[HPforGrownups] Muggles &. Wizards & Mudbloods (Re: good and bad Slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility/Sirius' choice)

[Christine Maupin]

No: HPFGUIDX 175224

justcarol67 wrote:
 > >Canon shows Severus and Petunia as children not exactly
 > >hitting it off as friends, his view of her as a mere Muggle, and his
 > >determination to tell Lily that she, obviously a Muggleborn, is a
 > >witch. Snape's lifelong prejudice against *Muggles*, shared by many people >>in the WW and not just by Slytherins, is another matter (unrelated to the
 >>Hogwarts Express scene with James and Sirius). 
 
Irene:
>Carol, I really like your analysis. Just wanted to add that I don't 
>understand why people make such a big business of Snape calling Petunia 
>a "Muggle". McGonagall does the same in book one, when she says to 
 >Dumbledore "Are you going to leave Potter with these people? But they 
 >are Muggles!"
 
>And Ron does the same in book 4, I think. "If the Muggles agree, we will 
 >pick you up. If they don't we will pick you up all the same".
 
 >It's the general wizarding view that the Muggles somehow count less, not 
 >specifically Slytherin one.

I don't agree with the comment that "its the general wizarding view that the Muggles somehow count less" and I don't think that's what Carol was getting at. That blanket comment is no different than saying "its the general view of [people of the race, religion, etc. of your choice] that [people of the race, religion, etc. of your choice] count less."

Here's the passage In Chapter One of PS/SS when McGonagall learns that Dumbledore intends to leave Harry with the Dursley's.  She doesn't use the term Muggle and her indignation is based more on the Dursley's behavior than the fact they're Muggles.

"You don't mean -- you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.  "Dumbledore -- you can't.  I've been watching them all day.  You couldn't find two people who are less like us.  And they've got this son -- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets.  Harry Potter come and live here!"

Hagrid explains the term Muggle when he first meets Harry in Chapter Four of PS/SS.

(Hagrid has just told Harry that he's a wizard and shown him his Hogwarts letter.)
"He's not going," [Vernon Dursley] said.
"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.
"A what?" said Harry, interested.
"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "its what we call nonmagic folk like them.  An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."
(p. 52 - 53)

As Hagrid explains the term, Muggle simply describes someone who is not a Wizard.  Its no different than me saying I'm a Virginian -- its simply distinguishes me from a Californian or a New Yorker.  I see nothing offensive about it. I don't even view his barb about the "biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on" (does he mean the pun?) as an insult against Muggles in general -- just the Dursley's in particular and that's because of their non-tolerant attitude towards Wizards despite the fact there have been and still is at least one Wizard in their extended family.  So, when I hear a Wizard use the term Muggle, I don't automatically take it as an offensive comment on the Muggle's place in the world.

No doubt many Wizards are prejudice against Muggles -- but I don't think we can make a blanket statement that all or even most look down on them.  (I doubt most of the muggleborns count them less and Mr. Wesley certainly doesn't.  I don't have my OOTP, but doesn't Sirius more or less acknowledge as folly a pureblood notion of exclusion?)

Mudblood, on the other hand, is no doubt offensive -- let's face it, it's a racial slur.  And, when used, its meant that way -- with one possible exception...

When Snape calls Lily a mudblood in SWM, I'm confident they were both shocked and I'm confident he didn't mean to offend or hurt -- the moment the word come out of his mouth Snape probably was mortified that he said something so hurtful to someone he cared about.  Lily probably was right that it  "slipped out" DH, p.675 - 676) -- he's used it to insult other Muggle-borns and it rolls off his tongue a bit too easily.  Evidently, Snape learned his lesson though; he admonishes Phineas Nigellus when he refers to Hermione as a mudblood (DH, p. 689)  I wonder if he ever used the term again; or if he stopped only after he changed sides?

Christy, who would like to know what life in Slytherin House was like for the Half-Blood Prince

       
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