Snape, Hagrid and Animals

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 143992

> Lupinlore:
> But when have we ever been led to believe that Snape's thought 
> processes are essentially logical? 

Pippin:
Harry thinks so. "Harry could tell he was putting two and two 
together, as only Snape could..." --GoF ch 25

Lupinlore:
 He is certainly capable of  logic, as his puzzle guarding the PS/SS shows.  
But he is also  capable of great leaps of emotionalism, indeed near hysterics, 
when  it comes to Harry and James Potter.  


Pippin:
The more facts we have, the less vaulting Snape's leaps become. Since
he could look into Harry's mind whenever he had eye contact, his seemingly
weird conclusions that Harry has been up to something needn't be
based on obsession alone. We also don't know whether Snape really believes
his offbase accusations or is just using them  to get Harry to think about 
what Snape wants to know. 

Lupinlore:
> People do that all the time -- particularly deeply neurotic and near-
> hysterical people.

Pippin:
Snape is seldom near-hysterical, and even deeply neurotic people do
know, as has been said, that two and two make four. They just can't stand it.


> 
> 
> > Pippin:
> <SNIP>
> > Exactly. Children know perfectly well when Snape has crossed the
> > line in his classroom. They don't need a sermon about it, and they 
> don't  need to see fire and brimstone raining on his head.
> > 
> 
> Lupinlore:
> Ah, but is this still a children's book? :-)  I don't know and I 
> don't think it's pertinent, actually.  The question is what would 
> make for an ending that brings the story's wheel to a balanced and 
> well-written end.  That requires, IMO, an amount of sermonizing 
> about Snape in the form, as we have discussed on another thread, of 
> a third party intervening to confront, chastise, and yes, humiliate 
> Snape in much the same way Dumbledore confronted, chastised, and 
> humiliated the Dursleys.  

Pippin:
Well, that's the debate, isn't it? Was Snape doing as Dumbledore asked
or not? If not, then surely he deserves whatever he gets. But if he was
doing the best that he could, given his strong instinct for cruelty and
his undoubted anger, he has little to be ashamed of, IMO. 

You stress the importance of  confrontation and redress in the healing of 
childhood traumas. Snape believes that someone tried to murder him when he was 
sixteen. That seems to be a major source of his anger, and anger enables cruelty
even in people like Harry and Sirius who are not generally cruel. I think
Harry has to solve this mystery,  and when he does, it might go a long way
toward helping Snape deal with his tendencies. Not that I expect Snape
to become a sweet and gentle soul by any means but it might help, even if 
all he learns is that it was indeed just a stupid childish joke and no one 
meant for him to die. (I don't think so, but we'll see.) It's often healing if 
people can just agree about what happened, even if no one is blamed.

I have no problem with Harry expressing his anger to Snape over the
way that Snape has treated him. I do have a problem with Harry conflating
his anger about that with his anger over the loss of Sirius and Dumbledore,
especially if those losses turn out to have little to do with Snape. 

Pippin