First lesson WAS: Re: Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 185824

> Alla:
 Any other 
> example of Snape treating student the way he treats Harry during the
 lessons (besides Neville and Hermione) and not outside the classroom?

Pippin:
Snape says that most of his students are dunderheads, and he doesn't
expect any of them to really appreciate his subject. Harry notices
that Snape criticizes almost everyone except Draco. Hagrid confirms
that Snape hardly likes any of his students. Demeaning and critical
*is* neutral, for Snape. Not that I expect you to like him for it. But
keep reading.

> Alla:
> 
> He does not **know** anything about Harry's character yet Pippin, 
> when he makes his *celebrity* comment. That is my point.
> 

Pippin:
But Harry *is* arrogant, and Snape would have discovered that
very soon. It  would have rubbed him the wrong way even if
Harry didn't physically resemble James any more than Draco looks like
Dudley. And  Harry would  have been put off by Snape's cruelty even if
it had never been directed at him, and no one had warned him about it.

I don't think that Snape and Harry ever would have wanted to be
friends, though they might have found it rewarding if they could have
overlooked one another's failings. 

I think that JKR is saying that supposing someone has the
characteristics assumed to be typical of their group is pretty normal.
 And it's fair to assume there are typical tendencies in a group
that's self-selected -- birds of a feather do flock together, after
all. And it's natural that some tendencies are more appealing to
particular people than others.

But it's  awful   to be so intolerant of a particular
tendency that it keeps you from seeing the person who has it as any
good at all. And it can be equally dangerous to be so taken with an
attractive tendency that it masks everything that's bad.

Snape could not recognize the things Harry had in common with Lily.
Harry did not see how much Snape had in common with his hero,
Dumbledore, until he was able to look past Snape's cruelty and see his
courage. And of course, he had to learn to look past Dumbledore's
twinkly facade of harmless benignity, too. 

But in the end Dumbledore is still Harry's epitome of goodness, the
person he checks himself against when he wants to know whether he's
done the right thing. It's very telling at the end of DH, first that
Harry goes against his instinct and checks himself at all, and second,
that he takes Dumbledore's counsel over Hermione's.

I guess we  are never going to agree on whether students have the
right to talk back to their teachers. So I will just point out that
Harry allows Zacharias Smith to be threatened with bodily harm for
talking back to him at the first DA meeting. 

It certainly doesn't occur to Harry that maybe Smith has a right
to be offensive considering that Harry rudely refuses to talk about
what happened to Smith's housemate Diggory. Nope, Harry makes up his
mind that Zacharias is a smart mouth, and deals with him on that basis. 

Nor does Harry think he should be lenient because Marietta had a bad
situation at home. He points out that other people had a bad situation
and didn't betray their classmates, and he might have said that others
were offended with him and didn't think it gave them a right to act
out in class. 

For all I know, Snape always picks out a student who talks back and
one who creates mischief to punish during his first class, so that
everyone will know what happens to students who act that way. He may
not particularly care if the student in question is actually guilty or
not, and he might have picked Harry just to show that no one, not even
a celebrity, is above being punished in his class.

That's not very fair. But it's a heckuva lot fairer than not letting
the students know what punishment they might risk  cough*Hermione*cough.

> Alla:
> 
> 
> I thought Dumbledore had a perfect opportunity there to mend 
> animosity between them if he gave a bit different speech to Harry at
 the end of PS. 

Pippin:
Did he really want to mend it at that point?
He couldn't tell Harry the truth without breaking his agreement with
Snape. And Snape had to go on sneering at Harry whatever his private
opinion might be, because making Voldemort think that Harry was a
mediocre wizard was part of The Plan.  Harry, too young to be told
this,  had to be given an explanation that would account for Snape's
continuing disdain. 

 Voldemort's illusions did help Harry to survive, so it served its
purpose. I do think helping Harry to survive is a greater good than
making sure Harry loves all his teachers and reaches his maximum
potential at potions. YMMV. 

Pippin
who keeps trying to type "maximum potional" :)