First potions lesson/Stand aside girl and the end

potioncat willsonkmom at msn.com
Wed Jan 4 15:25:19 UTC 2006


No: HPFGUIDX 145876

 "kchuplis" wrote:
>
> OK, I can't stand it. You people mean to tell me that you think an 11 
year old child 
> was supposed to take, what, 5 textbooks and in the three or four 
weeks before his 
> first lesson, in a completely foreign world should have been able to 
answer any 
> question thrown at him on the very first day and in the very first 
class? Really? You 
> honestly believe this? 

Potioncat:
There is so much happening in this first Potions class, I don't really 
know where to begin, so I'll start with canon:

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"
Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold dark 
eyes. He *had* looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape 
expect him to remember everything in *One Thousand Magical Herbs and 
Fungi*?"

(That was just to counter the arguments that Harry couldn't look at his 
books. He did look them over. Snape might expect him to remember 
everything, I wouldn't.)

JKR set us up. At the first moment Snape was a recognised 
character...the overly stern, unreasonable teacher who causes grief for 
the hero. He didn't need a reason to be mean. It's his job. We could 
just sit back and read it without thinking too much. Then by the end of 
the book his role changed and we began to ask questions. Like, Why did 
he do that?

We don't really know Snape's motivation in the first class. (Can't you 
just hear Rickman asking, What's my motivation in this scene? No? OK, 
moving right along...)

Prior to this class, on the first page of the chapter,we're given a 
description of Harry's celebrity. He is getting lots of attention from 
students and teachers. So, Snape knows Harry Potter is a celebrity. 
Harry knows it too.

Snape may be insanely jealous of James Potter and may expect Harry to 
be just like his father (as do many others). We know James didn't 
always study and was a big hero/celebrity, which he seemed to enjoy. 
(IMHO, OoP) So perhaps that is what Snape is expecting Harry to be like.

Snape knows something of the prophesy, knows that LV did something to 
Harry. He may have sensed something of LV in Harry, as the Sorting Hat 
did, and as Trelawney seems to (without knowing it). So Snape may be 
trying to ferret out signs of the Dark Lord. Tom Riddle was a very 
popular student, liked by classmates and teachers. Except for one 
teacher. Read the description in HBP, Tom/DD sounds just like 
Harry/Snape. (Except of course, DD is nicer.)

It may be a combination of both, and he's trying to scare Harry into 
paying attention. Is it a good way to start off teaching 11 year old 
kids. Nope.

Potioncat who hopes she didn't make this too concise.











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