Harry's a bit of a jerk, isn't he?

[conuly]

Think about it. In the first book, Harry finds out at the end that Snape saved his life, and never tried to kill him. Then what does he do? Does he thank Snape for saving his life, and for trying to save the world? Does he apologise for the fact that his friends burned him? Nope, he just goes on his merry way, hating Snape.

In the second book, he causes chaos in Snape's class and is involved in the theft of boomslang skin. The potion he makes turns out to be nearly worthless - though it did get Lucius in some trouble. Needless to say, he never apologises.

In the third book, he stuns Snape, and spends a lot of time insulting him behind his back. Okay, Snape deserved a stunning, but he was trying to do a good thing. Well. Okay, he was trying to exact petty revenge on his childhood enemies, but this incidentally happened to (as far as he knew) involve saving Harry, Ron, and Hermione's lives.

Fourth book. More insulting Snape. Lots more. And some spying on the guy. Apparently, Snape has no right to privacy.

Fifth book. He invades Snape's privacy even more by viewing the Pensieve. Does he ever apologise for this? Ever? Does he ever say "Look, you were right about my dad, and I'm sorry he did that to you?" Does he do anything to make up for this enormous transgression? Nope. More insults, snide comments. No wonder he never does well in Potions.

To be fair, Snape's incredibly immature. I mean, c'mon - getting revenge for childhood injuries by picking on the kid son of a dead guy? That's low. Really low. But that's no excuse for Harry to emulate his kindergarten behaviour.

Comments

[ladydiana.livejournal.com]

I think both of their behaviour has been deplorable. Harry, at least, has the benefit of going through puberty, with all the confusion that causes...he's obviously never had a male adult to tell him "well son, you're gonna have all these weird things happen to you and you're gonna act all wierd and wonder WTF is wrong with you". ISTR that he wasn't allowed in "regular" school by his aunt and uncle; one can be pretty well assured that Hogwarts isn't teaching basic biology. :P

Snape's behaviour though, has really been over the top (as has Harry's) for some time and it is tiresome, but then I just remind myself (during this, and many other redundant issues) that these are WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN, and my standards lower. :P