Snape and moral courage WAS: Re: The Houses, Finally

montavilla47 montavilla47 at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 14 19:12:19 UTC 2008


No: HPFGUIDX 184642

Alla:
> After book 7 my contempt for Snape increased tenfold. He **loved** 
> that woman for goodness sake, how dare he treat her baby that way. 

Montavilla47:
I respect your feelings, Alla, but I don't understand your reasoning.  
Why must Snape treat Harry well simply because he loved her mother?
I can definitely understand the reasoning that he should treat *any*
student respectifully, and I agree that he didn't do so when Harry
first came into his class.

But it seems to me that treating him well because of his love for
Lily is no better than treating him badly because of his hatred of James.
Harry is neither Lily nor James.  

I seem to remember that people keep remarking on much Harry is
like James, especially in the early books.  Does anyone actually ever
say he's like Lily?  (I know that Lupin does in the film version of PoA,
and Slughorn keeps staring at his eyes--and then compares him to 
Lily in Potions, but that's due to Snape's work, not Harry's.)


Alla:
> Harry was desperate for father figure, he reciprocates ten times to 
> any adult who shows him a tiny bit of affection – be it Hagrid, 
> Dumbledore or Sirius.
> 
> As far as I am concerned Snape could have Harry eaten from his hand, 
> if he so desired. Just tell him – I knew your mother, I can tell you 
> stories about her, offer him tutoring in Potions. And here we go – 
> Snape has James's son worshipping the ground he walks on.
> 
> Instead he does that.

Montavilla47:
Here's where I really differ from you in reasoning and feeling.  
Considering what Snape knows he's done to help cause the
death of Harry's parents, wouldn't it be rather disgusting of him
to try and win his affection?  

Imagine if Snape had flattered Harry, the way that Slughorn did.
Just beyond the fact that it's really not Snape's style to flatter
*any* student, imagine what it would have been like for Harry
to discover Snape's complicity if he had loved the man?

Look at how Harry angsted over Dumbledore!  And all that he'd
discovered about Dumbledore was that the man was friends with
Grindelwald for a few weeks!  Something that had no relevance
or impact on Harry's life at all.

So, yes, Snape started it all by treating Harry rudely in class.

But I find that, ironically, better behavior than the way that
Slughorn tried to reel Harry in by flattering him.

Montavilla47





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