Fiction!Snape (was (re: Parenting Harry (was: Re: I don't like him much))

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 120267


snipping here, snipping there...
Eloise wrote: 
> I have said that Snape performs a particular function in the text, 
> one which I described as being the unpalatable side of parenting, 
> being the Enforcer, if you like. (Just as a side note, although I 
> defined this as a parenting role, it doesn't then necessitate that 
> the role will be performed well.)
> 
> Take Snape out of the text, as some would clearly like to do, and 
> tell me who there is as a constant throughout the series, 
performing that function?

Potioncat:(chardonnay in hand)
I agree.  Me too.  So right.  Here here (or is it hear hear?)
It takes a village to raise Harry Potter.  Molly can (s)mother him, 
Black can play baseball with him, Lupin can give him advice.  Snape 
can punish him. 

 Not that Snape is planning to adopt Harry, but that he performs one 
role of parenting.  Not that he acts like a parent. Just that he 
performs one role. Punishment/rule enforcement. We're talking 
Fiction!Snape here, not the character we discuss as if he'd walk in 
at any moment.

Eloise:
> 
> Rule breaking is a constant theme, is it not? Harry frequently 
flouts  the rules, goes for midnight wanders, sneeks out of the 
castle, etc., etc.. Now if there is no *consequence* for breaking 
the rules, they  might as well not be there. Rule-breaking becomes a 
complete dud as a theme in the series. Where is the excitement, the 
frisson of fear, if  when Harry wanders the corridors under his 
Invisibility Cloak, the  worst that happens is that he'll have a 
nice little chat with  Dumbledore or that McGonagall will be stern 
with him and give him a reasonable punishment?

Potioncat: 
McGonagall seemed to perform the enforcement role in SS/PS but 
something changed. Snape is the one Harry really resents.  Sort of 
like my own kids when I play the enforcer. And a "little chat" with 
Snape is nothing like a little chat with DD is it?  No lemondrops 
from Severus.  Heck DD is the one who gave  Harry the cloak. And who 
dismissed the intrusion into  his thoughts (Pensieve) The one who 
encourages rule breaking, not only for Harry, but for the entire 
school! (Something along the line of "the list of forbidden objects 
can be found on Filch's door"...)
 
>Eloise:
> Now yes, there is Filch, but he seems to have a function as 
Snape's lacky; Snape seems to be the teacher to whom he goes with 
troublemakers.

Potioncat:
I'm not too sure about this. Filch turned to Umbridge very quickly 
didn't he?  I think Snape used Filch as a way to watch out for 
Harry. It was a very Slytherin thing to do. I don't think Snape has 
any respect or concern about Filch.

> Eloise:
> What I am saying is that Harry pushes boundaries and those 
boundaries are marked, are personified, if you like, by Snape more 
than any other character. Snape is the most serious immediate 
consequence of any discovered rule-breaking. When Harry wanders the 
corridors with the Map, it is Snape for whom he is on the look out.

Potioncat:
You are correct here.  It is Snape who cares if Harry breaks the 
rules.  Harry and some readers think Snape does it to be mean to 
Harry. (Of course that's what my teenagers think about me too.) And 
you know what, I have rules that the other heads of house don't 
have...I mean that the other moms don't have...
 
 Eloise:
Harry is at school, so many of the obstacles he has to overcome are 
rules. These aren't exciting unless the effects of breaking them 
have serious personal consequences. That's why having the enforcers 
be so unsympathetic is so effective.
snip
 I'm observing that JKR has placed  these two characters in the text 
and trying to explain why they might be there, what function they 
might perform and why making them so mean to Harry is an effective 
plot device.

Potioncat:
This is the point I wanted to get to. For all the discussion about 
why Snape does what he does; For all the arguments about who should 
change: Harry or Snape; For all the talk about Snape's teaching 
methods...the real question is: "What is Fiction!Snape's role in 
this story?"