Snape's childhood WAS: Re: Snape: Hero AND Abuser

[Nathaniel]

No: HPFGUIDX 143644

 
> Carol responds:
> I agree with Ceridwen that Merope Gaunt and Eileen Prince aren't
> really comparable figures in the respects she cited. Merope 
believed
> that she was a Squib and didn't dare defend herself against her 
wizard
> father. 

I disagree that Merope thought she was a squib.  She does not say 
so, her father calls her that.  I don't even believe that he thinks 
she's a squib.  It sounds to me more of a hyberbolic taunt.  If he 
REALLY thought she was a squib there would be no point in telling 
her to use her wand to pick up the pot of whatever she was cooking 
because she would have to pick it up like any other muggle.  No, the 
fact that she succesfully bewitches Tom Riddle Sr. when she not 
around the abuse of her father suggests that his childish mocking 
inhibits her magical abilities.

> How, then, can we account for a woman who must be Eileen cowering 
as a
> hook-nosed man shouts at her and her small son (Severus at perhaps 
age
> three to five) cries in a corner? From the little we know of her,
> Eileen doesn't seem like the type to be afraid of a mere Muggle. I
> think that after her marriage to the Muggle Tobias failed (perhaps
> little Sevvie performed some accidental magic?) or Tobias died, she
> returned to her parents' home and the man who is shouting at her,
> terrifying both her and her child, is her father--who would have
> psychological power over her as well as magical power that he's not
> afraid to use. I can see Eileen, even as an adult, fearing her 
father
> (as Merope did). I can't see her fearing a Muggle.

I still in the camp who believe that man shouting is Snape's 
father.  It is possible to read too much into the one 
word "cowering."  Since we see no signs of physical abuse in this 
scene, I don't believe that she is cowering because she is afraid, 
per se, of the man who is yelling.  Different people react different 
ways to arguments.  Eilleen may just be the type of person who hates 
to be yelled at.  

Presumably she loved her muggle husband and hated to have rows with 
him (especially in front of her young son). Just because she has the 
power to hex him, it doesn't mean she will.  If every family -- 
wizard, muggle, or mixed parentage -- resorted to the most violent 
means at their disposal every time they have a dispute, there would 
be a good deal more domestic violence.  Sure, Eilleen could use a 
much more benign spell -- perhaps a silencing charm -- but if she 
loved him, she wouldn't hex her muggle husband.

-Nathaniel