In Defense of Snape (long)

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 122175


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "snow15145" <snow15145 at y...> 
wrote:
> 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. 

Tonks:

I am not defending Snape's behavior here, or suggesting that the 
Dursley's behavior was acceptable either. However, for Harry (not 
for every child) this has made him stronger. Now there is Neville, 
who is a very sensitive child like I was myself, and this nasty 
behavior has a negative effect on him. Neville does crumble like a 
shuttering house elf, but Harry doesn't. Harry is able, perhaps 
because of his treatment by Snape to ignore Bella's nasty remarks at 
a very emotionally vulnerable point in his life. 

Think about it.  If any of us came in contact with a real DE, would 
we have wanted a goody-2-shoes teacher or a nasty one? I would never 
have made it in the Army, because boot came it not a nice place. It 
is, I am told, full of teachers like Snape. That is all they have, 
and for a reason. The members of the army are being trained to be 
tough and to hate and to direct that hate towards the enemy. 

I don't think that JKR is training the DA to hate like that. But she 
does allow a teacher like Snape and so does DD. I see that as saying 
that the forces of good can and do use whatever comes to them. Snape 
may not seem like the ideal vessel for the use of good, but the 
forces of good find a way to use him anyway.

Tonks_op