On the flip-side, Snape never worked past any of his problems. Lily blows him off, then dies, and he spends the rest of his life regretting his past mistakes. There's no master plan on his part to make things right. He just does whatever Dumbledore tells him, and acts like a giant dick whenever it doesn't conflict with following Dumbledore's lead. The only net improvement I can think of is that he eventually stopped using the term "Mudblood", about twenty years after it would have done him any good.
I completely and totally disagree. The Severus we see in Harry's school years is already a good person. He is the man who jumps out of bed because he hears someone in pain. He does not stop even though on his way he notices his office (which contains sensitive and possibly expensive or hard to come by ingredients) was broken into. Only when he learns that nobody was in danger or suffering (because the screaming came from Harry's Triwizard egg) does he consider the break in or the fact that Harry was breaking curfew (again).
The Severus we see in Harry's school years is also the man who was in anguish that a student (whose identity he did not know at the time) was taken to the Chamber of Secrets and he was unable to save hir.
The Severus we see in Harry's years is the teacher who teaches the subject that is the most dangerous in the first few years and he makes an effort to keep them all safe despite their inattention and lack of appreciation of the situation - hence the strict and demanding attitude, hence the presence of antidotes and hence the intolerance of unpredictable factors such as the presence of a toad in the class. He teaches an advanced curriculum, and 1 in 4 students gets an Outstanding.
While he occasionally gives unpleasant detentions he never gives detentions that place students in danger or in pain (as opposed to McGonagall and Umbridge), nor does he ever - in class, in the dueling club, in the corridors or ground expose students to any risk he can't control (as opposed to Remus, Hagrid, Lockhart and the schemer Dumbledore).
Snape can't do that. He only cares about Harry because of his connection to Lily. As I have showed, Severus cares about everyone. He saves everyone he can save, he goes out of his way for everyone. He treats Sirius when he is at his mercy with compassion, while Sirius treats Severus with callousness.
So he is insults kids and adults. Big deal. After all he does for them, why do the insults even matter?
And that's what makes him weak, because in the midst of all that goes on, his focus is squarely on himself. That's why he sought Lily's approval while simultaneously striving for greater power via the Dark Arts. It doesn't matter what they are or how they work. The point is that Lily hates the Dark Arts and Snape can't (or won't) understand that he can't have both.,/i>
It matters very much that the Dark Arts are ill-defined. It shows that Lily and her Gryffindor friends have a shallow concept of morality where an action is judged by arbitrary classification by some bureaucratic system rather than by the actual possible consequences of the actions in the context of the situation where those actions took place. If a person can be drowned by Scourgify then using the spell in such a way is worse than a mild and controlled application of Sectumsempra. And if the Marauders nearly killed Severus by setting wereRemus on him then their supposed avoidance of Dark Arts is hypocritical, and Lily's preference of the Marauders' 'jokes' over Mulciber's is meaningless. I can understand Severus' confusion, I'd be confused too in his place.
Snape's still whining about Harry's dad decades later, and taking out his frustrations on whoever's convenient. Severus mentions James in Harry's presence 5 times in canon, and in all but one of these times it is in response to when Harry is behaving like James at his worst. Considering that James made Severus' schooldays into living hell and Severus finds himself protecting James' ungrateful son I'd say he brings James up sparingly and almost always only under extreme circumstances, in situations that appear to be flashbacks. (The only other time is when Severus is riling Sirius up while discussing the upcoming Occlumency lessons.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 06:59 am (UTC)I completely and totally disagree. The Severus we see in Harry's school years is already a good person. He is the man who jumps out of bed because he hears someone in pain. He does not stop even though on his way he notices his office (which contains sensitive and possibly expensive or hard to come by ingredients) was broken into. Only when he learns that nobody was in danger or suffering (because the screaming came from Harry's Triwizard egg) does he consider the break in or the fact that Harry was breaking curfew (again).
The Severus we see in Harry's school years is also the man who was in anguish that a student (whose identity he did not know at the time) was taken to the Chamber of Secrets and he was unable to save hir.
The Severus we see in Harry's years is the teacher who teaches the subject that is the most dangerous in the first few years and he makes an effort to keep them all safe despite their inattention and lack of appreciation of the situation - hence the strict and demanding attitude, hence the presence of antidotes and hence the intolerance of unpredictable factors such as the presence of a toad in the class. He teaches an advanced curriculum, and 1 in 4 students gets an Outstanding.
While he occasionally gives unpleasant detentions he never gives detentions that place students in danger or in pain (as opposed to McGonagall and Umbridge), nor does he ever - in class, in the dueling club, in the corridors or ground expose students to any risk he can't control (as opposed to Remus, Hagrid, Lockhart and the schemer Dumbledore).
Snape can't do that. He only cares about Harry because of his connection to Lily.
As I have showed, Severus cares about everyone. He saves everyone he can save, he goes out of his way for everyone. He treats Sirius when he is at his mercy with compassion, while Sirius treats Severus with callousness.
So he is insults kids and adults. Big deal. After all he does for them, why do the insults even matter?
And that's what makes him weak, because in the midst of all that goes on, his focus is squarely on himself. That's why he sought Lily's approval while simultaneously striving for greater power via the Dark Arts. It doesn't matter what they are or how they work. The point is that Lily hates the Dark Arts and Snape can't (or won't) understand that he can't have both.,/i>
It matters very much that the Dark Arts are ill-defined. It shows that Lily and her Gryffindor friends have a shallow concept of morality where an action is judged by arbitrary classification by some bureaucratic system rather than by the actual possible consequences of the actions in the context of the situation where those actions took place. If a person can be drowned by Scourgify then using the spell in such a way is worse than a mild and controlled application of Sectumsempra. And if the Marauders nearly killed Severus by setting wereRemus on him then their supposed avoidance of Dark Arts is hypocritical, and Lily's preference of the Marauders' 'jokes' over Mulciber's is meaningless. I can understand Severus' confusion, I'd be confused too in his place.
Snape's still whining about Harry's dad decades later, and taking out his frustrations on whoever's convenient.
Severus mentions James in Harry's presence 5 times in canon, and in all but one of these times it is in response to when Harry is behaving like James at his worst. Considering that James made Severus' schooldays into living hell and Severus finds himself protecting James' ungrateful son I'd say he brings James up sparingly and almost always only under extreme circumstances, in situations that appear to be flashbacks. (The only other time is when Severus is riling Sirius up while discussing the upcoming Occlumency lessons.)