What if other teachers behaved like Snape?

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 101356

SSSusan wrote:
> >>snip<<
> > I don't agree that everything on Pippin's list 
> > was truly Snape watching out for Harry, but I *do* think she's 
> > right that he has saved Harry's behind more than once and that 
> > Harry has a blind spot for recognizing it.
> > 
> >>snip<< 
> > To me this comment makes an eloquent case for an argument I've 
> > tried to make many times before:  Snape's methods with Harry DO 
> > NOT WORK. Who's to blame for that?  Both of them, in turns, 
> > though, yes, I blame Snape more since he approached Harry w/ 
> > derisiveness & loathing from the get-go *and* he's a teacher.  If 
> > Snape hadn't been such an ass w/ Harry from the first moment, if 
> > he'd done ANYTHING to give Harry a sign that he actually had a 
> > concern for his well-being or his success as a student, Harry 
> > might have been able to see all Snape was doing.  
> >>snip<<
 

Poioncat:
> Hi, SSSusan,good to see your posts again.
> 
> As far the thread itself goes, I think, that some of us have 
> debated issues from so many directions that we forget the original 
> point of view.  And some of us have had so much fun defending or 
> attacking a character we forget that others may not know exactly 
> where we get our hairbrained ideas.
> 
> However, we're plainly told about some efforts Snape made to help 
> Harry. And some of us began to wonder if there were more. Then we 
> started finding episodes in canon that could be taken different 
> ways.  Harry sees them as moments of cruelty, some of us see 
> another possibility.  Not because we think he has a wonderful way 
> with kids, but because we know he's on the good side and we think 
> he is looking out for Harry in his own way.  And some of the 
> incidents wouldn't be picked up if you weren't looking for them.
> 
> One of my favorites is in GoF.  Harry's trying to find DD and Snape 
> appears out of DD's office and delays Harry and IIRC, taunts him. I 
> think he even says DD is too busy. Then, DD appears from the same 
> exit Snape came from and talks to Harry.  IMHO, both Snape and DD 
> knew Harry was there and Snape was keeping Harry there while DD 
> finished what he was doing and came down. (I suspect he was 
> gathering his thoughts from the pensieve.) I think Harry still 
> thinks Snape was trying to keep him away from DD. 
> 
> Anyway, that's my take on it.
> 
> Potioncat (Oh, SSSusan, the twins say hello.) ;-)


SSSusan again:
Thanks for the welcome back.  I *tried* to break my addiction to 
HPfGU, but it seems I've only had modest success....

Anyway, I do understand where the thread went & why, and it was 
interesting.  I was just trying to say that I really think something 
important was brought out in Pippin's post [though it wasn't the 
point she was making], and I wanted to highlight it for whatever it 
was worth:  LUPIN'S teaching methods work with Harry; Snape's don't.  
When LUPIN confronted Harry over his stupidity & rashness, Harry 
listened and recognized his own failing.  When SNAPE confronts Harry, 
he gets his back up & starts defending himself or seething over 
Snape's unfairness.  Too much history, I'm afraid, by now, and the 
pattern is likely too well established to break.

Snape gets all kind of credit from me for all kinds of things--saving 
Harry numerous times, having left Voldy's service, continuing to risk 
his own arse (quietly, with no glory or credit) in the effort to 
defeat Voldy, his knowledge of potions, and on & on.  

I know, I know, I know that Snape would be far less interesting if he 
actually had succeeded in controlling his snarling taunts & sarcasm 
with Harry, but I just wish, as a teacher, and a teacher who 
presumably believes that Harry "needs to know this stuff" more than 
many of the rest, he'd have done a little evaluation of his teaching 
methods and SEEN that, if he really wanted Harry to succeed, he'd 
better try something different.

Yada yada yada.  Nobody wants to hear this anymore anyway. 

Siriusly Snapey Susan