance

Just one more night
To taste the kisses that enchant me
I'd want no others if you'd grant me
Just one more chance

I've learned the meaning of repentance
Now you're the jury at my trial
I know that I should serve my sentence
Still, I'm hoping all the while
You'll give me

Just one more word
I said that I was glad to start out
But now I'm back to cry my heart out
For just one more chance

We spend our lives in
groping for happiness
I found it once and tossed it aside
I paid for it with hours of loneliness
I've nothing to hide
I'd bury my pride for

Just one more chance
Just one more chance

I've learned the meaning of repentance
Now you're the jury at my trial
I know that I should serve my sentence
Still, I'm hoping all the while
You'll give me

Just one more word
I said that I was glad to start out
But now I'm back to cry my heart out
For just one more chance

All right. I will grant you that it's a love song, and damned near any relationship would probably fit this template at some point or other. But, well, it really fits Ned, and his residual guilt over the rocky start to his Happily Ever After with his childhood friend Frederick. Anyway, the fact that such a lyrically perfect song HAPPENED to be THE song that Made Bing Big is just a perfect coincidence for this narrator of Ned and Frederick's story.

So. La. When you read the finished novel, you'll see what I mean.

Here. Why don't you go watch this AWESOME VIDEO of Der Bingle singing "Just One More Chance." It is utterly utterly charming--though I had to laugh (as usual) at some of the comments, especially the one where someone speculated that Bing kissed the woman because she was whistling better than he was and he didn't want to be upstaged. Hoot. Ummm... I think mebbe it was because her lips were puckered and he just couldn't resist...

What a randy fellow. Who knew the Minute Maid Orange Juice man had it in him, back in the day.

There's a very well-written and thought-provoking essay over on Snapedom, in which the_bitter_word analyzes the character of Albus Dumbledore, especially in regard to his treatment of Severus Snape and other key characters in the Harry Potter series, in light of the DSM's criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. If you're familiar with the HP series and you're interested in the character of Albus Dumbledore and/or the character of Severus Snape and/or the disorder of Narcissism, get thee over and read the article.