Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177641


> 
> 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. :)  
> 
Julie:
When I reread that scene, a couple more things stood out to me.
One is that Lily asks James "What's he done to you?" and James
replies "It's more the fact that he *exists*, if you know what
I mean." (The word "exists" is in italics by the way, indicating
James is emphasizing it, BTW.) 

Let's see, in this scene Snape and the Marauders have been at
it for four and a half years, and Lily just now thinks to ask
James why, and James just now comes up with his little gem of
an answer? And of course no mention from either James or Lily
that she and Snape even know each other, let alone are best
friends. 

Then there is the even more disturbing moment after Snape tries
to retaliate with the cutting curse (Sectumsempra or not) and
James levicorpuses him upside down with his grey underwear on
display. The crowd cheers, and Lily *whose furious expression
had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile* 
says "Let him down!"

Lily, his *best friend*, thought it was funny seeing him 
humiliated in front of the school, even if she managed to
hide it quickly. My original interpretation of her thought
process was something along the lines of "Yeah, he really is
a pathetic thing isn't he, and it's funny to see him hanging
upside down with his skinny legs and exposed grey underwear.
But still...two against one isn't fair, and my conscience 
won't let me stand for it." This is one of the things that
made me assume Lily and Snape really didn't know each other.

My other assumption was that Snape might secretly love Lily
(given that he was under a great deal of stress when he
called her "Mudblood", while she was really under none when
she almost joined the other students laughing at him), but
that Lily had no feelings at all for Snape. This was what
I expected to be revealed if the LOLLIPOPS theory became
a fact: that Snape loved Lily from afar. If someone had
told me right after I'd first read this scene that Lily and 
Severus were actually best friends and had been for six or
seven years, I would have laughed at the sheer unlikelihood
of it. (I did post that they might have eventually developed
a sort of friendship, but I assumed it would have happened
in or after the sixth year--when Snape and Lily had Potions 
together and Snape wrote the notes in his Potions book--and
presumably after the Prank, which I think almost everyone
assumed came after Snape's Worst Memory. I just never once
considered they might have had a childhood friendship, mostly
because of this very scene.)


> 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.
>

Julie:
Yep, we don't have much choice in the matter. But I do think
this was a bit of a cheat on JKR's part. She deliberately  
avoided any reference in that scene, or in any of the scenes
where Harry talks about his parents to Remus or Sirius, to 
the friendship between Lily and Snape. She wanted to keep it
a secret, and the only way to do so was to avoid and evade,
even when it wasn't really reasonable within the plot. So 
she wrote SWM not with much thought to the consistency of the 
characterizations, but with the express intent of not giving
away any real clues to what would be the biggest revelation
in the final book.

So it is. It's too bad though, because I wonder now if she
(or anyone) could have pulled it off without basically cheating
to get there.

Julie