[HPforGrownups] Harry Potter for GROWN-UPS (was Parenting Harry (was: Re: I don't like him much)

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 120114


>
> mcmaxslb wrote:
> " And I think I now have a handle on all you Snape lovers, you were in
> all probably bullies just like Snape and you enjoy seeing Harry being
> bullied. Takes you back to your school days when you were hurting
> people doesn't it?"
>
>

K

I was under the impression the maturity level on this list was rather higher
than this. I guess I've not been reading it enough recently. While the
debates about Snape have always been highly emotional (you've gotta give JKR
points for that, love him or hate him I've rarely met someone who's
ambivalent about our Sev) this is a particularly petty viewpoint. Normally I
wouldn't suggest that a viewpoint that differs from mine is less valid, but
I can't think of any other way of describing this 'if you don't agree with
me you're obviously wrong and a really nasty person' type of argument. It
seems to be the kind of argument you only get from someone who realises they
can't 'win' on the facts - which is silly because the arguments for either
case can be made very convincingly as posters have often shown in past Snape
debates.

Personally I was a bullying victim for most of my schooldays, but that
doesn't mean I always sympathise with Harry just because he's a victim some
of the time. Is Snape nasty to Harry? Yes, without a doubt he is, but I
don't think he's as bad as some people make out. (Actually I've seen a
division between Brits and other nationalities, especially Americans, on
this issue - maybe we Brits just have more snarky, mean teachers than other
countries? <g>) It disappoints me that Snape is so darn immature around the
surviving MWPP and Harry, but personally I think it's a sign of how badly
affected he was by the incidents we've seen between him and MWPP during his
schooldays. Emotionally he seems stuck in that teenage angst mindset,
whenever he has to deal with the grown up versions, or in Harry's case nasty
reminders of, his schoolday nemeses. And no this isn't an excuse for him -
the way he behaves around Harry is wrong (although frankly I'd take someone
who is outwardly mean and yet does his best to keep me in one piece than the
reverse any day of the week), but I can see where he's coming from.

I certainly can't speak for all the Snape lovers on the list but for me it's
his flaws that make him interesting.

And I'd also like to say that I wholeheartedly agree with whoever it was
that made the point about Snape being the only one who is consistent in
regards to Harry (Eloise was it?). Dumbledore especially seems to alternate
between treating him like a child that can't be trusted (keeping information
which imo Harry not only needed to know but had a *right* to know secret in
both OOP and PoA) and actively encouraging him to go off into danger alone
(PS and CoS).  I suspect that for a lot of the people who deal with Harry
regularly the fact that he was kept away from the WW for most of his life,
rather than helping Harry has hindered him. They have grown so used to
seeing him as their hope against Voldemort, as a weapon of some kind, that
they don't see him as a child, who shows flashes of maturity but is still a
minor who should be *protected* from danger, not sent headlong into it.


K