Occlumency: Relax or resist? (Was: CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 29, Career Advice

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 117337


        Lupinlore wrote:
> sufficient to show that, under Snape's tutelage, Harry finally
> managed *something*.  That isn't, in and of itself, particularly
> impressive nor does it necessarily speak well of Snape's teaching
> methods.
>
> To use the martial arts analogy, it's true that if you train with a
> master who attacks you full out every day, you will eventually block
> one or two blows.  That doesn't mean you've learned much and it
> doesn't mean that's a very good way of teaching.


Actually, having done the martial arts thing myself, I found that without 
a great deal of paranoia, constant vigilance, and the practice of dodging unexpected blows from your companions, it was impossible to gain the 
necessary instinctual response to attack that is necessary to defense.  
Even with this practice, over the course of years, my immediate response 
was to block an attack.  I consistently failed to counter the attack 
properly.  I did not have a reliable response to attack because I did not 
fear my attackers and of course we did not severely injure each other.

With this in mind, Snape was the most likely to be successful in teaching 
Harry to develop instinctual and reliable reaction to the feel of 
legilimency being performed on his mind.  He did in fact learn to do 
this.  Snape made him feel threatened enough to defend.

If you think it was painful and difficult for Harry, think of how Snape 
must have felt at encouraging a student to face him with a wand and allow 
the student to hex him, said student, perhaps containing some part of the 
mind of Voldemort.  Snape did not become angry with Harry for the stinging 
hex, or using "protego".  He became "infuriated" when Harry did not defend. 
 Snape might not be a nice person, but he is the only character who is 
perfect for this kind of training.  

One wonders how successful it actually was.  At the end of Oop, when Harry 
is stopped by Malfoy, it is Malfoy who lost his cool.  Harry stayed calm 
and cold, remained in control of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. The writing 
style used in this conversation reads almost like Snape talking in the occlumency lessons.  The flow of words is very similar. When Snape arrived, 
in spite of Harry's hate for him, he still remained in control, answered politely, and handled himself much better than earlier confrontations.
                                                                                            
KJ