On Snape's father, and other things...

[conuly]

This is a reply to what readerravenclaw recently wrote.

The entirety of the internet seems convinced that Snape grew up in an abusive household. Why? Because Snape had one bad memory about a woman (probably his mother) fighting with a man (almost certainly his father). The woman (probably his mother) is described as cowering.

There are two ways of looking at this. There's the "what did JKR mean to show" way, and the "what did she succeed in showing". She succeeded in showing us that, as a child, he witnessed a fight between a man and a woman. Even if we assume that these are his parents (a fair assessment, but not guaranteed), that doesn't mean 1. that his father was abusive (it could've been a very, very, very rare thing. I remember my father throwing a several pound marble ashtray in my mother's direction, so it shattered, but that's the last time I saw him do anything remotely like that, and I wouldn't call him abusive because he simply wasn't) or 2. that he grew up in an abusive household (it could be that his parents split up right around them, while he was still "a small boy".

Looking at the evidence, we can't conclude that he actually grew up in an abusive household, just that one of his bad memories was of seeing this fight. For all we know, the woman that his father (or at least, the person who looks like snape) was yelling at was the babysitter, and she'd left him alone at home for several hours while she gallivanted around with a boyfriend.

Does this mean the "abusive childhood" view is completely messed up? Well, no. When we watch a movie, and a parent takes out a belt and spanks the kid, we're not supposed to start a debate on whether or not spanking is child abuse. We're supposed to just infer from this that the parent is abusive. When Snape's worst memory is of two people fighting, we're not supposed to wonder who those people are, or why they were fighting, we're supposed to just assume that they're his parents, and they fought all the time.

I just don't like it. Hmph.

Oh, and for those other things, it just hit me: Sex-change via polyjuice is now canon. God help us all.

Comments

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

I think part of it is the use of the word "cowering". You don't cower before someone who's saying a few harsh words (well, unless you're Neville Longbottom... I kid, I feel the Neville-love!), you cower before someone you're afraid is going to hurt you. A woman cowering before a shouting man (especially if she's sheltering a child) is a quick-and-dirty shortcut for ahowing domestic abuse.


Also, all the memories we saw were emotionally charged ones, and nasty ones at that. We didn't see Harry's first day at kindergarten, or teenage Snape trying to master the 'swoopy walk'. I don't think daddy scolding the babysitter would have the emotional resonance.



That doesn't necessarily make it canonically true, it's just why (I think) people take it as gospel.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

**warning: insanely off-topic**

I need your advice, and since you seem to be good at begging (well, asking in a non-begging fashion *grin*) and the like I've come to you. I know that dandelion makes wonderful LJ layouts, and I've been looking at getting one, all I really need is the coding, and I'm very much prepared to pay. The problem is I don't know how to contact her without seeming whiney and begging, though I know it will since I am virtually a complete stranger. Advice?

Eep, thanks, and sorry for the OT-ness of it.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

There's also the fact that his mum was a witch, and his dad wasn't. Now I'm not an expert on abuse or anything, but I'd think that his mother being able to use magic might be a good point against the abuse theory. Why would she put up with that if she could just hex the man? Harry was able to scare the crap out of the Dursleys with the idea of taking out his wand before they found out about that it was just false threats.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never picked that up at all. Seeing two people fight is a pretty awful thing for a kid to see, whether or not they're that child's parents. I guess I just figured "Hey, he saw two people fighting and got upset." Abuse never factored into it.

I want polyjuice potion, just so I can run around changing my gender and confusing the crap out of people. (Is this bad?)

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

My objection is to the idea that a home in which the parents fight is necessarily abusive. Frankly I inferred from the memory that Snape's childhood was unhappy; I assumed the woman was his mother, though not necessarily that the man was his father. But the fact that parents fight (even to the point of spouse/partner abuse) does not, in and of itself, constitute child abuse. (Thank God, my state's courts have finally recognized this—it used to be legal to take a child from his/her mother just because she was a victim of domestic violence and allowed her child to witness it.) In any case, I inferred that he had witnessed spouse/partner abuse, and inferred from that that he was probably lacking a good male role model; obviously that isn't healthy or good for a child, but I take issue with people assuming that he himself was abused.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

I think part of it is the use of the word "cowering". You don't cower before someone who's saying a few harsh words (well, unless you're Neville Longbottom... I kid, I feel the Neville-love!), you cower before someone you're afraid is going to hurt you. A woman cowering before a shouting man (especially if she's sheltering a child) is a quick-and-dirty shortcut for ahowing domestic abuse.


Also, all the memories we saw were emotionally charged ones, and nasty ones at that. We didn't see Harry's first day at kindergarten, or teenage Snape trying to master the 'swoopy walk'. I don't think daddy scolding the babysitter would have the emotional resonance.



That doesn't necessarily make it canonically true, it's just why (I think) people take it as gospel.

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

**warning: insanely off-topic**

I need your advice, and since you seem to be good at begging (well, asking in a non-begging fashion *grin*) and the like I've come to you. I know that dandelion makes wonderful LJ layouts, and I've been looking at getting one, all I really need is the coding, and I'm very much prepared to pay. The problem is I don't know how to contact her without seeming whiney and begging, though I know it will since I am virtually a complete stranger. Advice?

Eep, thanks, and sorry for the OT-ness of it.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

There's also the fact that his mum was a witch, and his dad wasn't. Now I'm not an expert on abuse or anything, but I'd think that his mother being able to use magic might be a good point against the abuse theory. Why would she put up with that if she could just hex the man? Harry was able to scare the crap out of the Dursleys with the idea of taking out his wand before they found out about that it was just false threats.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never picked that up at all. Seeing two people fight is a pretty awful thing for a kid to see, whether or not they're that child's parents. I guess I just figured "Hey, he saw two people fighting and got upset." Abuse never factored into it.

I want polyjuice potion, just so I can run around changing my gender and confusing the crap out of people. (Is this bad?)

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

My objection is to the idea that a home in which the parents fight is necessarily abusive. Frankly I inferred from the memory that Snape's childhood was unhappy; I assumed the woman was his mother, though not necessarily that the man was his father. But the fact that parents fight (even to the point of spouse/partner abuse) does not, in and of itself, constitute child abuse. (Thank God, my state's courts have finally recognized this—it used to be legal to take a child from his/her mother just because she was a victim of domestic violence and allowed her child to witness it.) In any case, I inferred that he had witnessed spouse/partner abuse, and inferred from that that he was probably lacking a good male role model; obviously that isn't healthy or good for a child, but I take issue with people assuming that he himself was abused.