Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 177662

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "John Paul Smith" <johnsmithatx at ...> wrote:

> 1) If Snape had this true love for Lily, would he have been able to 
> do things he does in the book, during their teenage years and 
> otherwise?

Montavilla47:
I don't see how having a true love for somebody can prevent
you from making other kinds of mistakes in your life.  But I'm
also not sure what you mean by the "things he does in the
book"?  For example, if you mean killing Dumbledore, I don't
how loving someone would prevent you from killing another
person (leaving aside the whole thing about Dumbledore
asking him to do it).

So, I guess the short answer is "yes."


> 2)  What was it about Snape that kept Lily at bay?  If he truly loved 
> her, and they were close like they seem to be, what would be turning 
> her off about him?  Is it his evil side popping out?  

Montavilla47:
Honestly?  It might have been mostly the Death Eater thing, but 
I feel like Lily is jumping the gun a bit here.  Snape's friends
weren't Death Eaters.  They were Death Eater wannabes, and I can't
imagine that any Death Eater pep squads were allowed at the
school Albus Dumbledore was running.

Although perhaps Pureblood claptrap was--given how Slughorn
talks.  

But I think part of it was that, as JKR tells us, Lily was a "popular
girl."  Popular girls don't stay popular if they hang around with
"greasy little oddballs."   Her line about making excuses for him
shows that she was under social pressure to drop him.

> 
> 3) That brings us to an interesting question: Can evil people love?  
> Its been said that Herman Goering was a devoted father and family man.

Montavilla47:
I think the answer to that involves turning the question around.  
It's not that evil people love or not, it's that even people who
love can do evil things.  Including genocide.

> 4) So assuming he did have this love for her, where were the turning 
> points for him?  When did he admit it to himself?  When did things 
> change?  Was it after she died?  

Those questions are really left up to the reader to decide, I think.

Which is nice, because it lets us have a chance to imagine our
own Snape stories!

Montavilla47