Snape, Harry, and Dumbledore II: Occlumency

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 106059

Dzeytoun wrote:

>>But how did Dumbledore expect that Harry would be able to learn 
from Snape? Did he think Harry could just swallow everything even 
after acting out all the first part of the year?
[snip]
I see this as a two-fold failure:

1) In his anxiety, Dumbledore forgot the nature of Occlumency 
training. [snip]


2) More fundamentally, Dumbledore just did not get it. He simply did 
not understand the depth of animosity between Snape and Harry. <<

HunterGreen:
While both of those are very good points, I think the biggest reason 
it didn't work is that Harry never understood or accepted why it was 
so important. Dumbledore's biggest folly was not having Snape teach 
it to Harry, but having Snape be the one explaining to Harry why it 
was important. Of course, Sirius told Harry it was important too, but 
Harry wasn't really listening to him either. Dumbledore shouldn't 
have had Snape bother if he didn't want to tell Harry the *exact* 
reason why he needed to learn it (that being that Voldemort wanted to 
lure him to the MoM). 
Dumbledore just didn't understand Harry's perspective at all in all 
this. Especially after the snake incident, Harry didn't quite see why 
he *needed* to shut off his brain. It was a good idea to teach him 
Occulmency, but if Dumbledore had explained it himself (and yes, I 
know it was impossible at the time), he would have known that unless 
he gave Harry more information it wasn't going to be successful. The 
skill is so precise that Harry'd HAVE to be committed to learning to 
be successful (and perhaps if he was, he still wouldn't have 
suceeded, occulmency seems impossible for the average teenager, since 
ridding yourself of emotion at that age is especially difficult).

Dzeytoun wrote:
>> If Dumbledore thought an added advantage of Occlumency might be 
Snape and Harry coming to a better understanding and place of mutual 
respect, I think that runs afoul of both issues above. <<

HunterGreen:
Clearly, in the short-run their relationship has suffered, but I 
think both of them *have* come to a better understanding of each 
other. Harry has learned that Snape had a reason to hate his father, 
and Snape has learned that Harry's childhood was starkly different 
than James'. Neither seem to have done anything with this new 
understanding, but its more than they had before.