Quesiton for Snapeophiles and -phobes RE Dumbledore, Snape, and Harry

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 114494


A lot has been going back and forth today about whether Harry should 
show Snape respect.  Frankly, I think that idea is... well, I don't 
have a great deal of intellectual or emotional agreement with it.  
Nevertheless, the thrust seems to be that Harry should show Snape 
respect in order to prove that he is not like Snape believes and that 
this will lead to Snape and Harry building some kind of mutual 
respect, or at least lead to Snape behaving somewhat better and 
lessening tension.

Now, the thing I don't get, I really don't, is why would anyone think 
Snape is *capable* of changing his opinion of Harry or even *capable* 
of changing his behavior?  The evidence we have, from what I can see, 
is that he isn't.  He has far too much invested emotionally in his 
view of Harry, and that view leads directly to the way he behaves.  
To change would mean, at some level, coming to some peace with his 
past RE the Marauders and James.  I suppose he would if he could, if 
only to get rid of his own pain, but all the evidence is that he 
simply CANNOT.  Now, given that, why would Harry being respectful to 
him make any dent at all?  As far as I can see, he would just 
say "That blasted Potter's up to something, but he can't fool me!"

Now, I think that Dumbledore, up until OOTP, really believed that 
Snape WAS capable of change.  I think one reason he has not 
interfered openly in the Snape-Harry dynamic is his belief that Snape 
would eventually "get over" most of his animosity.  And he probably 
saw good reason to believe that.  After all, Snape and Harry are a 
lot alike in a lot of ways.  He probably hoped that, over time, Snape 
would grudgingly have to acknowledge this fact.  

In this I think Dumbledore was blinded by several things.  First of 
all he was misled by his own habit of trying to see the best in 
people and situations.  Secondly, he was just too close to the 
situation.  He has been intimately involved with Snape and Harry for 
years, and likely lacked the perspective to truly appreciate the 
depth of enmity that has been steadily growing between those two ever 
since Harry set foot in Hogwarts.

Now comes fifth year and Occlumency.  I think Dumbledore was being 
quite honest when he said his main concern was making sure Harry 
learned the skill and when he confessed his reasons for not teaching 
Harry himself.  But I also think he really did hope that this would 
finally lead to a breakthrough.  When it didn't, he gave up hope, 
leading to his "Some wounds run too deep for the healing" remark.

Now, given all this, how on Earth is Snape supposed to budge?  Some 
people see evidence of change during the Occlumency episode, but if 
its there its EXTREMELY subtle and not very encouraging.  How, then, 
is anything supposed to make any difference at all?  Snape seems 
simply too emotionally invested in his hatred of Harry to be capable 
of any kind of change either in his attitudes or his behaviors, 
barring being forced to modify his behavior unwillingly be some 
method or the other.

Dzeytoun