Snape & Harry

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 101535

I, Del, wrote :
> > So yes, if I were in Harry's shoes, I'd try and show respect to 
> > Snape, just to get him off my back. 

finwitch replied :
> Define 'show respect' when there is none? Snape - though he IS 
> excellent at Potions, he 
> 
> a) abuses his power to take points/give detention in order to avenge 
> something Harry's dead father did decades ago...

Del answers :
Yep, that happens. All the time. Not just at school either. My best
way to fight that is to show those people who might be prejudiced
against me because of their relationship with someone else, that I am
most definitely not that someone else. I might be loyal to that
someone else, but I am not them. Harry has the misfortune of looking
extremely like his father, and of being a very good Quidditch player.
I guess in his place I would have done all I could to end the "bad"
(in Snape's eyes) similarities here. And first thing first, I would
have studied Potions harder than anything else, just to show to Snape
that I won't retaliate automatically like my father did.
But that's just ME, and Harry is not like me at all.

Finwitch wrote : 
> b) is lowsy as a teacher

Del replies :
I guess it depends on how you grade a teacher : by his methods, or by
his results ? I had a horrible horrible Maths teacher in my last year
of High School, when Maths was my most important subject, and I had 9
hours a week with her. She was so demeaning that after barely 3 weeks
of class she had convinced me that I belonged in kindergarden. I had
an awfully miserable year because of her. But I got an extremely good
result in Maths at the Final Exams. So yes she had horrible teaching
methods, and yes I hate her on a personal level (though it might
change if I knew her personally, you never know), but no she wasn't a
lousy teacher.

Finwitch wrote :
> c) at least was a Death Eater, and therefore the enemy

Del replies :
So what ? Just because someone *was* your enemy doesn't mean you
should treat them if though they were *still* your enemy. Many older
French people had to learn that regarding Germans, and many younger
ones are learning it regarding Arabo-Muslim people.

Finwitch wrote :
> Nah - I think his staying silent during class is enough, and Snape 
> ought to behave himself.

Del replies :
Much good it did to their relationship... Waiting for the other to
move first rarely brings good results : look at Harry and Ron's
fallout in GoF.

Finwitch wrote :
> And yes, it's probably *easy* to grovel in front of someone who has 
> the power to do you harm, it's not the *right* thing to do. Harry 
> does do the right thing rather than the easy, doesn't he? I loved 
> how he acted towards Dumbridge...

Del replies :
First off, it's not easy. Second, it isn't grovelling. And third, it
*is* the right thing to do according to my goals : I'm not trying to
force the others to change, I'm just trying to better our
relationship. In other words, I'm not talking about forcing people to
change their *feelings* towards me, only their *behaviour*. It *is*
possible to hate or despise someone and still act civil towards them,
you know ? And that's why I hated the way Harry acted towards Umbridge
: because it didn't bring him anything positive. It gave Umbridge the
pleasure of torturing him evening after evening, but what did *Harry*
get out of it ?? The satisfaction to let her know that she didn't get
to him ? There are other ways to do that : Hermione didn't land
herself in detention and still I'm pretty sure Umbridge was aware of
Hermione's opinion of her. What else ? The pleasure of being called a
hero by Cho ? Well, OK, this one I can understand :-)

Finwitch wrote : 
> Aside, I just wonder am I correct in assuming that those of you in 
> the opinion that it's Harry who should do more, have never read or 
> seen the movie based on the book (by the same name) _The Dead Poets' 
> Society_? (I saw the movie first, and it was one of those waking 
> moments of my life - Read the book later...).

Del replies :
I saw the movie. Cried a lot. Because it was all so STUPID !! So much
loss, so much grief, all for almost *nothing* : if only those kids had
understood that their freedom was only a matter of *time*, not a
matter of gaining power over those in power ! The only thing that made
it all worth it in my eyes was the Neville-like character (can't
remember his name, the one played by Ethan Hawke) : he did get
something valuable out of all that mess. But at what price !?

Finwitch wrote : 
> As I see it, Harry will defy those who try to deny free will, 
> individuality & basic human rights. As long as Snape violates 
> Harry's sense of what's right, Harry will continue to defy him. And 
> so, IMO, he should.

Del replies :
Then Harry's got a long fight in front of him. Because let's face it :
there is *always* someone somewhere who somehow denies human rights.
I'm not saying it's useless, quite the contrary, just that it never ends.
Moreover, there's a danger in what you said : "Harry's sense of what's
right". Not everyone has the same concept of what's right. So fighting
someone else's idea of right might actually be a wrong thing to do
sometimes. Look at Hermione and her SPEW.

Del