[HPforGrownups] Re: Neville/Snape Question

[Porphyria]

No: HPFGUIDX 38121

Naama wrote:

> The amount of energy put into defending Snape I find quite touching
> (if somewhat alarming),

Why is that? I kind of thought this goes without saying, but if not: 
"defending" Snape as we do on this list is not tantamount to saying he 
blameless, innocent, saint-like if you just think about it the right way 
or that we are in any way shape or form advocating his behavior in the 
real world. I adore Snape as a character, but in my personal life I 
don't make a habit of terrorizing small children just for fun.

> but I also find it irritating when people
> explain away his nasty behavior by focusing on one of his victims.

Forgive me if I'm misreading you here, but if you think that by 
"focusing on one of his victims" somehow lays the blame on Harry, 
Hermione, or Neville, then this is simply not the case. I think it's 
perfectly reasonable to imagine that someone finds different people 
grating for different reasons. If we choose to look for insight into 
Snape's motivations, which the text encourages us to do because he is an 
enigmatic character, then I see plenty of canon evidence to suggest that 
a) Neville infuriates him because he can't stand to see weakness or 
incompetence, b) Hermione infuriates him because he feels her 
interruptions undermine his authority, c) Harry infuriates him because 
he feels resentful that Harry took all the credit for defeating LV when 
Snape was busy risking his life to do the same thing, plus he 
(mistakenly) thinks Harry is reckless, arrogant, etc. Fishing out all 
these 'reasons' for his behavior isn't to excuse it, it's just that some 
of us find it fun to try to see what makes him tick.

Of course there are other reasons too; they are all Gryffindors, so he 
makes a point of tormenting them in order to amuse and favor his own 
house, etc.

As a counter-example, I don't think he ever *makes a point* of bullying 
Seamus even though he's a Gryff. I think this is because Seamus tries to 
to maintain a low profile and stay out of Snape's line of fire, unlike 
Hermione and occasionally Ron who can't resist provoking him. Plus, 
unlike Harry and Neville, Seamus doesn't trigger any unhappy 
associations for Snape. So my point here is that there is evidence that 
Snape targets some students more than others for specific reasons; some 
bother him more than others. This is not blaming the victim, it's just 
looking at the evidence given.

> I would like to see a unified theory of Snape Bully-ism. Let's see if
> you can explain away, at one go, his treatment of Harry, Neville AND
> Hermione (not to mention his overall nastiness to practically
> everybody around him).

A unified theory? IIRC, Fred and George provide a useful enough one of 
these: he hates everyone and he's seen everything. Doesn't this go 
without saying? Snape is misanthropic by nature, I suspect he came from 
a Dark Arts family who probably raised him (through fine example) to 
have little regard for his fellow man. He's been a Death Eater and has 
probably seen, caused, and perhaps occasionally experienced unspeakably 
horrible acts with the effect that merely making sarcastic remarks or 
criticizing a student's poor performance don't even register on Snape's 
personal Cruelty-O-Meter. Well, I'm not saying he doesn't know he's 
being cruel, but he really doesn't care; relative to what he's lived 
through it's just not that important to him. Does this make him an 
S.O.B.? Well sure it does, and that's why we love him. :-)

Now in the real world I'd doubt the wisdom of letting someone so 
hardened teach little children, but wizarding world standards are 
tougher than ours and it just doesn't bother me so much in what is, of 
course, a fictitious character.

Snape's scarred and angry personality is one of the reasons that I find 
it hard to believe that he actually is fond of Draco and that his 
evident kindness to him is not due to some tactical reason to keep 
Lucius happy, for example. I think the only genuine, undisguised, 
undiluted, unguarded emotion that Snape expresses in public is fury; 
everything else strikes me as a little suspicious.

Still, none of this rules out that in some dark corner of the back of 
his convoluted mind that he doesn't imagine he might be doing the right 
thing; his students really ought to respect his authority, Neville 
really is a danger to himself and others, Harry just might get himself 
killed if he doesn't wisen up, etc. I'm not saying Snape  *handles* 
these issues the right way; obviously Lupin's insight and compassion 
have a much more beneficial effect on Neville; Harry never sees Snape as 
an effective deterrent but only as a challenge to get around; his 
students would probably respect his authority more if he were 
stern-but-fair like McGonagall. I find all his wrongheadedness rather 
endearing myself, but of course the rest of you are more than welcome to 
find it nauseating. I'd say "good, all the more Snape left for me," but 
I guess there's always enough to go around, isn't there....

~~Porphyria, piping up on her favorite subject

As I type this, my boy cat has decided to attack my fingers with his 
paws and needle teeth -- I blame all typos squarely on Xylem (and yes, 
he does have a sister named Phloem).


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