Harry's fear of Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 143833

> Alla:
> 
> Erm... I snipped the other part of your post, but I am confused by 
> this one. You seem to acknowledge that Harry's fear of Snape is 
> real, right? But you are also saying that it is not realistic. What 
> does it mean?
> 
> Harry IS afraid of Snape, but he should not be, because Snape did 
> not do anything to cause Harry's fear? Is that what you are arguing?
> 
> To repeat from my other post - Harry is feeling that he is 
> imprisoning himself when he goes to Occlumency lessons with Snape. 
> Are you saying that Harry has no reasons to be afraid of Snape? Are 
> you saying that somebody else caused Harry to be afraid of Snape?
> 
> If so, who was it? Who caused Harry to be afraid of Snape?
> 
> While we are arguing this moment, are you also saying that Neville's 
> fear of Snape is unrealistic? And if I understand your argument 
> correctly, who caused Neville to be afraid of Snape?
> 
> Did I misunderstood you completely?
> 


Pippin:
Harry and Neville both lost their parents just at the time when separation
anxiety develops. They both, from very early childhood, discovered that
their worst fears can come true. They both were raised in environments
which further  conditioned them to not to dismiss their fears. As Lupin 
points out, Harry's real fear is not Voldemort, or dementors, but fear itself. 
In fact, Harry is so afraid of his fear that, IMO, he never dares to doubt it. 

Most people do some kind of reality check when they're scared.
One of the reasons we do things like ride on roller-coasters and read
fantasy is to remind ourselves that  scary feelings are easily provoked
regardless of actual danger. Dementors are plenty scary, but
no one's ever been harmed by one yet. We might give ourselves a little
shiver the next time it's foggy outside -- the dementors are breeding-
whoooooooo! And then we'll grin and give ourselves permission to
dismiss the fear because guess what, dementors aren't real.

But Harry  doesn't do this reality check, probably because at the Dursleys
he couldn't afford to. He didn't have enough knowledge or experience
to tell whether his fears were realistic or not, and it would have been very
unsafe to rely on the Dursleys, who did things like abandoning him at
King's Cross. But things are different now. Harry  has knowledge, he
has experience, most of all as a teen he has the ability no child has to reason 
abstractly, and he can use these tools to assess his fears. But he doesn't. 

He's handicapped because his emotions are so close to the surface...
it's the fact that he can't just turn off his fear that makes him so lousy
at Occlumency in the first place.  But he has learned to compensate
by thinking through his fear, just as he thinks through the bliss of
imperius. But while he uses this ability to avoid being paralyzed by his
fear, he doesn't use it to help him decide whether the fear itself is
justified.

Harry feels imprisoned when  Snape shuts the door, though Snape has 
explained  the need for secrecy and there's no indication in canon that 
Snape wouldn't most happily have let Harry leave.  In fact, Snape complains 
that this is going to be a tedious task which he is doing only because 
Dumbledore asked it of him. In the end of course Snape not only doesn't 
stop Harry from leaving, he literally throws him out.

Harry spends his first year in the fear that Snape will get him 
expelled and never bothers to find out if Snape actually has the authority 
(he doesn't.)

Even Harry's friends laugh at him for thinking that Dumbledore would
have let Gabrielle drown.

Worst of all, of course, Harry didn't realize that Voldemort was manipulating
his fears for Sirius, though Hermione tried and tried to make him see that
it just didn't make sense that Voldemort and  Sirius could turn up in a 
top secret area of the ministry in the middle of the afternoon. 
I mean, The Quibbler would blush.

In short, Harry believes whatever his fear tells him to believe. He can think 
through his fear, and that's what makes him so brave, but he's never learned to 
doubt it. He remains at the mercy of anyone who can use his fears against 
him. I think he needs to get past that.

As for Neville, we don't know whether his boggart represents a literal fear
of Snape, or whether, as with Harry,  the boggart is a  representation
of something more abstract. That Neville suggests the boggart might turn
into his grandmother makes me think the latter, that it represents Neville's
fear that he's an inadequate wizard, not  the fear of Snape himself.

Pippin