[HPforGrownups] Rampant Ingratitude, was Re:Lusting After Snape

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 129384

PhoenixGod:

> First of all, Snape isn't wounded.  He's not a fluffy little bird with
> a broken wing. Snape is a bad man. A terrorist escaping prosecution by
> virtue of squealing on his terrorist buddies. Using a sports metaphor
> to describe Snape doesn't do justice to the position he is actually
> in. He should crawl on broken glass to thank Dumbledore every single
> day that he is teaching and not paying for his crimes in
> Dementorville.  He should repay DD by doing the job the best he can,
> wihtout bullying the students, and making everyone around him
> miserable.  He seems to walk around with a sneer and an I would rather
> be anywhere else but here attitude.  I say Snape in ungrateful because
> there isn't much--if any--evidence that he actually is grateful for
> the position he has and not the one he actually deserves.

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here. This discussion seems
to assume that teaching is Snape's job. I disagree.

I believe that Snape is at Hogwarts, and has been at Hogwarts, simply to
stay close at hand and available to Dumbledore until such time as an
opportunity to do his *real* job comes along. He's doing it now. Teaching
happened to fill the time, and it's probably real handy that Snape is a
master at something, but if Dumbledore ran a coffee shop, Snape would have
spent the last 14 years making latte. And being nasty to the customers, and
not doing anything to overtly display gratitude than to come to work every
day, go through the motions of fulfilling the duties given to you when your
heart is not in it, and support the leader who had faith in you and trusts
you. And frankly? If I had to spend 14 years attempting to teach calligraphy
to students who were poking each other with the pens; or 14 years attempting
to teach poetry to students who had souls of lead; or 14 years teaching
singing to the tone-deaf--I'd probably get a little visibly sadistic.

Up until recently, Harry has been in no position to see Snape interacting
with Dumbledore in any capacity that would tell him anything about their
relationship outside the Hogwarts administrative structure. That is not a
good sampling for a sweeping justification of Snape's internal attitude
towards Dumbledore. The fact remains, that in OoP Dumbledore asked the two
of them, Snape and Harry, to interact in a different way--not Hogwarts
teacher/student, but fellow fighters against Voldemort. In fact, the
Hogwarts relationship was used to hide the true purpose. And Snape did what
I believe to be his flawed best, even though he was putting himself at
risk--and Harry behaved like a child with no awareness of the stakes or
magnitude.

Pippin said it: "The young man who's acting like a petulant child in OOP has
his name and picture on the cover, IMO." I'd agree. I think Snape was
playing a *very* dangerous game with the Occlumency lessons, and the only
reason Dumbledore allowed it was (a) Snape is the only one as skilled as he
and the best teacher was needed; and (b) the dangers of allowing Voldemort
free access to Dumbledore (and thus the entire Order and resistance)
outweighed the dangers to Snape. The needs of the many, and all. I don't
blame Snape a bit for his frustration, since Harry manifestly does not apply
himself and allows his own mistrust to get in the way of making any
progress, to the endangerment not only of Snape but of the entire struggle
against Voldemort.

I am unconvinced that Snape's willingness to try, in the face of personal
risk, and his frustration that Harry was neither concentrating nor making
progress toward the goal, typify ingratitude in any form.

It's a fact that, of all the things Snape does or says in all five books
thus far--not *one* can be ascribed with any certainty to a clear motive.
And most can be ascribed, with supporting arguments, to motives that differ
dramatically. So asking for examples is a bit unrealistic, but I ask again:
can you show me *interpretations* of specific actions that would build a
case for ingratitude throughout the sweep of the books?

~Amanda