- he is himself a half-blood, with one Muggle parent and one witch parent. It's not clear if Eileen was pureblood, half-blood, or even Muggleborn herself (though Severus' exposure to other wizarding children at a young age, indicated by the broomstick incident, argues against her being Muggleborn). - as a child he seems to have had few, if any, positive experiences of the mingling of wizards and Muggles, if the memories we are shown are indicative of the usual state of things then. - he is contemptuous of Petunia for being a Muggle. This is in line with the attitude of most of the WW (anti-Muggle prejudice is rampant in the WW, if usually less murderous than Voldie's version of it. Even Arthur is patronizing towards them, and no wizard/witch shows compunction about mindraping them for convenience's sake, or treats them like their equals - not even Hagrid or DD. The most tolerant witches/wizards agree they should not be tortured or murdered, but that's about it.) - as a child he is aware to some extent of prejudice against Muggleborns, but it is unclear if he shares it (he hesitates before answering Lily's question about her heritage being a "problem," then says no. Other than SWM, which I will deal with in a moment, we never see him disparage her heritage in any way.) - Even during the worst of her rants against Severus, Lily never accuses him of behaving in a bigoted manner towards Muggleborns, or using the word 'mudblood.' The worst she can say against him is that he is 'friends' with his housemates who hex another girl (blood status unknown) for amusement and apparently is not bothered enough by it to cease contact with them. This is not markedly different than the behavior of her fellow Gryffindors, who hex poor, ugly, Slytherins for 'existing.' We don't even know that Severus himself hexed anyone other than those who often attacked him. - he is sorted into Slytherin, supposedly the house of purebloodism (though as he, Tom Riddle, and Harry were all candidates for admission, it can't be THAT exclusive. He even thought Muggleborn Lily could be admitted.) We don't know why he thought Slytherin the "best" house; speculation usually centers on possible family ties. We don't know if the hat considered other choices for him. We don't know how he was received in Slytherin, as a half-blood; Lucius welcomes him at the Feast, but we never see another Slytherin either standing up for him or disparaging him. He apparently didn't feel secure enough to reject them all at Lily's behest. - We can suppose that the word 'mudblood' was uttered in the Slytherin common room at some point, but it quite possibly is uttered elsewhere as well. We don't know how he would have reacted, or if he was used to hearing it as a child.
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Part II
Date: 2009-08-05 08:59 pm (UTC)- he is himself a half-blood, with one Muggle parent and one witch parent. It's not clear if Eileen was pureblood, half-blood, or even Muggleborn herself (though Severus' exposure to other wizarding children at a young age, indicated by the broomstick incident, argues against her being Muggleborn).
- as a child he seems to have had few, if any, positive experiences of the mingling of wizards and Muggles, if the memories we are shown are indicative of the usual state of things then.
- he is contemptuous of Petunia for being a Muggle. This is in line with the attitude of most of the WW (anti-Muggle prejudice is rampant in the WW, if usually less murderous than Voldie's version of it. Even Arthur is patronizing towards them, and no wizard/witch shows compunction about mindraping them for convenience's sake, or treats them like their equals - not even Hagrid or DD. The most tolerant witches/wizards agree they should not be tortured or murdered, but that's about it.)
- as a child he is aware to some extent of prejudice against Muggleborns, but it is unclear if he shares it (he hesitates before answering Lily's question about her heritage being a "problem," then says no. Other than SWM, which I will deal with in a moment, we never see him disparage her heritage in any way.)
- Even during the worst of her rants against Severus, Lily never accuses him of behaving in a bigoted manner towards Muggleborns, or using the word 'mudblood.' The worst she can say against him is that he is 'friends' with his housemates who hex another girl (blood status unknown) for amusement and apparently is not bothered enough by it to cease contact with them. This is not markedly different than the behavior of her fellow Gryffindors, who hex poor, ugly, Slytherins for 'existing.' We don't even know that Severus himself hexed anyone other than those who often attacked him.
- he is sorted into Slytherin, supposedly the house of purebloodism (though as he, Tom Riddle, and Harry were all candidates for admission, it can't be THAT exclusive. He even thought Muggleborn Lily could be admitted.) We don't know why he thought Slytherin the "best" house; speculation usually centers on possible family ties. We don't know if the hat considered other choices for him. We don't know how he was received in Slytherin, as a half-blood; Lucius welcomes him at the Feast, but we never see another Slytherin either standing up for him or disparaging him. He apparently didn't feel secure enough to reject them all at Lily's behest.
- We can suppose that the word 'mudblood' was uttered in the Slytherin common room at some point, but it quite possibly is uttered elsewhere as well. We don't know how he would have reacted, or if he was used to hearing it as a child.