[HPforGrownups] Re: Why Hermoine trusts Snape

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 69625

On 12 Jul 2003 at 3:22, doliesl wrote:

> I completely agree.
> Nasty as the remark might be, Hermione just get over it and move on, 
> it's NO BIG DEAL. It's funny for me to see how some readers could 
> take it so personally and get so offended with it (and to be honest I 
> found the level of nastiness people accused this remark of is quite 
> exaggerated). Some of you make it sound like as if it is "the 
> cruelest, the most unforgiven, scar-for-life, beyond extreme 
> horrible" thing happen to Hermione or something. Yet in the book the 
> real victim, Hermione, just don't give a damn about it and move on. 
> No only that, she doesn't hate Snape in the end and even defend him 
> whenever he's critized! Ha! Isn't that such an irony? 

Well, let me try and explain my position to you.

Hermione got over it and moved on. That's great. That's wonderful in 
fact. It's great that she has the ability to do that. However, that 
doesn't in any way excuse what happened. The fact that the person 
recovers doesn't diminish the action.

I got over being pounded into unconsciousness at school. Didn't leave me 
with any permanent injuries, only took me about two weeks to recover 
from that. I got over being urinated on in the showers at school. That 
took a bit longer - but I got over it. 

To take teachers, I recovered from teachers who told me that I was 
retarded. I got over the fact that a teacher told an entire class about 
an intimate medical problem I had, as a way of humiliating me because 
I'd dared to suggest he was wrong.

I got over those things. I recovered from those things. But nothing 
excuses them.

And some of them, I didn't get over them easily. In fact, some of the 
stuff I experienced took me a decade to recover from. That is the type 
of damage that people can do.

The fact that Hermione seems to have been able to recover much more 
quickly, doesn't excuse what Snape did (and, by the way, I am well aware 
that many people who defend Snape don't think his behaviour can be 
excused, they fully acknowledge that it was wrong, and I am also well 
aware that you have said this in your post as well - I'm just giving a 
particular perspective on it.)

The fact that Hermione 'got over it' doesn't let Snape off the hook at 
all - not unless we assume he is somehow so prescient that he somehow 
knew that Hermione would not suffer any long term ill effects as a 
result of his abuse. The fact she recovered is a reflection on her - not 
a reflection on the wrongness of his actions.

Now, I'm not one of those touchy-feely types who thinks teachers should 
drip sweetness and light out of every pore. Quite the opposite in fact - 
I regularly get into arguments in educational forums, because I believe 
in horribly wicked ideas like teachers having the right to use corporal 
punishment. I don't think teachers need to be nice people (probably 
should stress that I don't object if they are). I even think there are 
occasions when a teacher can be justified in saying nasty things about a 
student. In fact, I'd *like* to *like* Snape. I had some very Snape-like 
teachers who I am very glad I had.

But there is a line - and with regards to the Hermione orthodontical 
incident, I think he well and truly crossed it. He was dealing with a 
student in distress, and he chose to be cruel about it. He didn't need 
to drip sympathy - he could have handled it in a totally matter of fact 
way, as he did with the other student harmed in the magical mishap.

The most telling thing in that case, IMHO, the thing that most clearly 
shows Snape crossing the line, is Ron's actions.

Ron has no reason to trust or like Snape, or rely on him. But even so, 
Ron makes Hermione show Snape what had happened to her. The idea that a 
teacher will help a student in such a situation is so fundamental that 
even RON expects SNAPE to do the right thing.

And he doesn't.

The fact that Hermione appears to have suffered no longterm trauma from 
this, doesn't mean a thing.

The fact that a person can recover from an assault, doesn't excuse the 
assault. Hermione may not have been harmed by this - but the type of 
damage it can potentially do is *very* real. And Snape has no way of 
knowing what it will do to her.

I didn't have the strength of Hermione, and maybe that's my fault. It 
took me years to recover from the abuse I experienced at school, 
especially that which came from teachers. And maybe that's my fault. 
Maybe I could have got over it faster.

But I was a child. And they were the adults. And it really is that 
simple.

Hermione is a child. A resourceful, intelligent, strong minded, 
resilient child, perhaps. But still a child.

Snape is an adult.

It is that simple.

Now - as a literary construct, I like the complexity of Snape. If he was 
a person in the real world, I doubt I would (and I doubt he'd care).

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia