Should Harry have told on DJU? (was Re: Harry as last DADA teacher?)

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 100404

> Dzeytoun:
> > Uhm, speak for yourself.  This is a problem SOME guys have, not 
all 
> > of us.  I also am of somewhat more advanced years than Harry, and 
I 
> > think he was an idiot.
> > 
> > If any teacher had ever tried something like that with me I would 
> > have screamed all the way to the courtroom.
> 
> Geoff:
> Sorry, I left out a word. It's an "English" (and even "British") 
male 
> thing. Your last sentence reveals that you are probably from the US.

Ginger, female, US resident, almost 38 (on 17 June):

Perhaps it is the age factor rather than the nationality?  I was 
surprised the first time I heard it suggested (on the list, not in 
the book) that Harry should have told about the quill.  I understood 
him perfectly.  One doesn't shout one's weakness to the world, one 
takes it like a man, er, person.  In a case like this, one doesn't 
admit defeat no matter how bad the odds are.  It isn't "manly".

But I think that has changed over the generations.  I had the living 
bejeebers beat out of me on a regular basis in jr. high.  (2nd-4th 
year for those who would like a HP reference)  Tell the teacher?  I'd 
have sooner died!  My mother saw the bruises once and told me that 
when little boys had crushes on little girls, they punched them.  I 
was, in her eyes, popular.  Yeah, right.

Which leads me to another HP moment-the OoP pensieve scene.  James, 
Sirius, and Remus (not counting Peter in this) were the popular 
guys.  They hated Snape "because he existed".  This rang so clearly 
to me.  I was the only girl in our section in band.  They didn't want 
me there.  I was dumb, fat, ugly, from the "wrong" side of town.  
They hated me because I was in their space.  

They had been taught that what they were was "good".  Popular, good 
looking, well off, good athletes.  All these things were good, but 
they implied that the opposite was "bad", therefore, whatever I got 
was deserved, because I was none of the "good" things that they were, 
and therefore, I was "bad".  See the logic?  See the connection?  I'd 
bet galleons that James and Sirius had the same attitude towards 
Snape.  Add to it that Snape was into the Dark Arts, and there you 
have it!  He had it coming, in their minds, anyway.

When OoP first came out, I almost posted my reaction to this scene, 
but held off out of respect for the posters who were bothered by this 
scene.  Many shared stories from their pasts, and I felt bad for 
them.  My heart went out to quite a few.  To them, I now say, please, 
don't think that I take what happened to you lightly.  I have been in 
Snape's shoes, but a lot of time has passed since then, and I look at 
it with a different perspective now.

The guys that used to beat me up have grown up to become model 
citizens.  The ringleader, who did most of the punching, is now known 
as a really nice guy.  They are good husbands and fathers, and would 
never think of doing anything like this now.  I was amazed that JKR 
had nailed that persona so exactly.  It was exactly as if she had 
followed me through jr. high, and then followed them on to their 
adulthoods.  So very much like James and Remus grew up to be.  And 
how Sirius probably would have had he had the chance to grow.

I found the parallels so exact that I laughed through the whole 
thing.  It was the highlight of my OoP reading.  (that and "it 
unscrews the other way")  I saw so clearly myself as Snape and the 
others as the guys who used to beat me up.  One was the ringleader, 
showing off for the popular girls; one was the backup, the other kind 
of stood back unless called by the others into the action, but did 
nothing to stop it.

It wasn't funny back then.  Had I read the scene with less time and 
space between the incident and the reading, I probably would have 
been upset.  Now, with hindsight, I understand why they did it.  Not 
to condone, but to see where their heads were. (aside from the 
obvious eclipsed area) 

But, back to the original thread of the post, I walked away with the 
pride of knowing I had stood my ground, never let them see me cry, 
and had borne the battle by myself.  Back in those days that meant 
honour, pride, dignity, and courage.  Nowadays, it means lawsuit.  
Which is better?  I guess that depends on your generation.

Anyone else care to compare generational views?  On these or other 
scenes?

Ginger, hoping that those who have suffered abuse realize that I was 
laughing at how well JKR portrayed the charactors so realistically 
and how they mirrored my life, and not at the abuse itself.