Snape's unfairness was Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Snape and Raistlin Majere

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 126890


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...>
wrote:
> 
> Let me give another example, however, that cuts against this 
> interpretation.  In OOTP, Snape deliberately sabotages Harry's
potion 
> so that he will be able to give Harry another zero.  That does not 
> strike me as the behavior of someone who needs an excuse.  Rather
it 
> is the behavior of someone who manufactures an excuse where none 
> exists.

Pippin:
I'm sure Snape regarded Harry's snooping in his pensieve as his
excuse. Never mind that Snape also threw Harry to the floor, yelled at him,  tossed a jar
after him and cut off the occlumency lessons (not that Harry would regard the latter as a
punishment) --if Harry doesn't know by now that Snape punishes according to his sense 
of injury rather than the crime, he ought to.


Lupinlore:
> To get this back to the Raistlin/Snape comparison, Snape has always 
> struck me as cruel and stupid in his teaching methods and his 
> dealings with his students.  Raistlin, on the other hand, while 
> cruel, was never stupid.

Pippin:
The only time I've seen Snape be stupid is when he refuses to listen
in the Shrieking Shack, and since that is probably related to the other two stupid things he
did, following Lupin in the prank and joining the Death Eaters, I'm inclined to wait until
I've heard the whole story.

But I still think Snape is more like Lucy Van Pelt in Peanuts. He's a
crab and a fussbudget, and you could definitely say that Lucy is a sadistic little girl who
abuses her power. But there's no indication that Lucy wants *more* power, and Snape 
doesn't seem to either.

 Like Snape, Lucy's personality is completely at odds with her type:
little girls are supposed to be *nice* and a lot of people think that teachers should be nice
too. OTOH, Charlie Brown could save himself a lot of grief if he just stopped running at
the football, and Harry, methinks, could spare himself a lot of grief if he did the
same. He doesn't have to buy into Snape's opinion of him any more than he has to buy into
Vernon's, or Charlie Brown has to keep paying nickels to Lucy to have her tell him he's  a
blockhead.  It also never seems to occur to Harry that with the Room of Requirement at
his disposal and Hermione to coach him, he could have learned  OWL potion making, or
even Occlumency, without Snape.

Pippin