Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 177612

> Carol
> I'm not sure what you mean by "Did the resolution work for you"?

> Alla:
> I am not sure what you mean asking whether resolution worked for me.
> You mean that Lily shut the door in his face or something else?

Jen: Guess I didn't make that part clear. ;)  What I meant was 
something like: "Did learning more about Snape's and Lily's history 
together help you go back and understand Snape's worst memory in a 
new light?  Did the worst memory still work well in the story knowing 
more information?"

Margaret: 
> Now I realize why it's Snape's =worst= memory. Previously that had
> puzzled me a bit, how a person who'd been a DE could have a 
> schoolyard humiliation in the top spot. But we only got the first 
> half of the memory in OotP, because that's when Snape interrupts
> Harry (and now we know why Snape was so hot & bothered about 
> =that,= too!); the second half makes clear that the incident led to
> a definitive break with Lily.

Jen:  Same here, why it was the Worst Memory.  After OOTP others 
argued for seeing a connection between Snape and Lily because of how 
they acted in this scene.  I didn't see it!  Lily seemed to be doing 
the right thing in defending a student who was bullied, and Snape 
appeared angry she was doing so, especially since she was 
a 'Mudblood.'  I argued something like, 'but why would he call the 
girl he secretly or openly loved that?!?  And why would she retort 
back to him and call him Snivellus, his hated nickname?'  I assumed 
at the very most Snape loved Lily but it wasn't returned.


> 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.

Jen: Yes!  Thanks to everyone for replying; I was very curious how 
others read the scene after new information in DH.

Potioncat:
> 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.
<snip> 
> 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! <snip> 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. 

Jen:  Right, it's "I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods 
like her."  Which is a pretty shocking thing to say to a good 
friend!  Then Lily gets angry and says, "And I'd wash your pants if I 
were you, Snivellus."  Uh!  Snivellus?  

Anyway, that's the reason it wasn't clear to me they were actually 
friends in that moment after I read OOTP, or that Snape liked Lily, 
or that Lily cared for Snape as anything more than a student who was 
bullied.  The new memories in DH still didn't explain the way they 
treated each other in that scene for me, although thoughts on this 
thread are interesting and I'm considering the moment again. :)  


Potioncat:
> 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.

Jen: Me too.