Class origins

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29398

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "David" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> In chat last night somebody speculated about the class origins of 
> MWPP, and how these may have affected their relationships among 
each 
> other and with Snape.  I thought this was an interesting 
speculation, 
> so:
> 
> Do you think the class background of any of the characters 
matters?  
> Why?
> 
> Do you have an opinion on the class origins of any of the main 
> players: the Trio, MWP, Dursleys, Snape, Neville, Hagrid (at least, 
> his Dad), Dumbledore, McGonagall, any others?  Again, why?

Does class background matter?  I think we've already seen that it 
matters a great deal to some characters, especially the "We're- 
better-than-you" Malfoys.  I would say that the Dursleys also want to 
show that they are firmly in the middle class and want to show it by 
sending Dudley to the right school, keeping their property looking 
just so, etc.  Maybe this is an indication that either or both Vernon 
and Petunia come from a poorer background and thus, since they have 
reached a certain level in society, they guard against the appearance 
of anything out of the ordinary - like having a weird, wizard kid 
living in their house.

Being the daughter of a dentist, I assume that Hermione's background 
is also comfortably middle class, unless neither of her parents can 
handle a drill properly.  Hermione's interest in the plight of the 
house elves also resonates with me.  She sees what she has, in terms 
of position, possessions, opportunities, and she is struck by how 
unfair life is to people in other situations, especially if they are 
somehow trapped in a situation not of their making.  I see her has 
having that teenage idealism where she feels she can strike a blow 
against injustice.

Next, is James Potter.  We know that the Potters left Harry a whole 
bundle of money.  James and Lily died young, so I don't think they 
amassed this fortune themselves.  And didn't JKR say someplace that 
James and Lily did not have to work for a living, if they didn't want 
to, or am I making that up?  So, I'm under the impression that James 
came from money (not Lily - since Petunia seems to grasp middle-class 
respectability so tightly, I think the Evans family were not rolling 
in money).  

If James came from money, do we automatically assume he would only 
associate with others from the same background?  Or that, even if his 
friends didn't come from wealthy families, they came from old-line 
pureblood wizard families?  And if Snape came from either a poor or 
non-pure family, then there would be an additional cause of friction 
between them.  

Somehow that seems too trite.  And I have no basis in canon for 
saying that; I guess I'd be a little disappointed to find out that 
the original, gut source of the antipathy between Snape and MWPP 
stemmed from who had money and who didn't.  Then again, perhaps JKR 
is setting us up.  We've seen how awful Draco's attitude is towards 
the Weasleys and Hermione.  Maybe we'll find out that MWPP had that 
same awful attitude towards Snape, and Harry will have to come to 
terms with the fact that his father and godfather held some pretty 
unsavory ideas, at least when they were kids.  

You might think that if Lupin's parents had money, he'd have 
inherited enough to be able to replace his threadbare clothing.  Or, 
if they are still alive, that they could lend him a monetary hand, 
unless Remus is too proud to accept help. On the other hand, maybe 
his family never wanted to deal with having a werewolf as a son, so 
once they got him educated at Hogwarts, they felt their parental 
responsibilities ended and then they disowned him.  

I don't think we have enough info on Peter, Sirius or Snape to know 
where their families fell in the class scale.  All we know about 
Snape's time at Hogwarts was that he came in knowing more curses than 
most seventh years.  And this info comes from Sirius, who is not 
exactly unbiased when it comes to old Sev.  We know nothing about 
Sirius' or Peter's background. I'm still waiting for Harry to get 
around to asking Sirius some pointed or probing questions regarding 
James and Lily.  I'm sure it will happen eventually and then we can 
revisit this quesiton.

Marianne, almost late for work....