Class origins

[Heather Moore]

No: HPFGUIDX 29404

--- 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?
> 
> I have a few opinions on the above but I will await responses first.
> 
> David 


I was just thinking about this in responding to you on the movie list! It's funny how a lot of us seem to have similar "schedules" of things to think about.

Here's my fearless analysis (mostly uninformed, but hey! I did go to college!):

  James would, as zarleycat suggested, seem to have been from a moneyed, even privileged, family. I keep getting the impression that in school, he was rather the "nice, funny, but somehow oblivious" type. The one who joins a "safe" fraternity on the basis of charisma and is genuinely a good person; who comes from a WASPy background and has some friends from the "outside" with whom he clicks, but is rather insensitive toward those outside his charmed circle. 

  Snape == I have no solid basis for this, but I keep getting the impression that there is some sort of "ethnic" issue in Snape's background. There is the clue of his knowing a lot of curses, his less-than-hypervigilant personal grooming standards, his tendency to skulk, that enormous chip on his shoulder. I'm not *only* thinking "poor"; I'm *also* thinking, "maybe tinker or some wizardly equivalent?" I'm thinking, "easy target." I'm thinking there's something about Snape's background which Dumbledore thoroughly understands, and causes Dumbledore to give Snape the benefit of the doubt *despite* Snape's questionable behavior.