Snape Wars vs Ship Wars was re: Cultural standards for Snape abusiveness/

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 144606

> 
> Alla:
> 
> You ARE very convincing , Christina. :-) Yes, I think you convinced 
> me that person's greatest fear can change during the course of their 
> lives.
> 
...
> 
> Alla
>
What I was suggesting, which seems to have gotten rather lost in the 
shuffle, is that Snape may not be Neville's *actual* greatest fear 
(that would have to be confronting the torture of his parents and the 
DEs who did it), but that his greatest *unrepressed* fear (ah, there's 
the word), i.e., the fear that is on the surface where he can confront 
it at that stage of his life, is Snape. Getting past Snape by learning 
to laugh at him is part of Neville's growing up. From learning to deal 
with lesser fears like Snape, he will acquire the strength to confront 
his much greater, hidden fears later on.

Another thought: How old was Neville when his parents were tortured? 
Was he on the scene, the way Harry was when his parents were killed? 
How much can we assume Neville actually remember about what happened? 
Or is his knowledge of what happened just these two ruined people his 
grandmother takes him to visit? I guess what I'm asking is, is his 
fear based on first-hand experience, or is it hearsay, only from the 
ears up?

And still another: I think whoever suggested that Neville's fear of 
Snape was tied in with his fear of his grandmother was onto something. 
I think it's significant that Neville puts the two together in his 
ridikkulus spell, and if Lupin suggested it (he did, didn't he?), he's 
an intuitive genius.

--La Gatta