Hermione and Snape. Was: Re: Accio 2005 press releaseTrial of Snape

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 128365

Shaun:
> Does Snape care if anyone learns potions?
> 
> Oh, yes. Oh, yes, he cares. Potions seem to be the one thing he is 
> most passionate about.
> Severus Snape may not care about much. But he cares about potions.
> To him, it is an art - and it's an art he wants to live.
<snip>
> Snape is a master of his art. I'm sure he wants to teach - but
> what he wants to teach are the best students - he wants to teach 
> the NEWT students who meet his high standards for entry. To do
> that he has to get them through the lower levels. And that is 
> hard, and that is  dull, and that is barely worthy of his time.

Jen: I snipped your RL example of your Latin teacher for brevity, 
Shaun, but it was a good example of how a teacher can feel 
passionate about a subject and grow bitter over the years teaching 
students who have no interest in the subject or who are simply in 
class to fill the requirements. Surely passion for your life's work 
is frustrated by that constant apathy.

And Snape definitely appears to feel he's wasting his art and 
passion on a bunch of 'dunderheads'; his bitterness and sense of 
fultility is palpable. 

The difference with Snape is he is truly trapped as a teacher at  
Hogwarts. Certainly now with LV's return there is no other place for 
Snape to go where he is safe. Like Trelawney, whom DD insists stay 
at Hogwarts after her sacking, Snape is trapped in his position. 
Must be like Dante's rings of hell for him. And *that* is what I 
believe causes him to be a sub-par teacher. 

Not only is he bitter about teaching dunderheads, the choices he 
made as a young man limit him to a position offering him little 
release for his art. And I'm certain that was true long before LV 
returned. What position was there for an ex-Death Eater with no 
money and influence, even with Dumbledore vouching for him? Unlike 
Lucius, Snape could not blend easily back into the WW using his 
pocketbook or claim the Imperio. His only choice was to take the 
position offered to him at Hogwarts.

I wonder what Snape could have done with his art, his passion, if he 
had different choices. He's bitter about his job, he's bitter toward 
the thankless students, and if he ever allowed it in a quiet moment, 
bitter toward Dumbledore. That frustration only increases when Harry 
comes along. Another reminder of all his mistakes, his losses, who 
he could have been without 'ex-Death Eater' hanging over his head.

So I don't argue with you that Snape knows his subject extremely 
well, that he is able to impart his knowledge to a degree where 
certain students excel, or that his intimidation of the students is 
always a failure.

But he brings his personal bitterness and futility into the 
classroom every day, and that is what mars his performance as a 
teacher, what separates him from McGonagall, Sprout or Flitwick in 
his effectiveness as a teacher for the majority of students. He 
simply doesn't want to be there, and that shines through loud and 
clear.

Jen