JKR and Occlumency lessons (was Re: Snape and Occlumency)

[spaebrun]

No: HPFGUIDX 121783



Reed wrote earlier:
> Perhaps it is true that from a rational point of view it's somewhat
> problematic to fully justify Dumbledore's decision to pick Snape 
> of all people to teach Harry, but from a narrative point of view 
> this constellation is great! 


Alla replied:
> From this POV I have no choice but to agree with you. Of course, 
> Occlumency scenes make for EXCELLENT read, no question about it and 
> of course when I look at the story from outside, I acknowledge that 
> picking Snape as a teacher was perfect choice in order to maintain 
> dramatic tension and to add more Harry!angst in the story (as if we 
> did not have enough already).
> 
> Numerous problems start (and of course I am only speaking for 
> myself) when we look at the story from within, THEN I start ranting 
> at the said choice of the teacher.

Reed again:
I see your point. On the other hand, it *is* a story and isn't there
a saying that stories about paradise are boring - whereas
stories about hell can turn out great? 
Quite drastic, I admit, but there's some truth to it. A good story
needs conflict and drama - while in real life we hope to get 
as little of that as possible. (*I* do at least ;-)) So as much as we
like book characters, we don't always want things to be good and
easy for them. 

Of course, the need for drama should not ruin the plausibily of the 
story, but I personally didn't feel that it did in this case. It was
clearly wrong of Dumbledore to appoint Snape as Harry's 
Occlumency teacher, and JKR is well aware of this, as she lets 
him admit thishimself. 
For me, it's not so hard to accept that, though Dumbledore knew that 
Harry and Snape didn't get along well, he misjudged how deep their 
resentments (especially Snape's) were. He simply hoped they would
sort out their issues when faced with this common task. 
In this book, JKR goes to great pains to establish that Dumbledore
is neither omniscient nor infallible and the occlumency lessons are
one example of this - so they serve the story in yet another way.

You can argue whether we needed this additional bit of drama of
course, but IMO it worked well enough - and as I mentioned in 
my earlier post, I also believe that it was a way to put focus on the 
relationship between Harry and Snape which I'm expecting to be
important in the following books.

Reed