i grew up in an area with a lot of private schools and sometimes it was the case that a kid would leave the school because their parents could not longer afford it. or they would go to public school for primary and private later on.
im thinking that shiori is of a lower social class/comes from a less wealthy family than juri. the fact that she has to leave ohtori and then comes back later seems that way to me. like her parents got into financial trouble and had to take her out for a while. the class difference adds another level to their relationship, i think, especially in regards to how shiori sees jury as so great and how she feels pitied
your essay about Snape and classism made me think of the implications behind the Weasleys being the definition of poor in the magical society, according to the books.
They're pureblood, think less about muggles and they never speak about their only muggle relative, yet they don't seem to fit with the aristocrats because they're "blood traitors"?? What does that mean?
Despite being poor, the father and breadwinner for the family works at the Ministry, and Percy joins him later in a higher rank. Meanwhile, the eldest brother works on a bank (THE bank? is there any other banks that isn't Gringotts?) and we have no clue about how people see dragon breeding as a job.
I don't know where I was trying to get to, the Weasley's place in society confuses me. Any idea?
This is a very European dynamic that happens in most countries that still have monarchies or a strong aristocratic elite and a tradition of class systems based on nobility: the figure of the poor aristocrat. In Spain, for example, there is the figure of the hidalgo, which is the aristocrat with a title but without property or land, perhaps even poorer than a bourgeois, but still maintaining their aristocratic status. And this figure exists in other countries too; in fact, it's quite common in popular culture.
The problem with this is that many people (especially from the United States, obviously) think that in old Europe, class is defined by money. But that's not necessarily true, because an aristocrat will always be socially above —even for other aristocrats— regardless of being poor or a "class traitor," as opposed to a bourgeois without a family name. And this is something that is very well reflected in the fact that even Slytherins consider Ginny a "catch." The pureblood Slytherins don’t consider Ginny a catch just because she’s pretty, but because even though she’s poor and a “traitor,” she is still pureblood. She still has “aristocratic” ancestry and comes from the same roots as them. A pureblood would choose a “traitor”—as much of a traitor as she may be—a hundred thousand times over someone who can’t help continue the bloodline. This is pure traditional European aristocratic mentality.
So yes, the Weasleys may be traitors and perhaps not as wealthy as the Malfoys, but the Weasleys are still far above any other wizard in the magical society because of their blood status. Because in an aristocratic society, economic capital is not enough to match social capital: you need both. Lucius is above Arthur because he has both social and economic capital. But Arthur is still above any Muggle-born or half-blood wizard who might have as much or more money than Lucius. Does that make sense? Because despite the hatred and contempt Lucius has for Arthur, he would still be willing to save Arthur twenty thousand times before saving any half-blood or Muggle-born, no matter how wealthy they might be, because Arthur can help preserve the bloodline, and the others can’t. And this is something those of us who grew up in societies deeply affected by these value systems understand quite well.
There’s also the fact that Rowling has never truly grasped what poverty is. For Rowling, being poor means not being as privileged as the most privileged. She doesn’t know what it’s really like to be poor or to suffer from true poverty. The Weasleys always had a hot meal on the table, they could dress themselves, and they could buy things for their children and even spend lottery winnings on a family vacation. A truly poor family could never afford the luxury of spending lottery winnings on a trip, they literally need it to avoid starving. The Weasleys are poor from a privileged perspective, but they are not poor from a class perspective, nor are they truly poor from a sociological standpoint. And even less so considering the author of the books is British.
Hey, idk if you follow this blog or vice versa but since I follow you my feed fetches me a lot of anti marauders/marauders critical posts. This one i read stood out to me but since I mostly read your metas I just wanted to know your two cents on this essay ? I mostly agree with this but the "classism" part that you also bring up a quite a lot confuses me just a tad bit could you elaborate ? I just want to be educated on classism as a whole, as snape fan I feel like i should be well aware of my stances.
Thank you and that's all
Yes, we are mutuals hahahah
Honestly I think a lot of people misunderstand what people mean when they bring classism into discussions about Snape and the Marauders because they immediately reduce it to “poor person good / rich person bad” which is not really the point.
The issue is more that class affects the way characters move through the world, the kind of social power they have access to, how protected they are from consequences and how others perceive them. And in that sense the Marauders vs Snape dynamic is absolutely shaped by class whether people like it or not.
James and Sirius are both wealthy pureblood boys from extremely influential families, they’re charismatic, socially admired, academically gifted and institutionally protected. Even Sirius, despite his dysfunctional upbringing, still carries the social capital that comes from being a Black. They move through Hogwarts with confidence because the system is built in a way that favors people like them socially.
Snape meanwhile is visibly poor, neglected, isolated, badly dressed, socially awkward and comes from Spinner’s End which is coded very heavily as working-class deprivation. People underestimate how much this affects the way a child is perceived. Poverty is stigmatizing. Kids notice it, teachers notice it, peers notice it. And when you’re already weird and abrasive on top of that, it becomes very easy for people to dehumanize you or treat you like the “acceptable target.”
And I also think people massively underestimate how much easier it is to “make the right choices” when you come from privilege and already have options, support systems, social protection and a sense that the world will catch you if you fall. It’s very easy to preach morality when you’ve never experienced the kind of desperation, alienation or lack of prospects that pushes people toward harmful environments in the first place. Severus grows up with basically nothing: no emotional stability, no social support, no economic privilege, no real sense of belonging outside of Hogwarts and even there he’s ostracized. So yes, when the only spaces offering you recognition, protection or power are the “wrong” ones, it becomes much easier to fall into them, especially as a vulnerable teenager desperate to escape humiliation and powerlessness.
Again, that does NOT absolve Snape of responsibility for the choices he made later. But I also think fandom often judges him in a very classist way by completely ignoring the context he came from and the lack of possibilities that context gave him. Because at the end of the day, judging two people who come from radically different social realities through the exact same moral lens without accounting for structural differences is itself deeply classist. Pretending that a neglected working-class child and wealthy socially protected pureblood boys all had the same emotional resources, opportunities and margin for error it’s ignoring how social inequality actually shapes human behavior.
And personally I think fandom often reproduces really ugly classist biases without realizing it because people romanticize the Marauders’ behavior as “boys being boys” or “charismatic popular kids having fun” while framing Severus' bitterness as uniquely monstrous and unforgivable. There’s a tendency to view socially polished wealthy characters as inherently more human and redeemable than poor abrasive ones. Like, James hexing random people for entertainment gets brushed aside as youthful arrogance because he’s charming and beloved. Snape being bitter and hostile after years of humiliation gets treated as proof he was born morally rotten. That disparity does not happen in a vacuum.
I also think people ignore how much humiliation and social exclusion can radicalize vulnerable teenagers. Again, this is not me saying poverty made Snape a Death Eater because that’s pretty reductive. But extremist groups absolutely prey on isolated angry young people who crave power, belonging and recognition after a lifetime of feeling powerless and degraded. That’s just a real social phenomenon.
So when I talk about classism in relation to Snape, I’m saying the social dynamics at play are very obviously influenced by class, status, popularity and institutional protection, and I think pretending otherwise leads to a very shallow reading of the story. And a very classist way too.
Royalty all dressed up for a fancy fancy party with their hair done in elaborate braids and pins and wandering out into the garden ignoring everyone but being made to take their knight/body guard with them and perhaps while a tad inebriated asks for their help taking their hair down cause it’s giving them a headache.
And fumbling through for hair pins and having to take off gloves to have full dexterity and this is also the royal realizing they’ve never seen the bare flesh of their guard’s hands
And expecting them to be rough and yank but going and being so gentle trying to comb it out while getting confused by jewels and hair pieces all the meanwhile, plus having to be so close to eachother’s space and the scent of their hair care wafting up into the guard’s face
So gathering the many many pins and decorations from where they were set down, the guard sorta panics cause uhhh these need to go back to them right??? And can’t just carelessly drop them down over the top of their head/shoulders. so has to walk around to face them where they’re sitting and delicately lean down to deposit their delicately clasped hands into their royal’s. And looking down at them, while they’re looking up, illuminated by the far glow of the late night party, hair now loose and framing their face, it’s an intimate moment that should not be shared between strangers. Not only was the physical contact of their hand in their royal’s hair inappropriate but to see them in a state of undress as such…it’s enough to get them lashes as punishment.
But the pins and decorations are deposited into the royal’s hands and they smile and shake their head, exclaiming how much better that feels and how it is ridiculously how long the hair takes to be done yet for the relatively short amount of time it will be used and is it really worth it anyway
And I think it finishes with the royal giving their guard a kiss on the cheek as a thanks for rescuing them from a massive headache and then they declare they are ready to go back in to turn to bed
And maybe they give a ribbon or silk flower to their guard in their lapel as thanks
There was a boy who lived on the other side of town.
Hawkins was a small town but it had a pretty explicit wealth divide. There were a solid wall of three streets where people had three, even four story houses and their own pools. Walk beyond that line and it looked pretty grim. Well, his parents said it did. Steve privately thought the people who lived in those houses looked much happier.
Except for one house. The Hargrove’s.
The dad was ex Marines and was a fucking piece of work. He’d go on ranting about anyone and everyone in the mall, clutching his wife’s hand in a vice. She was quiet and didn’t really seem to do much apart from occasionally pushing her daughter into getting more dresses. The kids were far more interesting.
A red headed thirteen year old girl who trudged around with a skateboard and him. He looked like a movie star but he was constantly limping, like he was injured. Supposedly, he’d taken Steve’s arbitrarily assigned crown but he didn’t even talk to anyone. He just scowled and sometimes Steve saw him crying.
It was all really sad and Steve was going to do something about it. He wasn’t sure what but he was at least going to try.
Steve tried to talk to him once after class. Hargrove looked him up and down then promptly spat on his shoes. The nice ones he’d just got for Christmas.
He talked funny too. It wasn’t just because he was from California, Steve had watched enough tv to pinpoint that accent. He talked rough and gutteral, with a harshness to his voice that suggested he’d been smoking from the age of 10.
Hop arrested him for minor drug charges on Christmas Day. The news spread fast in a town like Hawkins. Not because he’d been smoking weed but because they’d had to carry him out on a stretcher.
The hospital bed was his cell. Steve sent flowers because it felt like the right thing to do given the circumstances. Poppies.
They were still on Hargrove’s bedside table when he left. Medical fees had been paid off by the town. Mr Harrington had even snuck a 100 dollar bill into the pot.
One day Billy approached him. There was a vulnerability to him, shoulders hunched as he asked if there was anywhere he could stay for the night. Neil Hargrove had kicked him out.
Billy was enamoured by Steve’s record player and ran to his own collection to shove them under the needle. Apparently Joy Division was what he played to everyone before he introduced them to the heavy stuff. Steve would have almost preferred Metallica or WASP to Love Will Tear Us Apart. There was something so incredibly bleak about the lyrics and Steve wondered if that was how Billy saw the world.
Steve had leftover pierogies and latkes in the fridge but Billy politely said he preferred to make his own food. He then made a soup with scotch bonnet peppers in which looked delicious but Steve knew he wouldn’t be able to handle.
Billy took the bed. Steve took the couch. There was a pile of porn mags buried under the pile of stuff and Steve knew he should’ve just left it. He was just curious and toed a page open.
There was a photo which looked like it had been taken behind an alleyway, of a large, bearded man in denim with another man in a suit on his knees. That magazine was shoved back down to the bottom of the pile.
Billy was queer. Steve had seen videos from New York, Los Angeles, London recently, of gaunt men on hospital beds, clinging to the hands of kind faced women. The news had said that was what happened if you were queer. Agony. Death. But Billy seemed fit and healthy.
Billy wasn’t going to die of that disease. Of AIDS. Steve wouldn’t let him.
The next morning, Billy used the shower for too long, ate nothing but a single slice of toast and left by 6AM. Steve watched him go and wondered if he would come back.
Come back he did, promptly that same evening. Billy made a grilled cheese, which of course had ghost chilli in it, and watched MTV. They had a long conversation about nuclear disarmament which Steve only half followed, then they both went to bed.
Things went on like that for several weeks. Billy would put on a wide variety of records and sometimes they would dance. Sometimes Steve would just watch Billy shake his head so hard, it may as well have fallen off.
They started sharing one meal for a change. Stir fry, steak with mashed potatoes, something Billy proudly proclaimed as toad in the hole, which was just battered sausage. All things his grandfather had taught him to cook.
The sleeping situation also got more complicated.
Due to the length of time that Billy was staying over now, there didn’t feel like there was any point in Steve staying indefinitely on the couch.
So they shared a bed. Steve listened to Billy taking long, deep breaths each night and wondered if he was a queer too.
That question was answered on New Years Eve.
Steve had drunk quite a lot. Billy had probably drunk more. Soft Cell was playing on the radio and Steve was humming along to the tune, making popping sounds with his mouth to the synths.
The song changed to a new track from Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Billy grabbed his arms, spinning them both across the room. It was fun, then Steve felt like he was going to be sick so they had to stop.
Billy was lying down on the floor next to him, giggling with flushed cheeks, then declared he hadn’t had a midnight kiss yet.
He was obviously joking but something in Steve’s chest took it deadly serious because he was climbing into Billy’s chest. They were breathing in the same air.
Billy blinked twice, eyelashes glowing and Steve decided to stop caring.
The kiss didn’t set him alight. It didn’t kill him. It didn’t even eject him from the house. All it did was send a warm tingly feeling down his back and towards his groin. The feeling was indescribable.
Billy asked if they could do that again.
Steve said yes.
For @shieldofiron @robthegoodfellow @dragonflylady77 @oopsiedaisiesbaby @harringroveobsessed @bigdumbbambieyes @thatgirlwithasquid for being so cool I hope you like it (I am genuinely so ill right now I probably won’t remember that I wrote this in like two hours)
More of my thoughts on Gwen & Arthur’s conversation in the second part of “Beauty and the Beast”, where Gwen tries her best but Arthur does stay somewhat uneasy.
Gwen’s efforts at reassurance aren’t helped by the fact that Arthur is somewhat (but understandably) contradictory in wanting to be seen and valued as 'just' Arthur but also wanting to take his responsibilities as crown prince seriously and to be taken seriously as such by his father and Camelot. Even Gwen and Merlin, who do genuinely care about Arthur as a person, can't entirely separate Arthur from his status as future king- Gwen because she has to hope things will get better and Merlin because of the dragon's words about destiny.
To be fair to all three of them, they grew up in a classist system which has only been more and more reinforced in their eyes that people need to work within that system to have any hope of positive change, as anyone who runs afoul of Uther's decrees, however slightly, is deemed irrevocably evil. The Complete Guide (which actually only talks about series 1) says that Uther's allied kingdoms went along with the magic ban to shore up their own status-induced power. Gwen and Merlin want to believe things would improve under a less vengeful king, although their idea of 'things' is more overlapping rather than a single circle.
There is also a rueful element that Gwen's own kind heart gets quite bruised and even a bit harder by the start of the fifth season, which probably wasn't intended by the show beyond her being more 'regal' but can be taken as Gwen learning that unfortunately, there's less wiggle room to be kind and forgiving when an entire kingdom's welfare is at stake compared to one outsider.
Any understanding of class that derives from mid-20th century Britain, United States, or Canada is probably wrong. And that’s a problem because that’s where most people get their ideas about class.
If you look further back, middle housing (townhomes, condos, apartments, triplexes, quadplexes, etc) are where the middle class historically found themselves living (usually, there are exceptions). Suburbs are mostly new and they are extremely wasteful. The idea that people lived in single family homes or even semi-detached housing with large green outdoor spaces (as opposed to shared courtyards) just strikes me as very, very silly and very, very American.
A better, more honest, more accurate description of the decline of the middle class is not just the disappearance of middle housing—it’s how much middle housing has deteriorated qualitatively. We no longer consider that apartments can be big enough to raise families in. Nor do we consider that they should be well-made enough to hold up to decades of uninterrupted housing.
“Luxury” condos have nothing on early-20th brownstones of the working class. And that’s the problem.
I am having trouble reconciling the same people who rightly said that density over space are now claiming that the birthright of the middle class is the ownership of implied single family homes, presumably with spacious yards. No.
There is no class worth establishing that pines for the trappings of the rich. And there’s no need to establish it anyway, it already exists. That’s the upper middle class.
I cannot believe people are saying that waste is the only sign of being middle class that matters again. But, what’s worse, I can believe people are buying it.
Anyone who says that is no better than the TikTokers who insist that $500 Shein hauls are a necessity and excess clothing (to the point of never wearing the same outfit twice) is a human right.
