Teaching Styles

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 147857

Shaun Hately

> Wild cheering? Hardly. Some applause yes - but applause that isn't 
> loud enough to block out Harry's cry of 'No', when we are told that 
> Dumbledore had to raise his voice just to be heard over muttering. 
> That to me, is hardly a ringing endorsement. Yes, the Slytherins 
clap 
> (and no mention is made of any applause from the Hufflepuffs or the 
> Ravenclaws, but perhaps Snape was merely too rude to acknowledge 
> them), but he is his their Housemaster - it would be very odd indeed 
> if there was no applause and mere applause isn't that impressive.  


Magpie:
That's why I shouldn't post when I don't have canon in front of me--I 
hate getting it wrong.  I think I had mostly remembered the image of 
Snape lazily acknowledging the applause and so in my mind must have 
exaggerated the description of the applause for more contrast.  The 
Slytherins applaud, they do not wildly cheer.

Note that I just looked at the canon and adjusted my argument to fit 
it.  I did not start explaining away the canon or finding ways 
that "applause from the Slytherin table" could indicate wild cheering 
when you take into account Harry's bias or the accoustics of the Great 
Hall. This is a work of fiction, not a crime scene. The reason Harry 
can be heard along with the Slytherins is because the author is giving 
us two bits of information: Harry's reaction and the Slytherins'.  
That Harry can still speak to his friends on the other side of the 
Great Hall is not a way of telling us that the Slytherin applause is 
anything less than applause (approval expressed especially by the 
clapping of hands; praise; commendation).  If the author wanted to 
indicate that, she would say that.

I already acknowledged that Snape favored Draco from the very first 
day.  He also favors the Slytherins over other students. My point was 
that throughout canon Snape has mostly been shown having positive 
interactions with the Slytherins, and there is at least one student we 
know who considers him his favorite.  I remain feeling your desciption 
is more based on your own life experience with teachers you believe to 
be like Snape (he knows he won't ever be popular, etc.) than the 
character of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter books, who, from the 
evidence we have, seems perfectly popular with his own house.  He is 
not the most unpopular teacher in canon.


Irene Milkin:
Someone else was very sarcastic in this thread about the constantly
moving goal posts. I thought it was too much at the time, but now I
start to see the point.

Magpie:
Honestly, I don't think it was sarcasm.  It was a perfectly accurate 
desciption of the way the argument looked to be going and was 
demonstrated perfectly with the response.  I believe it's a common 
thing in debate--I think it's called an "unfalsified premise?"  The 
idea is that you have a premise that can never be falsified--what 
Betsy described as "always raising the bar higher." 

-m