Snape--Abusive?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 114937


> Pippin wrote:
> > Snape makes an attractive scapegoat, but surely she.....
>  
> (Valky: Bellatrix who he has already stood against)
> 
> .......is the one responsible for Neville's nightmares and 
> irrational fears?
> >
> 
> Valky responded:
> Not at all. POA makes a specific case of Neville fearing Snape with
> his Boggart and furthermore in OOtP you see Neville shaking with
> fear when Snapes castigates him. I am not using Snape for a
> scapegoat nor am I ignoring Bellatrix' and Rodolphus' visitation
> upon Neville.
> I am simply pointing out that there is *someone* who fits the
> description that Alex posited regarding a criterion for making a
> strong case that Snape is, in fact, *abusive*, in the very sense of
> the word. That person is Neville Longbottom and if anyone is yet to
> make a stand to Snape and take back his personal power from Snape it
> is Neville. Harry has not given in to Snapes badgering, and he's
> done really well for himself in spite of it. Neville OTOH is deeply
> and horrendously affected by Snape, regardless of the Lestranges' or
> LV or his Grandmother, Neville is affected by *Snape specifically*
> and that is canon of Snape abusing his privilege.
> What Bellatrix and her husband did to Neville's parents may well
> have a great deal of relevance to his fearfulness, but we are given
> specific canon to evidence that Snape is hurting Neville so there is
> no reason to dismiss it.

Carol responds:
I agree with Pippin that Neville's fear of Snape is a pseudo-fear or
surrogate fear. (I know you didn't use those exact words, Pippin, but
that's how I interpret your argument. Correct me if I'm misreading
you.) It's an irrational, childish fear that he can and must and will
overcome so he can face the true villain in his life, Bellatrix (and
her male sidekicks, her husband Rodolphus and his groupie brother,
Rabastan). Anyway, as Pippin says, Neville suffers real emotional harm
when Crouch!Moody crucios the spiders, cruelly prolonging the process
for his own satisfaction with no regard for Neville's feelings. He
comes away shaken from that encounter as he never does from any
Potions class. His extreme reaction to that bit of sadism indicates
that the root of all his memory problems and insecurities, including
his tendency to melt cauldron bottoms and otherwise arouse the
irritation of Professor Snape, have a much deeper root than Potions class.

In OoP we see Neville starting to overcome his fears. With his own
wand now that his father's is broken and with the DADA sessions and
the experience of the DoM behind him, Neville will, I predict, be able
to face Professor Snape with quiet confidence rather than temerity.
(IMO, he won't defy him; he has no cause to do so and it would be out
of character as well.) OTOH, it's possible that Neville, having
received a mere A on his Potions OWL, won't even be in Snape's NEWT
Potions class. (I seriously doubt that Snape will be teaching DADA
until VW2 is safely over, assuming that he survives. More likely the
DADA teacher will be the lionlike character from JKR's website.)

In any case, it's time for Neville to go on to bigger fish than
Severus Snape, who after all is a teacher, not a practicing DE who
would actually endanger a student, whatever he may have done in the
past. Just as Harry must ultimately face Voldemort, Neville must
ultimately face Bellatrix, who deprived him of his parents through
true sadism that does not even merit comparison with Snape's barbed
wit. Snape is a minor obstacle, an introduction to the difficult
people his students will undoubtedly encounter in later life--and he's
on the same side as Neville, whether Neville knows it or not.
Bellatrix is a true enemy, Neville's nemesis as Voldemort is Harry's.
And realizing where the true danger lies--switching to a more
realistic boggart, if you will--is Neville's first step toward that
ultimate confrontation with an enemy who has done him far more harm
than Snape has. 

Carol