Musings on Severus and Lily, part deux
Apr. 3rd, 2010 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunlit_musicValid Criticisms of Severus Snape
- That he was racist. He called Lily a mudblood. If he didn’t want her to get hurt by Slytherins as a result of trying to defend him, he could have said “I don’t need your help, you creep!” (or he could have called her another non bigoted slur). He dismissed Lily’s concerns over the Slytherins doing something horrible to Mary McDonald. It took him SWM to finally apologise to Lily. By then, it was too late.
- That his becoming a Death Eater was monstrous and reprehensible. Obviously.
- He was a bully. Period. He bullied and humiliated Neville and Harry (this is especially reprehensible, because Neville and Harry are children. He’s abusing his power as a teacher by bullying them). He said he “saw no difference” when Hermione’s teeth had been lengthened in GOF. He ordered around Peter Pettigrew and humiliated him. This is still disgusting and inexcusable. Even though Severus has been bullied by Peter. It doesn’t matter whether you’re bullying someone who bullied you in the past or not. Bullying is still a form of abuse. It is always wrong, no matter who does it or who you’re bullying.
- He’s narrow minded in his own way. He can’t bring himself to see that Harry is different from James.
- His blatant favouritism towards Slytherin House is obscene. Understandable, given Dumbledore’s disgusting favouritism towards Gryffindor? Yes. But still inexcusable.
- He’s a verbally abusive teacher. Seriously, his put downs and insults of non Slytherin students are way out of line.
- He can be selfish. Like when he riffles through Harry’s belongings in DH and rips the part of the photo with Lily in it.
Valid Criticisms of Lily Evans
- I was seriously disturbed when Lily dismissed Snape being upset about James bullying him. She should have offered sympathy when Severus was talking about this (mind you, Snape should have also offered sympathy re: Mary McDonald being bullied, instead of writing it off).
- Lily didn’t ask Snape whether he was feeling OK when she found out about James had rescued him in the Shack. This is plain unfeeling and bizarre. If I had found out that a friend of mine was in danger and had been rescued, I would have ran to them asking, “Are you feeling OK?”
- She left Severus to be bullied by James after he called her a Mudblood. Ordinary teen behaviour? For some teens, yes. Admirable? Hardly. A truly decent person would have rescued him from James (performed Finite Incantatem, docked House points from Gryffindor, called a teacher in to stop the bullying). She had every right to break off her friendship with Snape due to his racism. But nobody, including her, should have left him at James’ mercy. James hexed Snape and removed his wand. That’s the equivalent of attacking someone and disarming them. He then fills Snape’s mouth with soap. Disgusting.
Finally, he removes Severus’ underpants and exposes Severus’ private parts to other students. That’s a form of indecent assault.
- Lily scoffing at the tastelessness of Petunia’s vase. For goodness’ sake! Petunia was trying to reach out to her.
- Seductivedark mentions how Lily made excuses for Severus’ use of the term "Mudblood", when it was applied to anyone but her. (Lily’s mentioned this after Severus apologised to her after SWM). This could be interpreted in two ways: Either Lily wasn’t bothered by the slurs until Severus directed them at her. Or she *was* bothered by them, but Severus calling her a mudblood was the last straw.
More speculation:
Lily called Peter Pettigrew “Wormy”. So, does she know Lupin was a werewolf? Because if she does, then that means she could have known that Sirius led Severus to the tunnel. If she knew about this and never apologised to Snape, then that puts her in a disturbing light.
On different discriminations and dangers faced
Lily and Severus were in danger in different ways. Severus risked being physically assaulted (possibly killed) by Death Eaters and other Slytherins if he sided with Lily – he’s not a pureblood, after all. He was witnessing domestic violence at home – his father might have abused him, too. He was in danger of being physically assaulted (hexed) by the marauders. He would have continued to have been in danger after he left school if he sided with Lily (that doesn’t excuse his racism, though).
Severus would have encountered discrimination during and after school as a Slytherin. Slytherin is a hated house, after all. He also might have been passed over for jobs. Or he would have been treated worse than others, as a working class man and as a half blood.
And Lily? She would always be in more danger than Severus, as a Muggleborn. Randomneses has said this before, and I wholeheartedly agree. Severus can ‘pass’ as a wizard, as he’s a half blood. Lily? Can never pass, in the eyes of bigots. She’s muggleborn.
She won’t experience discrimination from poverty or her House (she’s middle class and a Gryffindor. Severus is a working class Slytherin). But she would have experienced discrimination for being a woman, and for being Muggleborn. People would have doubted her fitness to do magic, or passed her over for jobs or promotions due to her being muggleborn, or the fact that she’s female. She was in danger of being attacked and killed by Death Eaters.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-03 02:21 pm (UTC)Where does canon support this? Petunia took to calling Lily a freak when Lily was 11, and clearly wanted nothing to do with her or her world from then on.
Also, call me crazy, but if Petunia wanted to reach out to Lily, wouldn't she have sent her something, y'know, nice? That's like saying the Dursleys were trying to reach out to Harry when they gave him 50p for Christmas.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 06:52 am (UTC)Also, I don't think a vase is anywhere as bad as 50p for a present.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 07:03 am (UTC)I think it was the later. I think Lily wanted and hope for Snape to changed, and really tried to put some sense into him, until of course it didn't work.
Yeah, it might have been the latter.
Maybe she did and we just didn't see it on the text :P.
Maybe. That's another valid point. However, if JKR wanted to make it clearer that Lily really cared for Severus, she should have included that in the text. Lily struck me as a good person in general, so the omission from the canon of her asking Severus if he felt OK seemed rather odd.
Re: Petunia and the vase gift - "reach out" is a poor choice of words. I meant to say that she seemed to be trying to be civil with Lily when she sent the vase.
The possibility of the vase being a family tradition is another good point.
Being a Dead Eater constitutes equal risk, imo. I mean, they had to constantly risk their lives for Voldemort.
Oh, absolutely. I don't deny that.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 07:44 am (UTC)Take care.
You too. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-03 10:10 pm (UTC)James threats to hex her if she'd tried to use magic against him, and they were four against two. The scene fades exactly when she leaves, so there's no way to know if she haven't spoken with an authority of the school to go there and rescue Snape after she left (she was not a prefect). She totally could.
Lily didn't ask Snape whether he was feeling OK when she found out about James had rescued him in the Shack. This is plain unfeeling and bizarre. If I had found out that a friend of mine was in danger and had been rescued, I would have ran to them asking, “Are you feeling OK?”
When this episode was brought to the surface they were both already arguing, so maybe she was blinded by the anger she was feeling towards him, at the moment. It doesn't mean she didn't asked it sometime after or before when her emotions were more composed. And I believe that - for the fact that Snape couldn't tell anyone about Lupin's secret - she didn't have a real notion of the risk Snape passed through in the Shack.
Anyway, I really liked your essay. I wish every Snape fan were that sane =)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 06:57 am (UTC)It doesn't mean she didn't asked it sometime after or before when her emotions were more composed. And I believe that - for the fact that Snape couldn't tell anyone about Lupin's secret - she didn't have a real notion of the risk Snape passed through in the Shack.
Those are really good points! :) I hadn't thought of that before. Thanks for commenting. How'd you come by my lj blog, if you don't mind my asking?
I'm glad that you like my essay. Thank you very much! :)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 06:24 pm (UTC)Would you mind if I add you? :)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-06 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-07 09:35 am (UTC)