Why did Snape call Lily a 'Mudblood'?

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 177821


> JP:
> But let us think about this.  Granted Draco and Snape came from 
> imperially different backgrounds, where then, would you think he 
> (Snape) would get his outlooks from?  His father had left, yes?  So 
> that only left his mother to teach him.  

zgirnius:
His father did not leave (unless it was after Sev left for Hogwarts). 
This is evident in the second memory of "The Prince's Tale". Lily 
asks Sev if 'They' are still arguing. She follows up by asking 
whether Sev's father likes magic, and Sev responds that his father 
does not like much at all. Clearly, Sev's father is one of 
the 'they'. (I presume his mother is the other).

In light of this fact introduced to us in DH, I think it is entirely 
possible that little Sev managed to come up with anti-Muggle ideas 
all by himself before coming to Hogwarts, as a result of watching his 
father mistreat his mother (what does it take to make a witch cower 
before a Muggle?) and as a result of his outcast status among Muggles 
as a young boy. (Tuney knows who Sev is, and dispproves of where his 
family lives). From there, he might have been comfortable 'fitting 
in' with his housemates in Slytherin.

I also don't think Sev got the full Malfoy-style indoctrination you 
posit based in his seeming ignorance of Slytherin House. His 
statements in "The Prince's Tale", on the train, suggest he thinks it 
is a house for smart people, and a house Lily could end up in. Surely 
the pureblood supremacist product of a pureblood family in the Malfoy 
style would know it is the house of purebloods.

> JP: 
> I am going to still have to disagree with you on Snape's affections 
> for Lily.  

zgirnius:
For the record, I consider the evidence of his love for Lily 
overwhelming, but would point to Harry's opinion and the Doe Patronus 
as the two most important bits of evidence for me.

> JP:
> 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?

zgirnius:
It fits for me. Snape called Lily a Mudblood under fairly extreme 
circumstances, and regretted it instantly. (This is apparent even 
before his attempt at apology - after he says those words, he says 
nothing further to anyone, and makes no further moves to defend 
himself, in stark contrast to his actions prior to that moment, which 
included lots of struggling, incoherent insults aimed at hsi 
attackers, and attempts to fight back.) The other thing he did at 
school was to socialize with his housemates and hex James Potter, 
again, not a problem for my view of things.

Could he become a Death Eater and love Lily? I'd say, yes again. 
She's chosen James at this point. As plenty of post-DH readers 
suggest he should have done after her death, he probably decided it 
was time to 'get over' her, and went into the DEs with his friends, 
refusing to admit his feelings to himself or face the contradiction 
between them and the DE philosophy.

And from that point on - he learns of her danger, risks his neck to 
save her, and agrees to protect Harry as she would have wished once 
she dies despite his efforts.

> JP:
> 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?  

zgirnius:
His friends, I would say, and her friends. And the rivalry between 
their houses. They could not spend much time together at school, and 
Lily was popular, meaning she had plenty of other people to spend her 
time with. At the same time, Lily heard disturbing things about Sev's 
friends.   
 
> JP:
> 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?  

zgirnius:
He knew he had to get her back, fifth year, but he failed. I imagine, 
though, that he denied to himself that he had loved her. His interest 
in her opinion of James in the earlier memory in which the prank came 
up, though, suggests he already did. 

I think that when he was forced to admit to himself at some level 
that he loved her was when he learned of her danger, as a Death 
Eater. It drove him to beg Voldemort for her life, and make a 
rendezvous with a man he feared might kill him on sight (Dumbledore), 
not to mention that he was willing to do "Anything" in exchange for 
her protection. Though it is an admission he never made to anyone 
ever, that we see. Dumbledore and later Harry know Snape loved Lily, 
but based on Snape's actions, not his words.

Oh, I skipped the question of whether evil people can love. I'm not 
sure what an evil person is, exactly, but I'm sure that Snape is not 
one in my opinion.