What if other teachers behaved like Snape?

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 101118

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...> wrote:
> Snape punishes Harry for the sins of his father (while apparently 
> ignoring the kindness of Harry's mother.)
> 
> So, things that happened before Harry was born, committed by a man 
> Harry barely remembers, are somehow worthy of Harry being treated 
> like crap by this guy.
> 
> But we learn in OoP that two other Hogwarts teachers, McGonagall and 
> Hagrid, are also Order of the Phoenix members.
> 
> That means they have lost friends to DEs, like Lucius Malfoy, Mr. 
> Crabbe, Mr. Goyle and Mr. Nott, all of whom have sons at Hogwarts.
> 
> We know Hagrid and McGonagall loved James and Lily. We know that the 
> Longbottoms were popular. We know from Moody in OoP that others were 
> killed.
> 
> Friends. DEAD because of the DEs.
> 
> And where do we see McGonagall and Hagrid treating Malfoy, Crabbe, 
> Goyle and Nott like that?
> 
> Hagrid obviously dislikes Malfoy, but he keeps it professional in 
> class.
> 
> Maybe when people whine about how bad the Slyths have it, they should 
> remember how the other teachers manage to behave in ways Snape is 
> incapable of.


Well, if you're  not  happy you can always write to JKR and tell her she must
change the story-line to suit your personal prejudices.

Snape doesn't hate Harry IMO. He doesn't like him much, thinks he needs
taking down a peg or two, but hate? I doubt it.
Harry hates  Snape right enough; Snape's to blame for everything. Snape 
was planning to steal the Stone, remember? Snape was going to make
sure they lost the Quidditch match, Snape was going to poison him,
Snape, Snape, Snape. It's a paranoid fixation with that boy; so much so
that Voldy agents swan about right under his nose without him noticing.
Snape probably treats him better than Vernon does. Certainly I haven't
yet seen Vernon save Harry's life.

Snape *punishes* Harry? Some scathing comments, usually, (though not
always) when Harry has done something particularly brainless, or marks
docked; marks, by the way that don't matter. How many exams has Harry 
failed? Zero. None. And the OWLS (which do  matter) are marked by 
external examiners and everybody knows it. How many detentions has
Snape given Harry in 5 years? Care to guess? Wow! That really is some
expression of hate! Snape is much more complex than a seething
cauldron of Potter-ophobia. He's not nice (thank God) but he is
interesting.

And just what have the Slyths done that's so terrible? They sneer, they
strut, they name-call. How awful! They usually admire their fathers - 
how un-natural! Flint cheats at Quidditch - throw him in Azkaban at
once! Malfoy changes Hermione's dentition and gets changed into a 
ferret, he makes a snide comment and gets his face slapped, he docks
points when authorised by Umbridge (which immediately get replaced).
He always loses. But it seems that isn't enough for you.
Meantime  he and his buddies are regularly hexed on the Hogwarts 
Express before they can even get their wands out. James's bullying 
revisited. Er, tell me -  who're the Slytherins here? 

Slytherins are not DEs; though most DEs are Slytherins. There is a 
difference. There'd better be; Harry is prime Slytherin material
according  to the Hat. Just because he didn't want to join doesn't
change what the Hat saw. The potential is still there.

Conflict is part of the plot dynamic. It's necessary, and since Voldy
is little more than a back-ground figure, conflict and opposition must
be shown elsewhere in the story. Harry/Snape/Malfoy makes for an
entertaining alternative.

I haven't read any post *whining*  that Slyths get a raw deal, though I
suspect there are posters who wish they did exist; it might help justify
their chosen view. I have seen posts whining that Snape, DEs, Slytherins
are irredeemably evil and no-one must like them, any of them, they're
evil, un-natural, unforgivable. Rubbish. It's a natural reader response
to well-rounded characters. We all have favourites, we mostly disagree,
that's what most of the posts are about after all - different views,
differently expressed. All  opinions on canon are acceptable, but when
posters resort to using words like 'whining' as a description of posters
alternative views, I get very irritated indeed. It shows a lack of manners
and of proportion.

Personally, I suspect surface appearances. All is not what it seems in 
JKR's WW, or I've wasted my money on a trite, predictable tale. 
And I don't think I have. 

Kneasy