Severus' racial slur against Lily was inexcusable, but she should have protected him from being beaten up and humilated by James Potter and his friends. Hm, I think there are two aspects in all of this: First, as you say, Severus' slur was inexcusable and, IMO, cannot be explained by him being under a lot of pressure. Pressure and humiliation tends to bring your defences down, meaning you cannot controll yourself from saying things you normally wouldn't say. It doesn't MAKE you say things you don't think. So - in Lily's stead, I think I would have ended our friendship as well - not because I couldn't believe in Severus saying he was sorry for it (I'm sure Lily did - there is no indication she was daft, after all), but because of the reason behind him using this slur. Just as I wouldn't want to be friends with a man who believed women in general to be some sort of pet or piece of meat to use - no matter if he treated ME differently. Now you say, she should have helped him all the same, because it was her duty no matter what and agree in principle. If he had been just some random student, being harrassed by James. But up to that moment, Severus had been her friend and - as weird as it may seem - I think she might have owed him to respect his wish for her not to interfere on his behalf. He clearly is very much humiliated and obviously to him, it's even more humiliating to be "the damsel in distress" needing protection from the original damsel, so to speak. Of course, this idea is misogynist in itself, but I think it might have been a sign of mutual respect to leave him alone instead of patronizingly protecting him against his express wish.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-08-16 12:39 pm (UTC)Hm, I think there are two aspects in all of this:
First, as you say, Severus' slur was inexcusable and, IMO, cannot be explained by him being under a lot of pressure. Pressure and humiliation tends to bring your defences down, meaning you cannot controll yourself from saying things you normally wouldn't say. It doesn't MAKE you say things you don't think. So - in Lily's stead, I think I would have ended our friendship as well - not because I couldn't believe in Severus saying he was sorry for it (I'm sure Lily did - there is no indication she was daft, after all), but because of the reason behind him using this slur. Just as I wouldn't want to be friends with a man who believed women in general to be some sort of pet or piece of meat to use - no matter if he treated ME differently.
Now you say, she should have helped him all the same, because it was her duty no matter what and agree in principle. If he had been just some random student, being harrassed by James. But up to that moment, Severus had been her friend and - as weird as it may seem - I think she might have owed him to respect his wish for her not to interfere on his behalf. He clearly is very much humiliated and obviously to him, it's even more humiliating to be "the damsel in distress" needing protection from the original damsel, so to speak. Of course, this idea is misogynist in itself, but I think it might have been a sign of mutual respect to leave him alone instead of patronizingly protecting him against his express wish.