Snape: a question

[Oberon]

Okay ... one last attempt here ...

Is everyone from Gryffindor good? (I would point to Percy as an exception.) Hufflepuff? Ravensclaw? There's a total imbalance so the whole point of House Slytherin is to shape and produce bad people. A three-to-one ratio is something we can live with say the founding fathers ... Salazar Slytherin slips one by three of the wisest wizards of his generation ...

To paint every Slytherin student as bad is just as prejudicial as the whole mudblood issue. Unless the house motto is "Mudbloods Must Die," I think it's important to think of this issue as a tendency and not the purpose of House Slytherin.

Harry would have done real well there, according to the hat, but would that have made him bad?

Rowling has avoided absolutes with a majority of her characters, why would she do such a thing with House Slytherin? The house has a flaw but it is not necessarily corrupting every student who passes through, and what's the point Rowling makes if it does? It was just his environment?

 

[Robert]

Just because someone is from Slytherin, it doesn't mean they're going to turn out bad.

I also don't believe that everyone from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravensclaw turns out good. Wasn't Peter Pettigrew a Gryffindor?

 

[h_carnahan]

Okay ... one last attempt here ...
I think it's important to think of this issue as a tendency and not the purpose of House Slytherin.

Harry would have done real well there, according to the hat, but would that have made him bad?

Rowling has avoided absolutes with a majority of her characters, why would she do such a thing with House Slytherin?

I agree with the tendency thing. Sure not absolutely every person who has come out of Slytherin is bad, but then again maybe the reason that it stands out as producing bad wizards is because it doesn't exactally produce good wizards either. I think it would be hard to live in Hogwarts as a young subjectable wizard and not have your views be influenced by those around you. So if you were surrounded by people like Draco then you would be more slanted to believe what he believes, the whole Mudblood thing and the evil attitude. I mean, look at the way they play Quidditch (dirtily). So while you may not necessarily be a bad person, or death eater; you also are not going out of your way to help out others.

Would Harry have been bad I think is an interesting topic. I think that Harry would have been influenced by Malfoy (for example had he taken Malfoy's offer up in the very beginning of the year to be part of his "crew") to not like poor people and those who are Mudbloods. But then again that would have completly changed all the books! As Dumbledore told Harry, Voldermort accidentally transfered some of himself to Harry when he tried to kill him, so that made them somewhay similar the difference was what they chose to do with the gifts (i.e. Parseltonge (?))

 

[Robert]

In the fourth book, Sirius says clearly that Snape was in Slytherin, because he talked about all his friends becoming Death Eaters. The comparison to malfoy and snape + harry is different; Snape is mean, but still is good, but malfoy is evil and wants harry dead, like father, like son.

With regard to voldemort, an evil character doesn't have to be ugly. remember voldemort was young when he lost his body

Don't forget that in his effort to become more powerful, he went through a lot of changes. Who know what he looked like before he died?

 

[Robert]

In the first movie (I don't know about the book, I couldn't find it if it is in there) Ron says to Harry that not a single person who was placed in Slytherin, has come out good. So there is a good reason that posters would think of Slytherin's as not so hot!

I thought Ron said that there wasn't a person that went bad that wasn't from Slytherin. I'll have to look it up when I get some time.

 

[h_carnahan]

Yeah I know I tried to find it but I couldn't!

 

[Robert]

Snape is too single minded to see past Harry's father when he looks at Harry. When James and Snape were at school, James was popular and everyone paid attention to him, he was the Gryffindor's seeker and won the cup at least once to be in the "Hall of Fame" thingy that Hermione showed him. So in other words, he was the opposite of Snape so, when Harry comes to school, he is naturally already famous for something that his mother did to save him and living after Voldermort. So everyone knows his name and talks about him and looks up to him just like James. He is also the seeker for Gryffindor. Maybe all this hostility towards Harry is because Snape asumes that Harry is a fame seeker and wants attention and is basically a miniversion of James. On the first day he doesn't even give Harry a chance because he automatically assumes that. He never gives Harry the chance to prove him otherwise either, and all of his rescues and great deeds that he does against Voldermort do not do anything but enhance this hate for Harry/James.

Snape hates everybody that isn't from Slytherin. As I recall, Harry didn't have time to do anything before Snape started in on him. Of course, James gave Snape good reason to hate him (boys will be boys), and that hate extends to Harry.

 

[Oberon]

I'd be careful about a blanket statement about Snape having a prejudice for Slytherin students. I think he roots for the Q-team, obviously, but I don't think Malfoy and such get better marks in Potions from being in Slytherin. You don't see that happening. Gryffindors get marked down, perhaps, but he doesn't mark up Slytherins without cause. They may get more encouragement regarding Potions with his presence in the House but I think the man for all his dislike of Potter still has a sense of integrity that would rise above such absolutes.

 

[Robert]

Snape has surprised me at times, which leads me to believe he's not evil. But as a rule, he takes away house points from students of all houses (except his own) for the slightest infraction, real or otherwise. In fact, we've seen him fail Gryfindors for class work while passing some of his own student whose work was much worse.

 

[h_carnahan]

Snape has surprised me at times, which leads me to believe he's not evil. QUOTE]

I don't think he is evil, but just not good. He seems to angry and anxious to get punish and remrimand to be good. He goes as evil as he can be while still staying within the boundries of "Good" Does that make any sense?

 

[Robert]

Snape has surprised me at times, which leads me to believe he's not evil. QUOTE]

I don't think he is evil, but just not good. He seems to angry and anxious to get punish and remrimand to be good. He goes as evil as he can be while still staying within the boundries of "Good" Does that make any sense?

Yeah, I guess it makes sense.

Snape does not seem like a very happy person. Given the little we know about him, it seems possible that he has issues.

 

[h_carnahan]

Given the little we know about him, it seems possible that he has issues.

He obviously has unresolved issues/anger from childhood; from his encounters with James and Sirrius. Over time the anger has built up inside of him until he has reached a point in his life where it is pouring out onto Harry.

 

[Ice]

Snape does not seem like a very happy person. Given the little we know about him, it seems possible that he has issues.

I think being a spy may have something to do with it

 

[Robert]

I think being a spy may have something to do with it

I think being a spy is a side thing. Snape is a very complex character. It seems he was picked on through his years as a student at Hog Warts (by Harry’s father and friends no less); he wants more recognition that seems to come easily to others; and he wants to be the defense against the dark arts teacher but watches someone else get chosen for the position every year. On top of all that, his house hasn’t won the house cup since Harry’s arrival.

 

[h_carnahan]

It seems to me (After reading your post) that Snape puts up with alot of crap and has since he was young at Hogwarts. Isn't he bound to crack soon then?

 

[Robert]

Only time will tell.

 

[Fistandantilus]

Irrelevant

This is irrelevant but; Idun, this is completely true

A pox on those who have declared our bright ideas before us

 

[K-Dawn]

He obviously has unresolved issues/anger from childhood; from his encounters with James and Sirrius. Over time the anger has built up inside of him until he has reached a point in his life where it is pouring out onto Harry.

We don't need to know about Snape's childhood to know that he has issues!

 

[K-Dawn]

But what do you think Dumbledore or Hagrid was when they attended Hogwarts?

Dumbledore might've been a Gryffindor, but we know Hagrid was a Slytherin.

 

[K-Dawn]

I always assumed Snape was a Slytherin until reading this thread. Now I could go either ways. I think there are many things that could make him a Gryffindor, but yet the same thing goes with Slytherin. It seems pretty well decided by this group of people that he wasn't in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.