Evaluating Snape (was: Re: Lupin's resentment )

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 94175

 Please assume general merciless snipping throughout
  
> Carol wrote:
 
> > One more thing, and I know this is just my opinion, not canon: I 
> > don't think the lesson Snape is teaching Harry in most of these 
> > instances is that life is hard but that *you must follow 
> > directions*. And why single out Harry to explain why his potion 
> > went wrong, and not Goyle, whose potion nearly set the classroom 
> > on fire? Because it's Harry who will need to use these 
potions....


Potioncat:
I agree fully with the above.

> SUSAN AGAIN:

> Okay, for grins, I'll set out briefly what I found on this 
*general* 
> topic, expanding it to the wider area of Snape's treatment of 
Harry 
> & the Gryffindors.

Potioncat:
Potioncat responding to the 14 or so episodes of Snapiness:
OW!  That hurt!  Many more posts like this one and I may have to 
become a Sirius fan!  (No, anything but that!)

Some of the episodes have raised questions either in this reading or 
when I read them in the books, so I'll respond to a few.

Susan: 
> CHAMBER OF SECRETS:
> "Professor Severus Snape was Harry's least favorite teacher.  
Harry 
> also happened to be Snape's least favorite student.  Cruel, 
> sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from his 
> own house (Slytherin)...." [US, p. 77]

Potioncat: 
Just wondering is this Harry's view or JKR"s? The question came up 
in mind when I was reading it.  We've seen what a few Slytherins and 
Ravenclaws think of Hagrid, have we ever been given opinions from 
other houses about Snape?
> 
Susan:
 Draco Malfoy, who was Snape's favorite student, kept 
> flickering puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry, who knew that if 
they 
> retaliated they would get detention faster than you could 
> say 'Unfair.'" [US, p. 186]  [Harry **was** breaking the rules in 
> this lesson!]

Potioncat:
  Now this is one time Harry should have gotten in trouble!  
Fireworks in a potions lab? 
 
Susan: 
> "They had Potions that afternoon, which was an unqualified 
> disaster.  Try as Harry might, he couldn't get his Confusing 
> Concoction to thicken, and Snape, standing watch with an air of 
> vindictive pleasure, scribbled something that looked suspiciously 
> like a zero onto his notes before moving away."  [US, p. 318]  No, 
> we don't KNOW he gave a zero, but we do see that Harry was trying 
> not to mess up.

Potioncat:
I always smile at the joke that a Confusing Concoction 
would "thicken."

Susan: 
> GOBLET OF FIRE:
> "...Snape--Harry's least favorite person at Hogwarts.  Harry's 
> loathing of Snape was matched only by Snape's hatred of him, a 
> hatred which had, if possible, intensified last year, when Harry 
had 
> helped Sirius escape right under Snape's overlarge nose...." [US, 
p. 
> 175]

Potioncat:
Again, is this JKR or Harry? Just out of curiosity.

Susan: 
> [Harry receives a "D" on his homework. Then that day's new lesson 
is 
> part one of Strengthening Solution.]  "Determined not to give 
Snape 
> an excuse to fail him this lesson, Harry read & reread every line 
of 
> the instructions on the blackboard at least three times before 
> acting on them." [In his own assessment, it wasn't perfect but 
still 
> good.  He delivered a flagon to Snape.  Again, I point out that he 
> *is* trying.] [US, pp. 309-310]

Potioncat:
Yes, it seems Snape's methods have motivated him this time. I once 
had a boss who believed fear of punishment motivated better than 
anticipating a reward. (No, I didn't like that boss.)

Susan: 
> [Malfoy baits the Gryffindor crew over Quidditch, then insults 
> Neville's parents.  Neville tries to attack, and Harry & Ron 
> **stop** him.]  "'Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?' Snape 
said 
> in his cold, sneering voice. 'Ten points from Gryffindor.'" [US, 
pp. 
> 361-362]

Potioncat:
I felt like he stopped the fight, because he knew what was going on 
and did his usual anti-Gryffindor ploy.  But it was only 10 points 
(That's 3.3 points per boy.)  I thougt this time he was actually 
being kind. (Well, for Snape)

Susan:
> I'm not trying to pick any fights here.  I just wanted to present 
> what I found in my perusal of the books.  .  On the other 
> hand, I will argue to the death, as a former teacher, that Snape's 
> teaching methods suck!  

Potioncat:
No arguement there! And I was only wandering through the post, 
making comments.  But I have to admit, seeing all these episodes at 
one time was just about overwhelming!

I will add as an observation not an excuse, Snape was not hired for 
his teaching skills.  Once this is over, surely he will find a 
different place to work. (Fans' dreams of his being a Headmaster one 
day aside.)  I think he wants Harry to learn the information and 
tries to force it into him the best way he knows how.  A Lupin type 
teacher could probably teach him much better.  But DD hires LV 
fighters, not teachers.

Potioncat (still a Snape fan)