Real child abuse/ JKR intentions/ Snape again/Draco

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 145767

 
<snip>
Alla wrote:

NO, I am not saying that torturing the  child is Okay, but I am 
saying that making Draco bounce a few times is OK  within the 
narrative? Why? Because  of whom he is. You know, I am  reading PoA 
right now and it made me realize once again how much I hate  Draco 
and how much IMO he deserves EVERYTHING he gets and more.

In RL  I would not advocate teacher using ANY physical punishments on 
the child  like EVER.

 
Julie now:
But haven't you argued that JKR's Wizarding World is a reflection 
of the real world, and that is why you consider Snape's actions  toward
Harry and Neville abusive? If different standards in the WW, i.e.  within
the story narrative, aren't a mitigating factor there, then why is it  okay 
for
Draco to be abused within the narrative if it wouldn't be okay in RL?
 
That aside, I think McGonagall's reaction is meant to be the 
appropriate WW reaction to Fake!Moody's act. "We do *not* 
transfigure our students!" (or whatever her exact words) quite 
directly translates to "That sort of abuse is *not* acceptable!"
Or, "No matter how much a student provokes you, or how much 
he may deserve it, students are children, and we do not engage
in CHILD ABUSE!" 
 
And, yes, as readers we may get a bit of enjoyment at seeing Draco
getting his just desserts here. But we can still know it was wrong,  and
that Fake!Moody was abusing his position, just as we can know it's
wrong of Snape to abuse his position with constant nasty comments
to Harry and Neville. 
 

> Julie (earlier):
> Of course, these labels are not all  mutually exclusive, except 
> perhaps DDM and ESE. DDM can flow into Grey,  which can flow into 
LID, 
> etc, etc. The most believable Snape will  have shades of several 
> qualities, just as real humans do. (Which is why  DDM!Snape to me 
is 
> most definitely not analogous to Good!Snape or  Hero!Snape, though 
> some insist on pressing that narrow  definition.)

Alla:

Oh, Julie do tell, maybe you will convert me to  DD!M Snape :-), 
because to me DD!M Snape is definitely analogous to  Good!Snape, 
unless you are thinking of Snape which Severely Siguine  postulated 
about - the one who kills Dumbledore to save his own life, but  
because he thinks that his life will be of value to good guys and of  
course in that scenario Dumbledore does not ask Snape to do him  in.

Is there any other DD!M Snape who is not Good!Snape?


Julie now:
Of course there is. DDM!Snape means one thing, and one thing 
only. That Snape is on Dumbledore's side and is doing his bidding,
thus he is working for the side of Good. That doesn't mean he is a 
Good person in the sense that Dumbledore or Harry or Hermoine
are Good because they most frequently act based on their  best
instincts. Snape can still be deeply flawed (as if there's a doubt 
about that!), mean and bitter, too often given to acting from his
worst instincts (when it comes to Harry especially), and yet in 
the end his actions still place him on the side of Good.
 
Look at Good/Evil as a scale. *Every* human being commits
acts of both. Dumbledore's scale is tipped very heavily on the
Good side, Voldemort's is tipped very heavily on the Evil side.
We aren't fully sure how Snape's is tipped, but it's certain there
is a fair amount of weight on the Evil side, from his DE days and
some of the choices he's made since. But if he's DDM, then in
the end the weight on the Good side, based on his continuing
and future acts of redemption, will outweigh the other side, and
Snape will end up more Good than Evil, if in a modest sense. Thus 
is Snape, if never Good, at least good, enough so to redeem his
soul. Which is where not a few humans end their lives.
 
I.e., Snape can be Grey and DDM. And that is how I see him.


Julie



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