In Defense of Snape (long)

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 122138





Snow:
> The next controversy is how far Snape goes with his appeared hatred
> for Harry or Neville. This position has always been of debate but
you
> really need to remember that Snape is a sufficient Legilemence and
> can see who his students are and how far he can push them; namely
> Harry and Neville. Snape has already told us by way of telling
Sirius
> in the beginning of the Occlumency Chapter of OOP, that he knows
who
> Harry is and how much physiological punishment he can take:



Geoff:
Just in passing, I think you mean psychological damage.... I hope
Snape isn't planning to start /hitting/ Harry.

Snow:
Thanks for spotting and making the correction to this error Geoff, of 
course I did mean psychological not physiological.

Snow:
> "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his
> father?" "Yes, I have," said Sirius proudly. "Well then, you'll
know
> he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him," Snape said
> sleekly.
>
> Snape knows how far he can push Harry or even Neville because he
> knows who they are through his legilemency powers.

Geoff:
I can't agree with you here.

If Snape is an expert Legilimens, then he must know that, at their
first meeting, Harry is uncertain in his new environment, probably
scared of this daunting person and certainly not arrogant. If he
can't pick up on that, then he just isn't as good as we're led to
believe.

Snow:
But wouldn't Snape have realized, even for one so young, that Harry 
was resilient enough not to allow Snape's snide remarks cause him any 
permanent damage. Harry is his father's son and even if he didn't 
outwardly exhibit his strength of character at age eleven, Snape 
would have been able to see that snide remarks were not going to make 
Harry crumble into a shuttering house elf. Snape can make himself 
look good in the eyes of his little class of Slytherin friends that 
report back to their death-eater daddies by seemingly using and 
abusing Harry. Harry is able to endure abusiveness, he had to live 
with that type of behavior most of his life while living with the 
Dursley's. 

Geoff:
Betsy, in another meassage, has remarked that Harry pushes Snape's
buttons. But who started pushing buttons? We have had canon quote
after canon quote in the last day or so showing that Snape took the
path of piling sarcasm or humiliation on top of what could have been
a reasonable chastisement of Harry.

Snow:

There has been an explanation as to why Snape would mistreat Harry 
but there doesn't appear to be any good reasons why he does the same 
to Neville or even Hermione. I could actually see Snape's behavior to 
Harry as purely abusive if Snape were to have singled Harry out just 
because he hated his father, but he doesn't, he treats Neville with 
equal dislike and there just aren't any grounds for it, Snape didn't 
hate Neville's parents. There has to be another logical explanation 
as to why Snape singles out particular people and treat them in the 
manner that he does. 
It may just be my subversive reading of the text but if you look 
close enough you can see possible motives behind what Snape is saying 
to Harry, Neville and Hermione when he makes a spectacle of them in 
class. Hermione, the insufferable little know-it-all, needs to learn 
to step back and realize that she doesn't know everything. Snape has 
reminded her of this on several occasions, once in class and once in 
the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Neville repeatedly need to be reminded 
that each step counts if you want the end product to be a success. I 
don't believe that this is just an application to potions alone but 
life in general, especially with a war on the horizon. Snape has to 
disguise his teaching methods because of Draco and the like. Snape 
defiantly laid the groundwork for the button pushing exercise in his 
first potions class, which sold Draco on the fact that he hated Harry 
but as a result he also sold Harry on the idea and Harry, sold the 
reader. 


Geoff:
If he had taken a gentler approach and managed to control his hatred
of James - and of someone reminding him of James - the raltionship
could have been far easier.

But, that would'nt have been good for the plot line would it? :-)

Snow:
It may have made it easier for Harry but maybe not as productive as a 
whole for the situation. If Snape appears less than nasty in front of 
the death-eater kids wouldn't he blow his cover and usefulness as a 
spy. Even in private Snape doesn't dare take a chance that he could 
be overheard and found out. I'm sure that this is a factor because of 
what Snape tells Harry at Grimmald Place: 

"You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell 
anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge, You 
Understand?"  
Now Snape has specifically told Harry that he was not to tell Anybody 
but did Harry listen, no, he immediately told his best buds. Harry 
therefore cannot be trusted even in private of Snape's true 
intentions if he were to appear the least bit nice to Harry. We have 
been told time and time again that in the first war with Voldy you 
didn't know whom you could trust, even your best buds. I very much 
doubt that Snape forgot that. 

I don't mean to imply that Snape has any great fondness to Harry and 
would secretly like to tuck him in at night but has to maintain a 
front of loathing Harry, no
no
 I think Snape, at times, quite enjoys 
the position he is in; Snape the spy for Dumbledore has to teach the 
little brats while maintaining his death-eater front to his former 
colleagues. When you mix the two you have one nasty looking teacher.


I think Snape sums it up best when he is talking to Sirius and Sirius 
asks why Snape has to be the one to teach Harry instead of 
Dumbledore, Snape's reply was:

"I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less 
enjoyable tasks," [
] "I assure you I did not beg for the job." 

Sounds to me like Snape is just doing the assignment he had been 
asked to do under necessary cover and although we have not been told 
that Harry or Neville have been assigned to him for specific teaching 
throughout, I believe that he has. 


Snow—who apologizes to Naama for not answering her post on this 
subject because I don't think I could have said what I would have 
better than Pippin has already done.