Bullying WAS: Re: Prodigal Sons

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 140785

zgirnius:
I have trouble determining Snape was a bully as a teenager based on
his decision to join the Death Eaters, because I can see other
reasons besides a desire to bully others that might inspire one to
join. Snape seems to have had an intellectual interest in the Dark
Arts from childhood, which might in itself tempt him to join a
powerful Dark wizard. 


vmonte:
Really? You don't think that one of the perks of becoming a Death 
Eater includes using "said' dark arts against other people? Maybe 
even testing out some of those HBP curses? So you think that Snape 
joined the DEs for purely scientific reasons?--research related 
reasons? Man, that sounds even scarier than what I imagined. 
(I'm having visions of Nazi-like torture labs--SICK!)


zgirnius:I don't think he had close ties to students in his year 
(since noone but Lily seems to have been doing anything but enjoying 
the show in that Pensieve scene) and he also probably had a 
problematic family life (the Pensieve memory of the
man yelling at the "cowering" woman). So he might also have joined
any group that gave him a feeling of importance and belonging.
Finally, depending on how he was raised, he might have been
indoctrinated into the anti-Muggle-born ideology as a child.
(Particularly if he had a bad relationship with his Muggle father and
more sympathetic maternal relatives with anti-Muggle views.) Since we
don't know why he joined them, it seems a stretch to then
retroactivelty decide he must have always been a bully because he was
once a DE.

vmonte:
If joining a group of murdering thugs is the way that Snape finds 
comfort for his bad childhood then I have no compassion for him at 
all. 

zgirnius:  
I also have some difficulty with the whole business of Snape having
fit nicely into a Slytherin gang of nascent Death Eaters at Hogwarts.
That he was involved with them in some way is canon, yes, but in what
way? As a leader? A valued member? Or a mere hanger-on about the
fringes, tolerated only for his knowledge of unusual and original
hexes? The other gang members we know about (Malfoy, Bella, etc.)
would mostly have been older, and also purebloods. I would think they
*knew* Snape was not, since he has his father's (Muggle) last name.

vmonte:
What? Come on, we've been told in canon that he was in the gang and 
that he later became a DE. Let's not beat around the bush, ok? 


Vivian