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Hello, everyone!
I would like to get your opinions on whether Severus attended a Muggle school before going to Hogwarts or was he home-schooled (by his mother)? Or perhaps he mainly taught himself?
Everyone attends Hogwarts at age 11 or 12. By this age, students know how to read and write, etc. Given that Severus is a half-blood and resided in a Muggle town, do you think he went to Muggle school? If so, he should've met Lily there and need not introduce himself in the playground (it is possible, of course, that their town has more than one school and they went to different ones). He seems to be totally into his wizarding roots that he dislikes anything Muggle. His mother could've taught him the basics (along with his quite extensive knowledge of magic, etc.). On the other hand, he seems to be very neglected so I'm not very convinced that his mother or father spent a lot of time with him (besides Tobias not liking anything much as he put it)....
I'm very interested to hear your take on this.
I would like to get your opinions on whether Severus attended a Muggle school before going to Hogwarts or was he home-schooled (by his mother)? Or perhaps he mainly taught himself?
Everyone attends Hogwarts at age 11 or 12. By this age, students know how to read and write, etc. Given that Severus is a half-blood and resided in a Muggle town, do you think he went to Muggle school? If so, he should've met Lily there and need not introduce himself in the playground (it is possible, of course, that their town has more than one school and they went to different ones). He seems to be totally into his wizarding roots that he dislikes anything Muggle. His mother could've taught him the basics (along with his quite extensive knowledge of magic, etc.). On the other hand, he seems to be very neglected so I'm not very convinced that his mother or father spent a lot of time with him (besides Tobias not liking anything much as he put it)....
I'm very interested to hear your take on this.
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And about Snape’s clothes. There is a fan fic whose interpretation I do like, and that he was dressing up as a wizard when he met Lily. I do hate to think of him dressing like that all the time. I like to think of him in jeans, converse sneakers and a t-shirt, sometimes striped. I’m just thinking about clothes that I remember the boys used when I was growing up.
As for Lily I can see her going to a private school. Not because her parents were well off, but they wanted better for their daughters. I do think the Evans family did experience some hard times. This is why I see Petunia acting the way she does. She wants to give Dudley what she never had. She wants to keep up with the Jones. I believe that Petunia is one of the few characters in canon that we can look at and maybe get some ideas about Lily. Not so much what Petunia says, but how she acts.
The comment 'that Snape boy' from Petunia may indicate that Severus could've gone to Muggle school as he was known to the other kids, known enough for Petunia to know of him and where he lived. I do think Petunia was already a gossip at that age, though, so I can't also discount the possibility that she went out her way to know everyone- so that look down on others and be a 'snob'. I have no doubt that his magic and temperament would have put off other kids, especially if there were more young Petunia's in their town.
Like you, I would love young Severus to have better clothes than what we saw in The Prince's Tale (I was thinking, aren't there clothes from charity that are decent for him to wear and his mother could do magic)? But then if it were so, the graying pants we see in SWM would hard to explain. We know his family was poor, but he need not be 'pitiful'...like you pointed out.
I wish it weren't so, but I see Sev's clothes as indication that he was practically invisible to his parents. His father certainly did not care by that time. I cannot imagine ANY man in the '70s allowing his SON to wear a women's blouse if he cared for him at all. Even just as a matter of male pride, there should have been a big argument over that blouse.
In other words, by the time he met Lily, I think Eileen was too depressed to do magic - basically barely even noticing she had a child. And Tobias was so angry by then that he was mostly just 'not home' enough to notice. -- Hwyla
It's "an odd smock-like shirt", not a blouse. Petunia says that as a way to tease him ("what's that, your mum's blouse?") but I don't think that's what it is really.
I've seen it suggested before that the oversize jacket and the blousy shirt might also have been traceable to Severus "playing wizard", i.e., dressing in clothing the most like robes as he had access to.
The alternative would be a hand-me-down from the wizarding world looking something like a shirt from the days when guys wore lace and full sleeves (think of pirates?).
Altho' - come to think of it, maybe it's actually from the Goodwill, leftover from the '60s? You know - I wasn't thinking straight about it being the '70s. It's actually the late '60s. Think of the shirts Austin Powers wore?
But WOULD a man, specifically a working class man (and possibly a minimally verbally abusive man like Tobias) allow his son to wear something like that? I still think it reeks of neglect. Remember that this is not the first time they met. This was in the 2nd memory.
I think we also need to look at it from that time period. Tobias would have been ashamed to have his son dressed that way IF he noticed him at all. And Snape is younger than 10 here. Believe me - as someone who was Snape's age - I cannot think of a man (that wasn't a hippie) who would allow his kid out of the house like that. And for Tobias - IF for no other reason than HE might think it wizard-like, I would think he would forbid it unless he was to the point where he no longer cared.
And I can think of a lot of boy’s men and clothing from the 70’s that would be smock-like. I’m thinking of this kind of shirt Davy Jones is wearing on the Brady Bunch. Late 60’s early 70’s, which was the time Snape met Lily.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIkCzs6K
I agree that we need to look at the time period, which was like 30 years ago and many things were different. People had yellow teeth because whiting wasn’t big then. People smoked and even thought no one in my family smoked with had plenty of ash trays. Things were not so PC. Getting hand me downs was common and not having a lot of clothes, so I can see wearing the same clothes for a couple of days.
I also agree with you that Tobias would not let his son out of the house like that. Again another reason I think Severus is dressing like a wizard, and sneaking out of the house. I’m thinking of Tobias being kind of like Red in the 70’s show with a beer always in his hand or Archie Bunker.
I cannot think of a man (that wasn't a hippie) who would allow his kid out of the house like that.
For some reason this made me laugh. Just thinking about my childhood and growing up around Hippies, and I’m trying to think of any instances of that happing.