In Defense of Snape (Against Snape in JKR's words)

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 122074


>vmonte: I couldn't help reading some of the previous Snape posts
without adding some of JKR's documented comments about him.

>Betsy:
*rubs hands in gleeful anticipation*

>vmonte:
>JKR: You always see a lot of Snape, because he is a gift of a
character. I hesitate to say that I love him. [Audience member: I
do]. You do? This is a very worrying thing. Are you thinking about
Alan Rickman or about Snape? [Laughter].
<snip of further JKR tap-dancing>
>Why do you love him? Why do people love Snape? I do not understand
this. Again, it's bad boy syndrome, isn't it? It's very depressing.
[Laughter]. One of my best friends watched the film and she
said, "You know who's really attractive?" I said, "Who?" She
said, "Lucius Malfoy!" [EBF-04]

>Betsy:
No one avoids a question like JKR. And she provides such
entertainment as she does so. Not much insight into Snape's

**vmonte again: Betsy, you cut out the most significant part. I will 
quote it again though. JKR: ..."But you must not forget that Snape 
was a Death Eater. He will have seen things that
 Why do you love 
him? Why do people love Snape? I do not understand this." [EBF-04]

**vmonte: From what I've read of Death Eaters, they do not go door to 
door selling girl scout cookies. Voldemort expects a lot from his 
employees, right? I don't think that Snape stayed back at "Bady 
Headquarters" playing with his chemistry set.  

>Betsy wrote:
I can feel you itching to bring up Neville. ...snip...despite his not 
so nice methods, Snape is still one heck of a teacher.

>vmonte:
lhhicks99 asks: Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape
to be so nasty to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and
Neville)?
>jkrowling_bn: Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in
life...horrible teachers like Snape are one of them! [Y-00]<

>vmonte responds:
Snape is a horrible teacher.

>Betsy:
Not denying he's the "scary" teacher, but if JKR really wanted to say
he was an incompetent teacher, his students would not pass their
O.W.Ls. (And I agree with Dumbledore - learning to deal with
the "scary" or "horrible" teacher is an important life lesson!)

**vmonte again: Sorry, I disagree. I do think however, that you can 
learn something from a horrible teacher. Did you ever read "The Art 
of War?" (It's a 2000-year-old military treatise.) One famous quote 
from it is: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."  I 
think it would be worthwhile for the students to understand the mind 
of the enemy, but that's just my opinion. So, when JKR says that 
Snape is a sadistic and horrible teacher, the students must be 
learning something besides potions...  

>vmonte:
What about Snape?
JKR: Snape is a very sadistic teacher, loosely based on a teacher I
myself had, I have to say. I think children are very aware and we are
kidding ourselves if we don't think that they are, that teachers do
sometimes abuse their power and this particular teacher does abuse
his power. He's not a particularly pleasant person at all. However,
everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that because
there is more to him than meets the eye and you will find out part of
what I am talking about if you read Book 4. [WBUR-99]<

>Betsy:
Never argued that Snape is pleasant - and he certainly abuses his
power at times. And in Book 4 we find out that he is a spy for
Dumbledore, adding depth and interest to his character, just as JKR
promised. :)

**vmonte again: We also find out that Snape was once a Death Eater. 
So, that also is a bad sign in my opinion, especially since he 
doesn't seem to have had a moral epiphany. He is still a deeply 
horrible person, no?

>vmonte:
>JKR: Yeees. You shouldn't think he's too nice, let me just say that.
>SF: Right I shall bear that in mind. Worth watching Serverus Snape
>JKR: He's worth keeping and eye on, definitely [RAH-03]<

>vmonte responds: I'm not sure that Snape is going to turn out to be
good in the end.<

Betsy:
I hope this quote isn't all you're basing that theory on. :) And I
made perfectly clear that I don't think Snape is nice. But (sing
along with me!) "nice" does not equal "good."

**vmonte again: You really think I'm reaching here? Or are you? 
Again I requote JKR:

..."But you must not forget that Snape was a Death Eater."
..."there are all sorts of lessons in life...horrible teachers like 
Snape are one of them!
"Snape is a very sadistic teacher, loosely based on a teacher I
myself had, I have to say."
"Why do people love Snape? I do not understand this." 
..."children are very aware and we are kidding ourselves if we don't 
think that they are, that teachers do sometimes abuse their power and 
this particular teacher does abuse his power."
And Alan Rickman: "I think at heart Snape is basically quite an 
insecure person, he's always longing to be something else that people 
will really respect like a black magician not just a school master. 
That's why he envies the more popular and successful boys like Harry."

**vmonte again: I had a college professor who was just like Snape 
(although a female). The first day of class she looked me up and down 
and told me that she knew exactly the kind of student I was and that 
I was not going to be able to get away with coasting through her 
class. She then proceeded to ask the class about their backgrounds, 
interests, and what their "nationalities" were. When class was over 
she came up to me and told me that Spanish people like myself are 
notoriously bad students, and she thought I was going to have trouble 
in her class (all this without ever seeing any of my work yet).
She once asked a student who was having trouble understanding a 
concept if he was drunk since the Irish were notorious alcoholics. 
She made my life miserable in that class. I didn't learn anything 
from her either, except what kind of teacher not to be. And 
everything I learned was of my own doing. I worked my backside off at 
home reading the material, and teaching myself. I would have learned 
faster if I had taken a correspondence course at home. The were also 
many times I stepped in to defend students that she would just start 
picking on in class, for no reason. I went home and cried almost 
every night myself. I still don't know why I (or anyone else) never 
reported her to the school. I suppose it had to do with my age, fear, 
and or my insecurity. What is funny is that by the end of term I 
started to almost believe what she said about me. 

>Betsy:
There are some mighty big assumptions here. But if you take Alan
Rickman's words as gospel - let me throw some back at you:
"He does have his positive side though even though Harry's a thorn in
his side he doesn't let it worry him too much." So does that mean
Snape is not really that bothered by Harry after all?

**vmonte again: Are you saying that I should take your words as 
gospel and not Mr. Rickman's and JKR's?

>Betsy: Also, Snape does not envy James -- he hates him. Would you 
envy a person that stripped you in front of your classmates? And 
Harry as popular? He's known - but he spends quite a bit of time, in 
just about every book, being mocked or feared or ridiculed by the 
Hogwarts students. Why would Snape envy that?

**vmonte again: I agree that James and gang were wrong to attack 
Snape. As far as being mocked, feared, or ridiculed by present day 
Hogwarts students--this is all his fault in my opinion. 

>Alla wrote:
>Harry did not have ANY ego to be slapped down, when Snape attacked
him on the first lesson. Harry did not have any ego to be slapped
down, when Snape kept reminding him how bad his dead father was.<

>>vmonte:
>I agree. Snape is jealous of Harry's celebrity.<

Betsy:
Huh? Where do you get that from? Please site canon.

**vmonte again: Ok. Alan Rickman: "I think at heart Snape is 
basically quite an insecure person, he's always longing to be 
something else that people will really respect like a black magician 
not just a school master. That's why he envies the more popular and 
successful boys like Harry."

>vmonte:
>JKR: It's fun to write about Snape because he's a deeply horrible
person [FE-99].<
> And..
>JL: Prof Snape has always wanted to be the defense against the dark
arts teacher. In book 5 he still doesn't get the job. Why does
Professor Dumbledore not allow him to be the defense against the dark
arts teacher?
>SF: There
>JKR: <sighs> That is an excellent question and the reason is that, I
have to be careful what I say here, the reason is that to answer it
fully would give and awful lot away about the remaining two books but
when Professor Dumbledore took Professor Snape on to the staff and
Professor Snape said I'd like to teach defense against the darks arts
please and Professor Dumbledore felt that that might bring out the
worst in Professor Snape.
>JKR: So he said I think we'll let you teach potions and see how you
get along there. [RAH-03].<

>vmonte responds:
>There is no way I would let a professor with sadistic tendencies
teach a DADA class. Would you hire an alcoholic as a bartender?<

>Betsy:
Again, you're making a leap. JKR is very careful to give as little
away as possible. I guess I'm not seeing what you're seeing. How
are we to know that Snape might not suffer flashbacks to his horrible
Death Eater days and have a total breakdown? It's just not clear,
and so I'd prefer a canon based argument rather than an interview one.

**vmonte again: I'm making a leap? JKR: "Professor Dumbledore felt 
that that might bring out the worst in Professor Snape." Bringing out 
the worst in someone is not the same as saying Professor Dumbledore 
thought that Snape might suffer bad dreams, etc.  It implies more 
than that in my opinion.

> Betsy:
Of course, Harry is too young and too naive, especially in book one,
to realize any of these motives, and so he settles on the
simple, "Snape hates me." I doubt Snape feels that strongly about
Harry in the beginning. I think Harry frustrates the hell out of
Snape, as Snape spends most of his time trying to keep Harry safe and
Harry keeps stumbling into danger, but I honestly think 'hate' is too
strong a word.<

>vmonte:
I'm not sure he hates Harry either. Maybe it's more like fear.<

>Betsy:
And again I say, huh? Where does it ever appear that Snape fears
Harry?

**vmonte again: We do have cannon that suggests that Snape is a 
racist. After all he did join the DEs, and he did call Lily a nasty 
name. I often find that racists are very frightened people. They fear 
what they don't understand.