Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 177606

Jen wrote:
> Wow, it's a slow list day! I've got a question for a slow day: why 
> *did* Snape call Lily a Mudblood?  Also, I'm curious how others read 
> Snape's Worst Memory given his new memories in DH.  Did the 
resolution 
> work for you?  I'm on the fence about this part.

Potioncat:
I think we could make a full tapestry if we started a few threads about 
how different Snape scenes in the first 6 books play out with 
information from book 7. And I would gladly weave along.

I've read the other posts to this question, and I think I must be a 
lone wolf. I have some nagging doubts about SWM based on what came 
before. But I have to admit, I haven't had time to really read through 
the scenes to think it out. So, granted, this is half-baked.

It had been suggested before DH that Snape's real pain in SWM was that 
he called Lily a Mudblood and that it dashed any hopes he had for a 
relationship with her. (Remember, at that time, we didn't know they 
were friends.) Well, that seems to be the case.

But now that we know they were already friends, it doesn't make as much 
sense. I understand that a boy doesn't want to be rescued by a girl--
but this is the WW! If instead of the Marauders, it had been Draco's 
gang and Harry (or Ron), do you think he would be upset at Hermione's 
interference? If it had been Draco and the twins, I could see it, but 
Draco doesn't have a relationship with Hermione (at least, not on this 
list.) So, I could buy Severus's discomfort if he didn't yet have a 
relationship with Lily---but it doesn't ring true now.

His words were something along the line of "from a filthy Mudblood like 
her." (I think.) Maybe that would sound more likely if we knew other 
Junior DEs were in the crowd judging Severus's reaction. Then his 
discomfort would have more to do with how his Slytherin friends saw the 
situation. 

So, I'm saying, I don't think JKR hit the right notes. However, based 
on Snape's collection of memories, and accepting this as canon, (like 
there's a choice?) I take it as it appears and accept the outcome.

As a side, this theme plays out often in literature about the Southern 
US during pre-Segregation or Ante-bellum times. There would come a 
point where a friendship between a Black child and White child would 
end because the White child would stand on his superior status. 


Potioncat