Does Snape really favor Draco? (Re: Occlumency: Relax or resist?)

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 117752


> Kristen <kgpopp at y...> wrote:
> <Snip>
> 
> > So maybe Snape hopes to be a role model 
> > for Draco.   You known, steer him away from the death eaters, 
teach  him to respect knowledge, to not be confined by your families 
> > expectations.   
> 
> Lupinlore replied:
<snip>
 But where does that leave the Slytherins?  Aren't they simply being 
reinforced in their  belief that they are superior and should expect 
deferrence and 
> favorable treatment simply because of who they are?  Isn't Snape 
> abusing them in much the same way that JKR sees the Dursleys 
abusing 
> Dudley (i.e. he is preparing them for a world that doesn't exist, 
and 
> insuring a life of pain and disappointment)?
> 
> This of course brings up yet a further point about DD and the 
> Slytherins.  Up to this point we see no evidence that DD or Snape 
> tries to actively wean them away from the Death Eaters.  Now, it 
can 
> be argued that realistically there is little DD can do
<snip>
he  has simply washed his hands of the whole house, viewing them as 
a  lost cause.  
<snip>
> Interesting questions.

Hannah: Very interesting questions.  Discussing things to do with 
Slytherin house and the treatment of its students is always tricky, 
because we get such a skewed view of it from canon.  I can't believe 
that every single Slytherin is a Draco Malfoy clone, convinced of 
their superiority, mean and stupid in the extreme, with DE's for 
parents.  But that is certainly the impression that canon gives at 
present (oh for the introduction of that 'good' Slytherin!).

But do Slytherin students really get that great a deal?  They are 
loathed by everybody who isn't one, with the other three houses 
banding together against them.  There seems to be a general view in 
some parts of the WW that all dark wizards were Slytherins (as 
expounded by Hagrid in PS), even though that can't be true 
(Pettigrew was one, people happily believed Sirius was one, etc.).  
Do they expect (or get) favourable treatment from anyone?  Really, 
Snape is the only one we see in canon treating them better than 
other students.

In fact, we see at least one example of Slytherins as a whole 
getting treated badly.  At the end of PS, when DD awards the points 
to Gryffindor, snatching the cup from Slytherin.  Harry had faced 
Quirrel several days before - DD could have meted out the points 
then.  But no, he has to wait until everyone is in the Great Hall, 
decked out in the Slytherin colours, before suddenly taking it away 
from them.  Of course Harry and his friends deserved those points, 
but did all of the c.70 students in Slytherin deserve to be 
disappointed in such a cruel way?  No one seems to give a stuff 
though, apart from Snape.

Why does DD not try (or appear to try) to wean them away from the 
DE's?  For the reasons you gave, that it likely wouldn't work.  
Obviously there is a general anti-DE message given out to the whole 
school, but it's a bit like drugs education, I suppose.  You can 
tell children again and again that they're bad, throw tonnes of 
money at awareness campaigns, but plenty of kids will still take 
them.  

As for DD washing his hands of the whole house, that implies that 
every single Slytherin is going to become a DE.  And even Hagrid 
doesn't go as far as saying that all Slytherins are dark wizards 
(just that all dark wizards are Slytherins, which isn't true 
anyway).  I still think it's a significant minority, rather than all 
or even most of them.  A world where 25% people are pure evil is 
ridiculous, and I don't think JKR would create such a place.   And 
it would make the job of the Aurors much easier - arrest all 
Slytherins.

I don't see Snape as having any role in weaning Slytherins away from 
the DE's.  The guy is on thin ice anyway, and keeping him as a spy 
is far more beneficial to the Order than any unlikely-to-suceed 
attempts to stop children joining LV when they graduate.  Going back 
to the original question, I see no evidence that Snape is trying to 
teach Draco to not be confined by his family's expectations, or to 
respect knowledge.  I think Snape secretly despises Draco (he would 
be out of character not to) but he has to keep up appearances.

Hannah

Fanfic at www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Hannah_Marder/