Sadistic Teachers (was:Re: Teaching Styles)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 148046

> Ssattar5 wrote:
> Really interesting analysis of Snape and his brand of sadism. 
> However, Umbridge is far more horrible and sadistic than Snape, no 
> doubt about that. 
>

Neri:
I'd put it differently. I'd say Snape's sadism is far subtler than
that of Umbridge ("subtlety" is something Snape is proud of) but that
doesn't necessary make it less horrible. In our modern days when the
cane isn't allowed anymore, there's a tendency to always see physical
abuse as much worse than emotional one, but this is not necessarily
so. Kids will frequently find it easier to overcome some forms of
physical abuse than emotional one. I suspect that when Harry had to
cut his own hand with a magic quill in Umbridge's detention, he was
actually suffering much less than Neville when he had to cut and
disembowel a barrel full of toads in Snape's detention (GoF, Ch. 14).
And of course, Snape knew that Neville's pet is a toad and that
Neville would come out of this detention "in a state of nervous
collapse". Subtlety here means knowing your victim's personal
vulnerabilities and exploiting them to hurt him the most, something
that Umbridge really weren't very good at, if she thought to break
Harry by making him cut his hand.  

Alla wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/148011

> Personally, I think Snape is some kind of emotional vampire ( HAHA - 
> I know he is not a real one of course). He feeds on the negative 
> emotions of his students. This is out landish speculation of course, 
> nothing more, but it somehow ties for me with Snape being DE in the 
> past and trying to figure out again ( we did have discussions in the 
> past about it) what part of death Death Eaters are really eating - 
> really or metaphorically.
> 
> Maybe they feed their magic on people's fears?
> 
> Wasn't it Neri who speculated something to that effect? That DD lets 
> Snape "feed" on his students' fears as long as he does not "eat" too 
> much. I maybe awfully confused here.

Neri:
Yes, well, this was one of many outlandish speculations from those
pre-Horcrux days, when we still asked ourselves how would Voldy be
immortal in a thematic way. It really should have been obvious that he
simply split his soul into seven parts and hidden them in magic
trinkets for the hero to find. Now why didn't we think of that? <g> 

But unexpectedly JKR found another way to suggest Snape's sadism. Not
only she showed him using an Unforgivable, but also taunting Harry
about his inability to use them, much as Bellatrix did in the MoM
battle. And as Bella told us then, the Unforgivables require sadism in
order to work.

Neri