Snape's Cruelty Has Purpose (Was Re: lily/snape)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 150775

Betsy Hp:
> I agree with Magpie.  Snape is Snape is Snape.  I seem to recall 
> Sydney predicting that when the big reveal of Snape is done, those 
> who've always hated him will continue to do so, and those who've 
> always loved him will continue to do so. 

True.  And I'll add a corollary: Dumbledore is Dumbledore is Dumbledore.
All of the ideas about Dumbledore having some grand plan in mind for 
Snape treating Harry a certain way ignores several straightforward 
facts about his character -- especially the fact that he is a 150 year 
old man who admittedly sometimes has a lot of problems relating to how 
other people feel about things.  From his vantage, it is very easy to 
take a tolerant attitude toward Snape.  After all, it's just a potions 
class, and he probably long ago came to regard behavior such as Snape's 
as sad and faintly ridiculous.  It's easy to think that way when you're 
over a hundred.  For that matter, it's easy to think that way when 
you're over 30.  

When you add that to DD's evident feelings about Harry, well -- 
disaster is in the making.  Like a lot of people possessed of strongly 
positive feelings for another person, he can't imagine, emotionally (as 
opposed to intellectually) that other people don't see things the same 
way when they are in possession of all the facts.  He thinks that 
surely as Snape gets to know Harry the potions master will get over his 
old grudges -- and he alludes to this in his speech to Harry at the end 
of OOTP.  

So there is no need for any subtle plans or plots or manipulations on 
DD's part.  Even when it comes to Harry, JKR says that he "unwillingly 
allows Harry to confront certain situations," not that he deliberately 
sets Harry up for particular challenges or learning experiences.  His 
attitude seems to grow quite naturally from the facts about his 
character.  That is, he seems to think "It's very sad about Severus, 
but there are all kinds of people in life, and at least the students 
get a chance to see what that kind of thing does to a person.  If it 
puts somebody off potions -- well, we can deal with it if that gets to 
be an important issue [I know we have no direct evidence for this last, 
but can anyone really imagine Dumbledore letting someone who would make 
a great auror, for instance, be washed up because of a personal 
conflict with Snape?].  With regard to Harry, this is a good thing for 
Severus -- he'll have the chance to get over his problem with James 
Potter.  I'm sure he can do it.  After all, once he really gets to know 
Harry, he will be forced to confront the distortions in his own 
thinking.  As for Harry himself, well, I'm sad to think what might be 
coming, but it's probably worse than Severus."

Actually, that kind of policy might have worked fairly well for a 
number of years.  As several people have pointed out, Snape's attitude 
toward Harry and his friends seems to be a special case, and it may 
well be that the Snape seen in the books is not precisely the Snape a 
student, even a Gryffindor, and maybe not even a Neville, would 
typically see.  Perhaps, just guessing, Snape's more typical attitude 
toward Gryffindors is similar to Hagrid's attitude toward Slytherins -- 
i.e. I don't like you very much but if you stay out of the way we'll 
live and let live.  As I recall, Percy's comment about Snape in PS/SS 
was something about "not liking Gryffindors much" and didn't really 
indicate the kind of active antagonism seen from day one with Harry's 
class.

Of course the problem is that, when it comes to the Snape we see in the 
books, DD is wrong on almost every count.  He doesn't understand the 
hatred Snape has for Harry, he doesn't understand the hatred Harry has 
for Snape, and he doesn't recognize the distortions in his own thinking 
until it's too late to rectify the damage that's been done.  And thus 
is the stage set for the tragedies of both OOTP and HBP.  Not because 
of plots or plans or manipulations, but just from three people reacting 
to a given situation according to their respective natures.


Lupinlore