Sadistic Snape

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 140413

Julie:
 
> I think it's been apparent from the beginning that 
> Snape formed an immediate opinion of Harry and has 
> acted on that since,  contrary evidence aside. It's 
> all part of the fact that Snape insists on  seeing 
> Harry as a carbon copy of his father, and twists the 
> evidence  in his mind to support his conclusion. Which 
> doesn't make him a crank, or a sadist, but a bitter man with 
> tunnel-vision  regarding Harry and James. 

> Julie:
> No, again it's Snape's tunnel vision.

houyhnhnm:

The character himself, as well as the many discussions about the
nature of his character have caused more and more "Snapes" to emerge
from my memories and forced me to rethink my relationships with them.
 That's a good thing, I think.  (I am amazed at the number of posters
who can only recall *one* such individual from their pasts.)

Your comments on tunnel vision brought forth a new Snape from my past,
who, I think, illustrates especially well the difference between a
sadist and a bully.

This person was an assistant principal my first year of teaching and
my direct supervisor.   He was abusive to me and to students.  As a
first year teacher I had to be evaluated twice.  The first evaluation
was terrible.  Severus Snape himself couldn't have written anything
nastier. I was sure I was going to be driven out of the profession. I
considered him a deeply horrible person and a sadist. 

The thing that turned it around was a school science fair in the
spring.  This "Admiral Ass" was going to be the judge.  I thought what
a farce. None of my students are even going to get honorable mention
no matter how good their projects are. But he not only judged my
students' projects fairly and actually awared a couple of blue
ribbons, he gave them exactly the same scores I would have given them.

It changed my opinion of him and it changed his opinion of me.   It
changed his behavior toward me. He ended up giving me a good
evaluation and a recommendation for rehire. He told me at the end of
the year, "I thought you were cold and didn't care about what your
students learned".  He had no reason to think that.  He couldn't see
me at all. His tunnel vision caused him to see his own prejudices
rather than people as they really are.  He could judge science
projects but he couldn't judge people.  He probably shouldn't have had
the job he held--supervising teachers. He was still a bully, but he
was not a sadist because his aim was not to derive pleasure from my
pain but to get rid of someone he (incorrectly) perceived as a dunderhead.

Out of all the Snape-like characters in my past, this man probably
comes the closest to the way I see the character in the books.