Yet another defense of Snape's Occlumency lessons (long)

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 120034


Okay, I know that the Occlumency lessons have been gone over a 
million times before, but since I wasn't really sure what I
thought about it, I've gone through OotP again, looking for the
bits about Occlumency, and have come out of it on Snape's side. 
I'm trying to be as even-handed as I can be, and trying to make
this canon-based rather than opinion-based.  So here we go, let's 
read it again:

Lesson 1:
Snape *does* give Harry a damn good reason for learning Occlumency: 
"The important point is that the Dark Lord is now aware that you are 
gaining access to his thoughts and feelings.  He has also deduced 
that the process is likely to work in reverse; that is to say, he 
has realised that he might be able to access your thoughts and 
feelings in return –"
"And he might try and make me do things?" asked Harry.  "*Sir*?" he 
added hurriedly.
"He might," said Snape...

Now, presumably, there are any number of ways that Voldy could make 
Harry do things – and any number of things that he could make
Harry do.  The Order may not even know at this point that it would 
be possible for Voldy to send false visions to Harry.  Being more 
specific and giving examples when you only have DD's suspicions 
could backfire if Voldy tried something that they didn't mention, as 
Harry would assume it was real.  Better to just teach him Occlumency 
and stop all of it.

Anyway, on the first attempt, Snape says: 
"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself 
in any other way you can think of". Snape then breaks into
Harry's mind.

That was the first test to see Harry's natural aptitude.

Then Snape explains a bit more "You must remain focused.  Repel me 
with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand."
Harry gets stroppy: "I'm trying [...] but you're not telling
me how!"
"Manners, Potter," said Snape dangerously.  "Now, I want you to 
close your eyes. [...]  Clear your mind, Potter, [...] Let go of all 
emotion [...] You're not doing it Potter ... you will need more 
discipline than this ... focus, now ..."

Harry does try, but it doesn't work, Snape breaks into his
memories again.  Snape says that Harry isn't trying, Harry
insists that he is, but Snape says: "Then prove it! Master yourself! 
[...] Control your anger, discipline your mind!"

At the end of the lesson, he says "You are to rid your mind of all 
emotion every night before sleep; empty it, make it blank and calm, 
you understand?"  Is that not an explanation of what Harry's
supposed to do?

Weeks Later:
Apart from a brief mention that his scar was prickling more and more 
and he felt lurches of emotion unconnected with what was going on, 
and Ron's suggestion that Snape was deliberately making it
easier for Harry's mind to be invaded by Voldy, the next mention
we have of Harry practising is after the Quidditch match against 
Hufflepuff in which Ron performs dismally.  Harry goes to bed, 
remembering Umbridge's delight at how badly Gryffindor were 
playing.  

"After a few minutes, however, he remembered that he was supposed to 
be emptying his mind of all emotion before he slept, as Snape kept 
instructing him at the end of every Occlumency lesson.
He tried for a moment or two, but the thought of Snape on top of 
memories of Umbridge merely increased his sense of grumbling 
resentment and he found himself focusing instead on how much he 
loathed the pair of them."
Then Harry has another dream about the corridor.

Two days later (the match was on a Saturday) is the Monday that the 
Quibbler interview comes out, and the day after that, Harry goes to 
bed and "fell asleep almost at once" (i.e. without clearing his mind 
of emotion) whereupon he has the dream about Rookwood.

A couple of weeks after this (and after a suggestion from Hermione 
that Harry should make more effort with Occlumency) Snape sees the 
memory of the dream of Rookwood.  Then Harry uses Protego! And 
breaks into Snape's memories.  Snape says "Well, Potter ... that
was certainly an improvement [...] I don't remember telling you to
use a Shield Charm ... but there is no doubt that it was 
effective ..."
Then Snape tries again, and Harry's back in the DoM corridor, and 
finally gets through the door.  And Snape is furious.
"You are not working hard enough!"
Then they're interrupted by Umbridge sacking Trelawny.

After this we have the discovery of the DA and DD leaves – but
not before telling Harry that he must study Occlumency as hard as he 
can, and reminding him to close his mind.

The day after this, Harry dreams himself all the way into the 
prophecy room, and the day after that: "Harry spent the whole of the 
next day dreading what Snape was going to say if he found out how 
much further into the Department of Mysteries Harry had penetrated 
during this last dream.  With a surge of guilt he realised that he 
had not practised Occlumency once since their last lesson: there had 
been too much going on since Dumbledore had left; he was sure he 
would not have been able to empty his mind even if he had tried. He 
doubted, however, whether Snape would accept that excuse."

Snape never does find out though, because that's the lesson 
interrupted by Draco, and Harry's nosiness puts a stop to it all.


My take on this:

I find Harry's insistence on dwelling on his anger peculiar. 
Fear is something I find much more difficult to control than anger
– possibly because external influences are the cause of the
feeling, but anger (although also dependent on external influences) 
is more dependent upon my mood, and attitude, and I can master 
that.  In this, Harry has reactions opposite to mine, (he easily 
overcomes his fear, but not his anger) so perhaps that's why I
have little sympathy for his difficulties.  It would be interesting 
if the people who are on his side in this debate react similarly to 
him – have difficulty getting over anger, but less difficulty 
getting over fear.

I'm not sure how posters can argue that Snape hasn't told
Harry how to practise.  Is it that bit in the first lesson, where 
Harry says `you're not telling me how'?  Because
immediately after that Snape *does* explain about ridding one's
mind of emotion.

I'll just repeat a bit: "With a surge of guilt he realised that
he had not practised Occlumency once since their last lesson" – 
clearing his mind of emotion at night *is* practising Occlumency 
(which some have suggested is not the case.)

If clearing his mind before sleep is impossible for Harry because 
the instructions that Snape has given him are inadequate, then Harry 
is doubly negligent in not telling Snape that he doesn't
understand how to do it.  There's actually no evidence that Harry 
has difficulty in clearing his mind and practising Occlumency (at 
least at the beginning of the lessons in January), there's just
one sentence (in April):

"With a surge of guilt he realised that he had not practised 
Occlumency once since their last lesson: there had been too much 
going on since Dumbledore had left; he was sure he would not have 
been able to empty his mind even if he had tried."

Now, I read that as meaning he hadn't practised because there had 
been so much going on that he forgot, and then the last bit about 
being sure he couldn't have if he had tried sounds like a bit of
an excuse, to me.  It might have been true, but he didn't try, so
we'll never know.

And then there's Harry's confession at the end: "But I
didn't [...] I didn't practise, I didn't bother, I
could've stopped myself having those dreams, Hermione kept
telling me to do it, if I had he'd never have been able to show
me where to go..."  

And why does Harry insist that he'll never forgive Snape? 
Because of Snape's sneer when Harry told him `He's got
Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!'  Because Snape
goaded Sirius and implied Sirius was a coward.  No resentment about 
Snape not teaching him Occlumency *properly*, Harry takes the blame 
for not learning himself. However, after Harry takes the blame, he 
starts trying to blame Snape for everything, he does a U-turn and 
says Snape stopped the lessons, and accuses him of making it worse, 
making it easier for Voldy. DD doesn't reply to the accusations, but 
says he trusts Snape, and implies that the reason Snape stopped the 
lessons was that he couldn't overcome his feelings about James. - No 
mention of Snape not teaching Occlumency properly *while the lessons 
were going on*.  

My biggest problem with the idea that Snape didn't teach Harry 
Occlumency properly, is Snape's motivation.  Why on earth should
he deliberately omit vital instructions?  Nobody (IIRC) seems to 
have suggested a plausible motivation – but I doubt that any will
go as far as postulating ESE!Snape either.

On the other hand, Snape does have good and plausible motivations 
for teaching Harry properly:
1. It's Snape's job to find out what Voldy and the DEs are up
to, not Harry's – let's stop him getting ideas above his
station.
2. Voldy may well be able to get at DD through Harry unless Harry is 
able to shut him out of his mind.  And Snape is loyal to DD.
3. Voldy may well be able to make Harry do things, (putting Harry in 
danger) unless Harry is able to shut him out of his mind.  And Harry 
is the only one with the chance of beating Voldy for good.

The basic problem was one of trust, and Harry's lack of it in 
others.  Phineas Nigellus summed it up nicely: "Have you never 
paused, while feeling hard-done-by, to note that following 
Dumbeldore's orders has never yet led you into harm?"  Of course 
mistakes were made, but the biggie was that Harry should 
have known the full prophecy at the end of GoF, then he'd have
known that Voldy might try to lure him to the DoM.  That would have 
prevented a lot of problems.  

So don't blame it all on Snape, particularly when DD and Harry
have both accepted the blame for their various mistakes.

Dungrollin