[HPforGrownups] Motivations for Joining DEs (Was: Bullying)

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 140925

nrenka wrote:

> Given Sirius's comments about his family and such, I think it's a good
> assumption that the *public* face of Voldemort's movement was precisely
> the blood issue.  Regulus' family approved of his actions because they
> saw him as contributing to this noble cause, furthering ideas that were
> socially acceptable.
snip

> So we, of course, don't know what Young!Snape knew about the DEs.  It
> seems safe to say that the blood thing was their public face, so we can
> assume that Young!Snape knew all about that and at minimum had no
> problems with it.  And I think it's also supported that Young!Snape
> had 'issues' with the blood thing.  He's one of the very few characters
> we've heard 'Mudblood' from (the others being Voldemort and Draco, and
> I think Bella?).  We have the 'Half-Blood Prince', however one wants to
> read that.  [I tend to agree with a correspondent, who said they found
> it "pathetic and cringeworthy and pitiable and contemptible and
> embarassing - and absolutely perfectly so."  But that's a tangent.]

   KJ writes:
     Suppose for just a moment that the Prince family, Purebloods, 
objected to the marriage of Snape's mother to a Muggle. Perhaps the name 
"Half-blood Prince" was a name of derision in the Prince household. The 
description and similarities between Snape and Malfoy would suggest that 
Snape may have been raised in a Pureblood household. The focus that 
Snape had on the Dark Arts would not likely be held in a more Muggle 
household. Snape, homely, skinny, little fellow that he was, undoubtedly 
had to go to some great lengths to satisfy his family members, 
especially if he was taken to their home to be raised. One might also 
suspect that Snape may have been forced into the DEs by his Prince 
family as a sign of manhood or solidarity. This theory would answer 
several questions about his teaching technique, his low self-esteem, his 
remorse, and even the snide half-blood Prince in his book.
KJ