Harry learning from Snape (was: stopper death)

[hester_griffith]

No: HPFGUIDX 114526



> > Hester:
> > DD is a very wise man.  Thus he recognizes that learning to deal 
> > with unfairness and cruelty will help Harry be stronger and more
> > independent.  Harry is forced to take more initiative in his
> > education, and thus his goals are defined and strengthened.  

Dzeytoun:
> ERR, that's wisdom?  Forgive a poor, stupid former teacher, but it 
> sounds like sheer idiocy to me.
> 
> > Hester:
> > LIFE IS NOT FAIR.  DD is doing Harry a favor by alowing him to learn
> > how to live in an unfair world, while he is still young and pretty
> > sheltered at school.  Harry doesn't really learn anything about
> > dealing with this at the Dursleys, but his education and success in
> > the WW is so important to him that he does learn this at Hogwarts.

Dzeytoun:
> Not learned that life isn't fair while living with the Dursleys?  
> Once again, forgive a poor, stupid man who works with abused kids 
> from time to time, but just how in the name of God's green goodness 
> to you justify THAT statement?


Hester:
First, I am not saying that I agree or even prefer the way Snape
treats Harry.  It is despicable.  I had a teacher in High School very
much like Snape.  She was a (justly) very proud woman who could not,
for various reasons, secure a job teaching at the University level. 
She was very frustrated by this and took it out on us Freshmen.  She
despised me for my race and what seemed to her, my lack of effort. 
Because this was an English class, there was plenty of opportunity for
her to sabotage me psychologically.  She was careful to never do
anything that could lose her her job.  While that made English class a
horrible experience for me, it forced me to be that much better than I
otherwise would have been.  Fortunately I had other English teachers
that were more supportive that instilled a love for literature in me.
 But that teacher taught me the most about successfully relating with
people I would rather avoid.

Second, I'm not saying that Harry didn't learn "life's not fair"
living with the Dursleys.  Of course he did.  All children pick that
concept up eventually.  But they also get the idea that unfairness is
wrong and must be rectified in their favor.  I know too many people
who suffer under this ideology to their extreme detriment.  The
Dursleys' abuse of Harry is intolerable.  What I am trying to say is
that Harry doesn't do anything about it, other than whine
occasionally.  In fact he deliberately does things that make his
situation worse (threaten Dudley...).  As the books progress Harry
starts to take a better approach.  I believe that figuring out how to
deal with a horrible teacher has taught him how to deal with the
Dursleys as well.  It is not enough to know that life's not fair, we
also have to learn how to deal with that inequality.  If we don't it
impairs our ability to succeed in life.  We become a drain on those
around us and sometimes even society.

Hester