Bad Behavior, Fairness, Snape and the Dursleys

[Steve Bates]

No: HPFGUIDX 1448

<<Why are we (HP fanatics, that is) willing to accept the improbably 
bad behavior of the Dursleys, but not of Snape?>>

We don't expect the Dursleys to be realistic because of the neat 
trick JKR has done by creating such lifelike worlds and characters: 
we see the world of wizards, witches, dragons, and elves as the "real 
world" while the mundane, ordinary world seems like fiction.  It is 
the wizard world that is the center of Harry Potter, while the Muggle 
world is on the fringe.  So we don't expect the Muggle world to have 
many interesting people or events.  We recognize that the Dursleys 
don't add much to Harry's life, and they are just *so* one 
dimensional that we know they are a lost cause.  But in the three 
dimensional wizard world, we expect characters to behave more 
realistically; hence our surprise that Snape gets away with as much 
as he does.  But Dubledore probably knows what he is doing, and there 
is much more to his relationship with Snape than we know, so he 
probably has his reasons for not doing anything about the situation.  
Or else, he intended to do something about Snape years ago, but put 
his thoughts about the Potions master in the Pensieve and never got 
around to fishing them out again.