[HPforGrownups] Teachers - Godparents/Relatives - Religion

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 17248

CAVEAT: This post does ramble, from Sarah's very good observation to a
slightly related question of my own. It is true Professor Amanda Binns,
so delete it now if you're not in the mood.....

Sarah Waggott wrote:

> Something I don't think anyone has pointed out yet (sorry if you
> have!)

Don't think they have, well done! It took me months to say anything new.
And I still dont' do it very often...<g>

> is that students react differently to their teachers as they move up
> through school.

<snip>

> Getting back on track and tying in with the Harry's pov thing, is it
> possible that his relationship with the teachers will change in the
> next 3 years? I think this is probable, in which case our perceptions
> of them will also change. The exception to this is going to be Snape,
> if Harry views him in a different light, it will be because of events
> at the end of GoF etc. rather than a developing relationship with the
> Potions Master. I don't think anyone has been through this sort of
> thing with Snape, he keeps himself very much to himself, methinks.

Tremendously good point. We remember that they're just kids growing up
in most other threads, but I don't know that anyone's brought it to the
"teacher" one (except to note that Lupin and/or fake Moody are some sort
of familial figure to Harry, and help "bring him out" as he's maturing).

I think, if there's no deepening or changing of relationship with Snape,
that it will be as much Snape's fault as anyone's. Snape seems to me to
be a man on emotional autopilot. In that vein, he seems to form his
opinion of students quickly, and not necessarily on a valid basis, and
retain that opinion for the rest of the time he deals with them.

I think this "autopilot" mode is a form of self-defense, in that Snape's
been through some major-league trauma and he simply doesn't bring all of
himself to bear in day-to-day life anymore. He can get by just fine,
doing his job and living at Hogwarts, using the shallow emptinesses of
the rules and professional courtesies and etiquettes and that sort of
thing. None of that demands introspection, self-examination, intimacy,
or effort. It's a "coasting" mode.

The times we have seen Snape truly emotional have all been when the past
was invoked. His emotional involvement ended there. He's emotional about
Harry because he touches on the past.

So I wonder how the new information Snape's been handed--that Sirius is
in fact innocent, as is Lupin, that James was right about Sirius, that
Harry has met and eluded Voldemort again--is going to affect his whole
manner of being, let alone his teaching or how he interacts with Harry.
All of this touches on the past, all of it must affect his viewpoint and
actions, all of it must be assimilated--and all of it had been nicely
sublimated and must be exhumed. Hmmm.

--Amanda, verbose today


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