Harry Potter and Severus Snape: A Nod to a Little Known Genre

[baphythegoat]

No: HPFGUIDX 131888

Hey There Fellow HP Fans: 


    I will cop to the fact that I find Severus Snape one of the most
facinating characters in the whole series. At the same time, I would
think it was foolish to not acknowledge that in the classroom scenes
we've seen, the man is a ferocious prick, and a bitter pill at best in
other circumstances. 

    In light of some of the more, errr... frequent "passionate" posts
agonizing about what an "abuser" he is, I thought I might bring up a
subgenre of childrens'/young adult fiction that is not very well known
in the United States these days: The British boarding school novel. 

In the traditional British Boarding School Novel (such as Tom Swift) the 
hero/heroes (almost always teenage boys) commonly have a pair of stock
adversaries. One is invariably an overpriveledged snotty upper class
boy around their age (sound familiar?), and the other is usually a
nasty, controlling, pitilessly demeaning authority figure, most often
a well established teacher. This teacher acts as an adversary to the
hero(es) who challenges their values, mettle, and tests their will. He
(less often but occasionally, "she") serves as part of the gauntlet
the boy(s) suffer through as they enter the adult world. Before
sensibilities drastically began to change no more than 30 years ago
(and in some places still hasn't) it was considered par for the course
for well over a hundred years-that young adults had to "learn"
trial-by-fire-style how to deal with such harshness. "Too Far" existed
in this mindset too, but it was radically different than now (try
broken bones resulting from punishments, or concrete proof of taking
bribes-whether monetary or corporeal as primary means to pass
examinations!)

 Snape is definitely well qualifited for the role of
adversary/challenger for Harry and his friends. There is the
additional exiting demensions of Snape's past with James Potter, and
the fact that there is conflict in Harry over another role his least
favorite teacher occasionally touches on- that of ally! 

The Harry Potter novels primarily belong in the genre of Fantasy
Fiction. However, it seems that JK Rowling was very familiar with that
of the British Boarding School novel as well! Her imagery and
characterizations of many within Hogwarts (not to mention the visuals
in the first two films- the kids' school  uniforms, Snape is wearing
traditional "don's robe", the inside of the castle- gee whiz!) really
capture the flavor of this type of literature.  

Before getting too caught up in a morass of issues perhaps better left  
for the therapist's office, it is nice to stop and notice the forest
for the trees! 

Sincerely, 

Baphy
the 
Goat