Neville/Snape Question

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 38136

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Porphyria <porphyria at m...> wrote:

> 
> 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. 

No no no. That's not what I meant. I should have been more explicit. 
What I meant was, that by focusing on his ill-treating one student, 
people manage to come up with quite reasonable excuses for him. He 
ill-treats Harry because of his unrequited love for his mother and 
his jealousy of his father. Which makes him sound quite human and 
even tragic. He ill-treats Neville because he feels guilty about 
having failed to save his parents (?!). He ill-treats Hermione 
because ... umm ok, I don't remember the ingenious explanations for 
that one, but they were there, and made him sound quite human as 
well. See? It's a clever technique, breaking the whole picture into 
little pieces and then explaining each piece separately. But the 
point about Snape is that he is *generally* nasty. That's why, for 
me, it's not really interesting to wonder about his behaviour to this 
or that student (except Harry, who is a special case even for Snape). 
People grate on him, yes, but the reasons are unimportant. That's the 
hallmark of a bully, isn't it? Like wife beaters - the tea isn't hot 
enough, or you smiled at the neighbour, or you stayed out too late... 
They're triggers, not reasons for his actions. 


Naama
wondering what the latin is for "tickling sleeping Snape fans" (and 
how dangerous is it exactly) <g>