CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward
Joey Smiley
happyjoeysmiley at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 16 06:18:15 UTC 2010
No: HPFGUIDX 189343
> > Joey:
> >
> > True and that is why I think he could do great in research. Do you think a person who *genuinely* wants to teach will be that horrible with students like Neville and Hermione? I'd think they would rather offer help to students like Neville or at least refrain from being that nasty.
>
> Pippin:
> Snape was Head of Slytherin. I think that indicates a degree of approval for the way he does his job and a certain ambition to be recognized for doing it. He didn't need to be a Head of House to protect Harry.
Joey:
Quite possible though I also think Snape's special love for that house could have made a significant contribution towards that ambition.
Actually, your reply made me think of something else too: who else was there Slytherin house who could have been the head of that house? OK, we had Lupin, Hagrid and Minerva for Gryffindor out of which Minerva seems to have got it. Wonder who else could have been there fo the other houses if not for Flitwick or Sprout or Snape. To which house did other professors Binns or Vector or Sinistra or Grubbly-Plank belong?
> Pippin:
> I think "teaching" has to be broken into its constituent bits before we consider whether Snape liked doing it. Clearly he enjoyed lecturing, he liked being considered an authority, and he was proud of that high pass rate.
Joey:
Mmm, yes, I agree.
> Pippin:
> He thought it important to organize the material and present it to the class in a logical way -- as we can tell from his complaint about Lupin's lack of organization and Hermione's protest when he takes up the topic of werewolves out of order.
Joey:
I agree that he thought it important to organize the material and present it to the class in a logical way but only because of the way he taught potions. As for his complaint about Lupin's lack of organization, I think it was a prejudiced remark. Lupin came across as pretty organized to me - he ensured that he always kept ready the creature he would deal with in the forthcoming lesson and his method of teaching sounded smooth, focussed and effective.
> Pippin:
> He liked to see people appreciate the beauty and power of potions, and he wanted them to be able to protect themselves from those who used the Dark Arts.
Joey:
True. Agreed.
> Pippin:
> What he didn't like was coaxing better performance out of the inept or the uninterested. Nowadays that's an important part of what a teacher, especially a teacher of children, is supposed to do and Snape was obviously lacking. However, there is the alternate and older philosophy that treated children as miniature adults, according to which the incompetent and the uninterested deserved to fail. I think that is the tradition that Snape was brought up in -- it is certainly one which accords with the general elitism of Slytherin House. The interesting thing is that Snape was conflicted about it -- he liked that high pass rate. So he didn't ignore the students who did poorly (though they, like Harry, wished he would). He bullied them, which is, as Shaun liked to point out, effective with some students, the ones whose problems are arrogance and boredom rather than lack of confidence.
Joey:
Hmm, interesting analysis. Yet we don't see him bullying Crabbe or Goyle. They were quite inept. I think boredom, if not arrogance, was certainly their problem. Wonder how people like Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode fared in studies. Snape didn't seem to bully them too. Pansy sounded quite arrogant and nosy to me. We hear Hermione branding her as someone worse than a concussed troll but then it *could* have been due to their enmity.
> Pippin:
> Snape and McGonagall don't seem to know how to deal with lack of confidence, probably because the classroom is the one place where they never doubted their abilities.
Joey:
Agreed. Your reasoning sounds interesting - I always attributed that behaviour of theirs to their impatience. Hmmm... different POVs. :-)
> Pippin:
[snip]
> In fact I think that is the most important thing he taught Harry: that a brave person who hates you can still be a valuable ally, in fact more trustworthy than a friend who is a coward.
Joey:
Brave *and loyal* person, I'd say, for it was his pure love for Lily that *primarily* drove him to do what he did.
Cheers,
~Joey, who enjoys the different perspectives people of this group always offer :-)
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