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The January Challenge: Lily revisited

sylvanawood

1/3/11 04:02 pm

The Challenge for January 2011:

Lily revisited

Years ago (we've been around for a while, oh yes!)we had 'Severus and Lily' as a monthly challenge.

alicekinsno1 suggested to take a closer look at Lily's character:

Maybe something that discusses the character of Lily more deeply? I'd love to see what some of your ideas are for just how Lily went from treating Snape so harshly and talking back to James, to being the stereotypical "saintly mother" at the end of her life. There's something about her personality that doesn't add up.

That is to say, how her apparently selfless decision to die for her baby makes sense in light of the way she treated Severus or even James. With possibly a side comment about how despite being so powerful and gifted she didn't really show any of that by dying pleading for her baby's life without even trying to take on Voldemort.

Please post your entries here or in a separate post. I'm looking forward to your entries.
If you have ideas for new challenges, please post them here. (This is a new list, your earlier suggestions are still in the old post).

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• Re: An addition and plea for moderation

  mary_j_59

  1/14/11 04:55 am (UTC)

  Hey, Ravenstar84. I just want to clarify something. You are, of course, free to visit my journal, or any place else, any time you want to. I had no intention of suggesting otherwise. Nor have I been keeping track. I just noticed you'd been there because a writer friend suggested I check stats once in awhile. You never commented on any post of mine, and you don't seem to agree with me in general, so I wondered. I don't usually visit the journals of people whom I find aggravating!
  
  As to my second question here - all I was saying is that Lily's situation in the Wizarding World is not analogous to that of a young woman of color in, say, modern-day America. On a day-to-day basis, I think the American woman of color would have it much tougher. I phrased it clumsily and totally see why that was offensive. But still, I do think my original point stands.
  
  In Rowling's books, the People of Color, or Muslims or Jews during the Inquisition (a better analogy, IMHO) are the *Muggles*. EVERYONE in the Wizarding World is racist toward them to a greater or lesser degree. Lily is a Witch. She's not a Muggle. She's not a member of that despised majority. Yes, there is a minority that is trying to oppress her group. At the time of her conversations with Sev, it is not widely known, even to that group's members, that the leader actually does want to kill Muggleborns. And there is no suggestion that the Wizarding World generally is prejudiced against Muggleborns. The Death Eaters are, certainly. But we have no idea how general their attitude is. From what we see, I'd guess, not very. Because nobody, except for Draco Malfoy and a couple of other Slytherins, makes any fuss at all about Hermione being Muggleborn. There is no suggestion at all that she will encounter prejudice or that her birth will hold her back. And, if there had been widespread anti-Muggleborn prejudice just one generation before, Hermione would not have had the level playing field we see. Again, I'm talking about the Wizarding World generally, not Voldemort and his most nutty Death Eaters.
  
  No need to respond to this if you don't want to. Again, I'm sorry I offended you.

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