[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape! Loverly Snape! Wonderful Snape! (long)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 148215

Jumping in randomly at this spot, but I think part of the problem here is 
the genre soup aspect of Rowling's writing.  There's a tradition in English 
comedy to exaggerate the teachers at boarding school--Evelyn Waugh, for 
instance, has a hilarious running joke about a kid who gets shot in a race 
and slowly falls ill, loses a foot and then dies during the book and nobody 
cares.

Sometimes Rowling's teachers are regular teachers, but sometimes I think 
they're riffs on teacher types.  Snape is sadistic because he's one of those 
mean teachers who seems to live for surprise quizzes, tons of homework and 
beating the answers into the heads of terrified students. When Harry is 
studying antidotes, since he lives in the WW, Snape really can hint that the 
quiz is going to be his giving them poison and seeing if they can save 
themselves.  (Is that as bad as Trevor?)  In that way he's a riff on 
teachers and he's not the only one--the kind of teacher who's so boring he 
might just drone on into eternity?  In Rowling's world he actually is dead 
and droning on into eternity.  The nice guy who's a great friend but sucks 
as a teacher?  In Rowling's world his "fun ideas" he hasn't really thought 
out come with teeth.

So yes, I definitely think she's using sadistic in the colloquial sense, 
just as people who say they're so depressed when their sports team loses are 
not really depressed. But I also think she's written someone more 
understandable than that type of teacher usually is to kids.  This is a guy 
who bemoans his class for being dunderheads on the very first day, who as a 
kid seemed to be already beyond NEWT level.  Teaching school must be a 
horrible job for him, and teaching Neville the worst of all.  Some teachers 
would get extra pleasure out of teaching Neville--Lupin might have enjoyed 
teaching him more than anyone, even Harry.  Snape's, imo, probably angered 
by him all the time.  I imagine any teacher has dealt with more than one 
Neville in their career; some warm to him like Lupin, some hate him like 
Snape.  (Similarly, I'm sure teachers have had some Hermione's and defintely 
some Draco's--I've seen plenty of Draco's who were teacher's favorites.)

Does Snape enjoy making Neville suffer?  Probably in the sense that it's a 
way of showing his anger (just as so many many people in canon enjoy 
opportunities like that), but I agree with the suggestion that Snape does 
not enjoy having Neville in class because he likes to see him afraid.  When 
he's randomly picking on someone in class, it's Harry, for personal reasons. 
There's plenty of scenes where Snape is getting something out of terrorizing 
or picking on Neville or Harry. This is not to play down the moments when 
he's terrorizing Neville, but I still seem some hints of Monty Python in 
their interactions.

Ironically, I could swear the real teacher Snape is based on was interviewed 
once and when asked how he felt about Rowling's using him for Snape he 
called it a very "elegant revenge."  Sounds a little like fanon!Snape to 
me.:-)

Still, I think just this much goes along with Rowling's general attitude 
about Snape in interviews.  No matter what his story, he's obviously not a 
romantic lead (especially by her standards, that is, she tends to be pretty 
simplistic on who's good dating material and hwo isn't, at least when 
talking about the books).  Snape's the mean chemistry teacher with yellow 
teeth and greasy hair--that alone is enough to be shocked at the question of 
whether he's ever been in love and say, "Who on earth would want Snape to 
love them?"  It avoids the question in case it's important (which after HBP 
for the first time seems like it could be), and brings it back to something 
she's always comfortable talking about because it's kind of random: is he 
attractive?  Would you want to date him?
-m