[HPforGrownups] Re: If the Marauders weren't so mean to Snape would he have been nicer to Harry.

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 192491

Bart:
     His personality was shaped by his peers, though, and particularly 
His being tormented in a jocks vs. nerd fashion, by the Marauders. There 
are many indications that he is an extraordinarily skilled wizard, on 
the same order as DD and Morty, but because he was tormented so much, he 
was manipulated into joining the DE's, seeing their enemies as the 
bullies who tormented him, and only when Lily became the target did he 
realize what he had gotten himself into. 



Sherry now:
Longtime members will remember I am no fan of Snape. Still, this isn't
really about why I don't like Snape. 

I think it's too simplistic to say that Snape was the way he was because he
was bullied. First of all, we see all this through the lens of Snape's
memories. There are always two sides to every story, and I doubt Snape was
the always innocent victim.

But my main point is that Snape *chose* to become what he became. Think of
the similarities between Harry and Snape. Harry was also bullied. He was
abused by the Dursleys, locked in a closet, later locked in a bedroom with
bars on the windows, not fed enough, called horrible names, put down at
every opportunity, and I personally believe physical abuse at least from his
uncle. Even in the wizarding world, one day he was a hero, the next they
thought he was a crazy liar or worse. But Harry didn't choose to run off and
become part of an evil gang doing all kinds of horrible things to other
people. He chose to be a decent human being, even to the point of making the
ultimate sacrifice, not because of a woman but to try to save his world. He
wasn't always right in what he did, but he tried.

Two boys/men, bullied, verbally and physically abused, and yet only one of
those boys chose not to let bitterness rule him, while the other chose
bitterness and hatefulness.


Dumbledore, at the end of COS, tells Harry that it is the choices we make
that determine who we really are. Harry could have chosen to go down a dark
path, like Snape or even Tom Riddle. And Snape could have chosen to be a
nicer person, or at least to acknowledge Lily in harry, or not to abuse his
authority with his students. Neither Harry nor Snape had a really great life
in the early years, and each chose a different way of dealing with it and
living his life. Choices.

Sherry