In Defense of Snape (long)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 123233


 SSSusan wrote:
> <snip> But how would you explain what he [Snape] did 
> in insulting Neville in front of Lupin & the whole class, in telling 
> Lupin he wasn't trustworthy before his DADA class?  Still a 
> carryover of frustration?  It *felt* more flat-out nasty to me.


Carol responds:
I know you don't agree and I'm not trying to convince you, but I've
always read that scene as Snape reminding Lupin of who Neville is, a
Longbottom, whose boggart ought logically to be a Death Eater, just as
Harry's ought logically to be Voldemort. Lupin prevents Harry from
demonstrating and confronting his boggart assuming that it will be too
terrifying for the rest of the class to see (which may well be true
even though it's a Dementor rather than LV). Surely a masked,
wand-wielding DE would be almost equally terrifying?

Unfortunately for him, Snape's strategy (if that's what it is)
backfires, and the boggart turns out to be himself. But notice that
Lupin *asks* Neville what he's most afraid of, as he surely would not
have done had not Snape specifically mentioned Neville. Had it really
been a DE (maybe specifically Bellatrix Lestrange), it would have been
wise for him to teach Neville separately from the rest of the class.
Snape is only a sarcastic teacher, a child's boggart. Bellatrix
Lestrange is purely evil and responsible, with her male followers, for
Crucioing Neville's parents into insanity. It would be hard to make
someone like that ridiculous. And more important, Neville has not
revealed to anyone what happened to his parents and seeing a DE
boggart would be excruciatingly painful for him.

If Neville's boggart had been Bellatrix, Lupin would almost certainly
have left him till last and ended the class before his turn. Instead,
thanks perhaps to Snape, he uses this strategy on Harry. And he turns
the warning on its head by having Neville ridicule Snape, but under
the circumstances, I don't know what else he could have done.

One more small point. Snape doesn't exactly say that Neville is
untrustworthy. He says not to trust him with anything difficult,
meaning that he's likely to botch the job and cause devastation (as
when his cauldron melts in Snape's class). But it's his first words,
"Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville
Longbottom," that I think are important. a warning. The name
Longbottom. Neville's greatest fear, which Snape surely doesn't
realize is himself, and which logically ought to be Bellatrix. To me
it fits together. (And, yes, Snape would know that there was a boggart
in the wardrobe and deduce that that's what the lesson would be about.)

Carol