Neville and Snape

[pigwidgeon37 at yahoo.it]

No: HPFGUIDX 23009


jenny from ravenclaw wrote:
<I think Snape is mean to Neville for the worst reason possible: 
<Snape has no respect for Neville and thinks Neville is weak. In a 
<sick way, I know how Snape feels. I find it hard to deal with people 
<who never stick up for themselves yet complain about their 
<situations. However, Snape takes it too far. As a teacher, he is in 
<no position to "toughen up" a student; he is there to educate them 
<academically. 
<Knowing that a student fears him should not encourage him to terrify 
<that student, but it does. I can just see Snape in the teachers' 
<lounge, sneering when Neville's name comes up. He is simply 
<victimizing someone weaker because he can. Not nice!



Just to avoid sending a "me too"- oneliner, I'd like to say 
1)  that this is absolutely true also in my case: If you have a 
strong personality and need to deal with somebody weak , you kind of 
get that urge to kick him/her just to make him move and do something. 
It's some kind of sadism which it takes a lot of maturity and self-
control to resist.
2)  I still stick to my ceterum censeo that Snape fundamentally 
dislikes children, because he hates imperfection. And if you don't 
look at children as children, but as small, far-from-perfect adults, 
this, combined with what I said in 1), inevitably leads to exactly 
the treatment Neville gets from Snape. 
3)  Maybe Snape initially became a death Eater out of weakness and 
only later found the strength to get out and  change sides. He 
doesn't strike me as a character who would try to come to terms with 
himself, trying to accept what he did and forgiving himself, he is 
much more the kind of person who removes unpleasant memories into the 
depths of his subconscious. Unfortunately, this creates a tendency to 
hate in others what we hate in ourselves and poor Neville is the 
ideal victim.

Anyway, whoever  said she or he believed there was more to Neville, I 
fully agree: He has shown signs of courage and determination in 
PS/SS, and this certainly points to a further development in that 
direction.

Susanna (who is quite pleased to have a pretext for writing a lot 
about Snape)