Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 177632

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at ...> wrote:

> 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?"

Having examined this scene obsessively for about two years prior to 
the publication of DH, I didn't find it a surprise that Lily and Snape
were friends.  But I agree that it's weird for friends to act the way they
did to each other and I had to do quite a bit of wanking on it to make 
it work.

The key to me was seeing a "Lost" episode in which one of the 
characters, who sees her that her husband is about to become towards
another character, pre-empts it by slapping the man herself.

The helped me see why a Snape who was friends with, or in love with
Lily might insult her in order to forestall what he saw as a threat from
James and Sirius.  Now, we know that James wouldn't ever hurt Lily,
but he does mention hexing her and does try to blackmail her into
dating him.  From Snape's upside-down perspective, that could look
like a threat.

And Lily's shocked, angry reaction seemed somewhat plausible, had
she been friendly with Snape as we knew him pre-DH.  I thought that
her tiny smile might be have come because she knew that he created
the Levicorpus spell and was having it turned against him.

Post-DH, it's harder to buy her reaction.  Unless he's a lot better at 
hiding his insecurities than he seems to be in those memories.  How
can she not understand how desperately poor he is and how 
humiliated he is at that moment?  

It's hard not to go with the explanation that, while she was loyal 
enough to go help him in the first place, her overriding motivation 
is about James--and that she's been halfway to dropping Snape
for some time.  So, the minute it becomes difficult for her, she
does.

For me, the huge twist in all this is finding out that it took 
place after the Prank.  But that's more about Sirius and James
and less about Lily.

Montavilla47