[HPforGrownups] Re: snape is a dufus

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 32803

jrober4211 wrote:

> Snape may not give preferrential treatment as far as grading the
> students, but he does give preferrential treatment to the Slytherins
> when there is a confrontation between them and the Gryffindors and
> there are numerous examples of this in CoS, not to mention the other
> books. I agree with the statement about Snape being happy to nail any
> student he finds breaking the rules.I personally got the impression
> he enjoys it. He must be lying in wait for them because I have not
> always gotten an explaination as to why Snape is roaming the castle in
> the middle of the night.

Maybe he's not married...? Or maybe he *is*....?

> Like Harry, I think sometimes it was because he suspected something
> going on and was doing his own snooping. Just about everything Snape
> does for Harry is because Dumbledore has instructed him to do so,

Where do you get this? I mean, it's implied, but I don't know that,
other than Harry's suspecting that Snape didn't fail him because
Dumbledore stopped him, there is any particular thing Snape does for
Harry on Dumbledore's orders. Dumbledore didn't tell Snape to watch out
for Harry in book 1; Dumbledore didn't tell Snape to keep a particular
eye on Harry at all (that we know for certain).

If you state a certainty, it should either *be* a certainty (like
Harry's eyes are green), or you should back it up.

> Snape is good about following orders because he is a follower not a
> leader( much like Barney Fife), thus far in the books.

I disagree. He's taken the initiative in several instances--my favorite,
the staffroom scene (can't wait to see that, they better not cut it from
the next movie!); in his attempts to handle Quirrell; in his following
of Lupin on the night Lupin wasn't there to take his potion; etc.
There's probably more, but I'm tired.

I have a half-done analysis of the books, looking at the number of
instances where the phrase "Snape stepped forward" occurs, along with
the number of times Snape takes action, takes the lead, and it's
substantial. So my analysis is that Snape is rather a force to be
reckoned with, who follows Dumbledore out of respect and love rather
than because he is a natural follower.

> Sirius and Lupin seem to think Snape is an idiot in alot of ways as
> evidenced by Sirius's comment in the shrieking shack " How did an
> idiot like that become a professor?"

That wasn't a comment in the Shack; that was what Sirius had recorded in
the Marauder's Map for his alter-ego to say. This was something Sirius
said at, oh, sixteen or so. And Sirius' judgement at sixteen was less
than stellar.

Lupin has quite a professional respect for Snape, and is mostly
impatient with him in the Shack, that he is letting his emotions cloud
his reason (and he is). But that doesn't mean Lupin thinks Snape is an
idiot; far from it, or he wouldn't waste time even *trying* to make him
listen.

--Amanda, evidently in full Snape Defense Mode


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