Hermione, Snape and all that jazz

[jstuart57]

No: HPFGUIDX 70142

"darrin_burnett" wrote:

> JoAnn:
<snip>
> > I'm not saying to let it go because Snape had a good line.  I'm 
> > saying to let it go because it simply wasn't that bad as some are 
> > making it out to be.  

Darrin:
> There IS a difference between people of the same age getting into 
it 
> with each other and between an adult doing it to a child.
> 
> And not just any adult, an authority figure. A teacher.

JoAnn
In the US educational system setting, I quite agree with you.  I 
restate my last point, which you omitted, that this may not be looked 
upon as such egregiously unacceptable behavior in the setting in 
which it took place.  (Both British educational system culture and 
wizarding world culture.)

Darrin:
> But who wants to be a teacher when there is a good line to get off?
> Oh, but wait, Snape wants to be a teacher. When Ron and Harry start 
> yelling at Snape for the incident, Snape is all ABOUT being an 
> authority figure that demands respect. He gives them a detention 
and 
> takes 50 points from Gryffindor.
> So, he is certainly willing to say, "I'm a teacher. You will 
respect 
> me" to punish students, but golly gee, when there is a great chance 
> at a line, who cares about responsibility?

JoAnn:
Again, I don't think he said it simply because he couldn't resist a 
good line. I doubt he went through the thought process you described 
above when he came upon the scene in the hallway.  Mob control was 
probably uppermost in his mind at that point.  Snape's comment was 
Definitely Not Nice.  No argument there.  But I don't agree that it's 
some horrible, monumental, unforgivable abdication of everything it 
means to be a teacher.

> > I was <ahem> Rubensesque in my high school years.  Yet even if 
> > something had made me suddenly overnight sprout a chest a la 
Dolly 
> > Parton proportions, and a teacher had made a similarly rude 
> comment,  I'd still have been far less traumatized than if I had 
been 
> > physically assaulted by my peers who threatened to remove my 
blouse 
> > and my brassiere.

Darrin: 
> And what if someone had dropped something down your shirt, causing 
> you pain and/or discomfort and the teacher said, "Nice rack."?

JoAnn:
At age 14, I probably would have had a similar reaction as Hermione: 
blushed to the bottom of my toes and run away to the bathroom to try 
to take care of whatever it was that fell down my shirt. Please note, 
though, that in your example the teacher didn't touch me or threaten 
to harm me.  Insulting, inappropriate comments, whether from peer to 
peer or adult to child, in no way equate to physical assault and 
threats.  It's not at all in the same league. 

<snip>

JoAnn:
> > And I don't think Ron was turning to Snape in hopes of getting 
some 
> > sympathy for Hermione or because he expected Snape to "do 
> something" as a teacher as much as he was hoping to get the 
> Slytherins in  trouble, caught red-handed so to speak.

Darrin:
> It doesn't matter what Ron's motives were, ultimately. Snape had a 
> job to do and he didn't do it.

Snape didn't not do his job, either.  He didn't prevent Hermione from 
going to the hospital wing.  He didn't call her back and make her sit 
through his class until her teeth touched the floor.  He insulted her 
and hesitated a second or two in a situation that clearly was not 
life threatening.  Goyle's face was described as looking "poisonous" 
and Snape sent him away immediately.  Had Hermione not fled, he 
probably would have had to send her along to the hospital in a few 
moments because he would not have been able to deny that her teeth 
were growing at a rapid clip.  Everyone could see that.  As you say, 
he's not stupid.  I assumed that he knew that the big teeth hex was 
not a dangerous or permanently maiming condition.  This is a world in 
which physical mishaps occur all the time and are generally easily 
remedied.  

This isn't school in Kansas.  In Kansas a parallel situation might be 
this:  Suppose the teacher comes into the room and stops a fight in 
the science lab in which child #1 got acid splashed on him (off to 
the nurse's office with you) and child #2 got splashed with that non-
toxic blue stuff that really stains.  Suppose child #2 had lots of 
freckles and the teacher, who is a greasy git, said (quite rudely) 
that he saw no difference. Then this child ran off to the bathroom 
and the other children, who started to shout at the teacher, got 
detention.  So what?  (leave off the usual US reaction of parental 
outrage, lawsuits, etc. and just consider the teacher) I can't see 
that either Snape's or this hypothetical Kansas school teacher's 
actions as truly unconscionable.

One of Snape's jobs, and one reason I think Dumbledore tolerates this 
type of less than stellar interpersonal behavior, seems to be to show 
that not all adults are nice and not everyone wants to help you.  He 
does that job very well indeed.

'Tis a pleasure reading your posts.  Thanks for the conversation.

JoAnn