Comparison: Snape vs. Umbridge (depressing)

[terryljames76]

No: HPFGUIDX 69314

(It should be noted that even I don't believe everything I post...)

My Inner Eye is opening...I see...red...I hear loud noises...yes, 
there are definite Howlers in my future...especially from the 
Snapeologists...

Exactly why does everybody hate Umbridge?  Let's look at this 
logically.  What, overall, did she accomplish?  The fifth-years--not 
including the Slytherins--are much better at DADA than they are 
expected to be at this level.  Neville has gained a whole lot of 
confidence.  Fred and George have stopped messing about and gone into 
the "real" world of business.  Ron, due to their leaving, has gained 
his own self-confidence.  And last but not least, the whole school is 
united--nothing pulls people together like a common enemy.  Even 
McGonagall and Trelawney are not sniping at each other.  Well, 
everybody's happy except Filch.  It's also very subtle and probably 
no one (in the books) has realized it yet, but it's been proven that 
Hogwarts--and Harry--can survive without Dumbledore.

I've read on this list that Snape is only nice to the Slytherins 
because 1) the Death Eaters expect it, and 2) so the Junior Death 
Eaters will have someone to confide in, should they need it.  I've 
read that he's hard on Harry because he wants him to improve, because 
he knows he'll have to face Voldemort.  I've even read that he's 
harsh on both Harry and Neville because he knows that something 
screwy may be going on with that prophecy, and Neville could still 
wind up facing V.  So we are supposed to overlook everything bad 
Snape's done, because he's on the "good" side.

Well, so is Umbridge on the "good" side.  And everyone knows that the 
best way to get a teenager to do something is forbid it.  You want a 
bunch of lazy, hormonal, angry Quidditch-playing yahoos to learn 
DADA?  Tell them they can't.  Umbridge is using reverse psychology.  
And it works incredibly well.  

In contrast, Snape's method of inciting students to learn achieves 
exactly nothing.  Neville actually gets worse when Snape's around, 
not better.

(Canon for Umbridge's reverse psych: at the DADA exam, when Harry 
does well, she's smiling triumphantly.  She also watches him closely 
throughout the book, as if she's inspecting him, taking his measure--
as if to see if he can prove himself under pressure.)

The Unforgivable Curse?  Not so Unforgivable after all.  Harry used 
one--anybody not forgiving him? 

The quill?  Yes, that's a hard one.  Surely anyone who could do that 
is just evil.  But...it's physical pain.  It's cruel, and it's 
horrible--but it will go away.  It can't even be too dangerous, 
because Harry did so much of it, he would eventually have passed out 
from lack of blood. And from it, he learned to keep his mouth shut 
and control his temper--not easy lessons to learn, ones I am still 
working on.  The pain even has magical remedies to help it.

The wounds Snape inflicts are harder to see, but harder yet to live 
with.  The comment about Hermione's teeth was childish and spiteful, 
and Hermione will probably remember it for a long time.  Snape's 
comments to Harry about his father are also childish and spiteful, 
and ought to be beneath his dignity.  But worst is what Snape 
continually does to Neville.  Emotional abuse is real, and there are 
no magical remedies for it.  There is nothing that can make you stop 
remembering how stupid, and humiliated, and small you feel in front 
of all your friends and enemies.  If continually putting down Neville 
is supposed to make him do better, it is a tactic that has failed 
miserably.  There is absolutely nothing to be learned from Snape's 
treatment of Neville.

It's significant that Neville's boggart is the only one that is a 
real person.  Not a monster, not a Dark creature, not a nightmare, 
not even a scary image of the Death Eaters that tortured his parents--
a real person is the absolute worst thing Neville can imagine, and 
the thing he most fears.

I was the bookworm at school, the one who didn't fit in, who got 
bullied by everybody.  Along with other events in my life, this made 
me absolutely miserable.  I went through a stage which there is a 
technical term for, but I've forgotten it.  It's where a person cuts 
themselves deliberately. There are all kinds of psychological reasons 
for this, but for me it basically boiled down to: there is so much 
external pain that I can't control, but I can control this.  I didn't 
know at the time there was a name for it; I thought I was just nuts. 

I'm better now. :) The point to this bizarre story is that physical 
pain is sometimes easier to deal with than mental pain.  

So who is worse?  Snape or Umbridge?  Neville's scars just don't show.

Terry LJ (thinking that she'll need 12 Grimmauld Place and a really 
good Secret-Keeper to hide out with, once this is posted)