Snape v. Umbridge - was another Snape thread

[puduhepa98 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 152157


> Nikkalmati:
> Yes, he has had a lot of face time in the  series.  JKR can't drop 
him  now.  
> He will play a  key role somewhere.  If he is DDM, Harry will  have 
to have a  
> major change of heart during Book 7 as regards SS. I see  this  
development as 
> one of the major events of the book.  I hope it  doesn't  require 
SS's death to 
> accomplish it.   
>  
>Lupinlore
>Only, IMO, if SNAPE first has a profound  change of heart about HARRY, 
>including a profound and genuine apology  for his abuse of Harry and 
>Neville.  Anything else would, IMO,  constitute a reprehensible 
>failure on JKR's part, amounting to an  approval of the abuse of 
>children.
<snip>  I tend to agree  that he does 
>have an important role to play, but JKR does sometimes have  a way of 
>introducing characters, building them up, and then dropping  them into 
>the background.  Consider Lupin, for instance, who has  been nothing 
>more than an umbrella stand for two books now, or Luna, or  Neville, 
>or Tonks.



Nikkalmati:
Why am I not surprised? <g> I followed the extensive threads on this  topic 
last fall and the various opinions expressed there.  I view the  "abuse" by SS 
described by JKR in these books as essentially trivial, but then I  went to 
Catholic schools <g>.
More to my point here, I want to consider Doris Umbridge as an abuser and  
overall evil character.  I find her, if possible, easier to hate than  LV 
himself, perhaps because her presence is more pervasive and immediate at  least in 
OTP.  As Sydney explained (if I recall correctly) LV is a Monster,  not fully 
human.  DU is, however, a type of petty bureaucrat who tyrannizes  all around 
her.   It is the pettiness of her cruelty that most  enrages me.  I can 
understand LV committing evil acts for the sake of  ruling the WW, but her motives 
appear to be to satisfy her low craving for minor  power over others, but there 
are no limits to what she will do within her tiny  sphere.   Worse, unlike LV, 
who to my mind does not pretend to be  good, DU convinces herself that she is 
doing the right thing.  See how she  talks herself into Crucioing Harry.  OTP 
pp. 746-47 U.S. ed.  She not  only doesn't teach, she prevents the students 
from learning and tries to prevent  the other teachers from teaching.  She 
doesn't want the students to play  Quiddich.  Not for nothing is she called the 
Grand Inquisitor.  Harry  calls her evil at least twice (OTP pp.271, 277).
 
She is also the one who IMHO who abuses Harry, when she forces him to cut  
himself by magically writing on his own hand over and over and again and  
again.(OTP pp. 267-69, 270-75).  When I read that part I felt  sick to my stomach 
(and I don't remember ever having that reaction to a book  before).  The key 
factor that makes this abuse or, if you will, the most  serious kind of abuse, is 
that it is done in secret. Whatever is done in  public cannot be serious 
abuse, IMHO.  Harry even feels so ashamed of being  forced to injure himself that 
he will not tell his friends about it and when Ron  finds out he won't take 
his advise to tell McGonagall or DD.
.  
I know some  listees have criticized HG for leading DU into the forest  to 
meet the centaurs. Others have defended her for thinking of a solution  to 
prevent an impending  catastrophe. However one feels about HG, the  real debacle 
occurred as a result of DU's own prejudice and insulting  behavior.  Whatever 
happened to her was a direct result of her  own arrogant sense of superiority.   
She is, in fact, as  prejudiced as any DE.  She may even be connected to LV.  
Note when she  touches Harry (OTP pp. 275, 277) Harry's scar hurt and his 
midriff felt  funny.  JKR may have her back in Book 7, and she is the one who 
needs to  get her comeuppance on stage this time.

Nikkalmati (who has been having  trouble with the cable, but the man promises 
to come fix things on  Monday!)






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