Hi! I have some questions if you have time or energy answering!: 1) what do you think is the significance of "half-blood" to snape 2) based on what is presented to us, in the text, what was the war and wizarding society like for half-bloods? 3) this isn't really an analysis, but did snape need to join the death eaters as a half-blood? was that an act of self-protection? Harry, Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Snape are all half-bloods. We are told most of the wizarding world is composed of half-bloods- and logically, that makes sense. The death eater's motives are to purify the wizarding race by killing muggles, muggle-borns, and blood traitors. Harry, our main protagonist who is a half-blood, does not experience anything negative because he's a half-blood. The most he gets is Bellatrix calling him a "filthy half-blood", but 1) it's Bellatrix? 2) half-blood do not have a slur, even purebloods get called "blood traitor". Werewolves are called "half-breed". Maybe I'm forgetting some details but this exchange between Harry and Bellatrix is the only time a half-blood gets a negative treatment because they're a half-blood.
I just think this is an interesting writing choice.
I agree - half-blood generally seems to be a very neutral "safe" designation: Hermione's cover with the Snatchers is half-blood Penelope Clearwater, and it's a total non-issue. Only intensely extremist people like Bellatrix seem to come at people for being half-blood, because yeah - it does seem to be very, very common to have at least one muggle grandparent. According to Ron, Arthur thinks that wizards will die out if they don't marry muggles, so. Makes sense.
And even Voldemort... like Tom Riddle couldn't have realistically pretended to be a capital P Pureblood, their community is too small (in the words of Baby Draco - "what's your surname, anyway") and besides - there would be too many tells that he grew up in the muggle world, especially at school. Considering that he doesn't hide that he's a parselmouth... and that's the Gaunts' whole thing... I think it must have just been an open secret with the first generation of Death Eaters that this Riddle kid is a Gaunt bastard. Which of course, he is.
We don't see any successful muggle/wizard romantic relationships, and because of this I think half-bloods might *seem* rarer than they really are. Someone has a single wizard parent, and you're probably not going to ask too many questions about what happened to the other one. I bet there'd be a lot of polite fictions along the lines of "yes, my father was a German wizard killed by Grindlewald" (when in reality he was a muggle.)
The main thing we see is an expectation of wizard culture assimilation. You need be *culturally* wizard (ie culturally pureblood) and not culturally muggle. That's what "blood traitor" means - you are 'rejecting' traditional wizard culture, which could apply equally well to a half-blood or a pureblood. Like - the Weasleys naming their kids all these 'plain' muggle-coded things, instead of pulling from mythology or astronomy the way most purebloods do.
Tonks is an unusually muggle-orientated half-blood. She wears jeans and has a muggle hairstyle, probably knows what Doctor Who is. This is probably part of why Bellatrix despises her as much as she does. But, Bellatrix can also have grudging respect for Severus (and Severus can absolutely be bros with Lucius and Narcissa.) After all, he has committed to being very culturally pureblood, you'd never know just looking at him that he grew up muggle. So he's all right. I wonder if this might be a reason for the slightly incredible ignorance of muggle culture we see at like, the World Cup. Might it not be socially advantageous in some circles to pretend you don't know that only muggle women wear dresses?
Still, 'Half-Blood Prince' is a very cheeky nickname, because of the inherent contradiction. I don't know who Severus used this nickname with (like was this just a private joke, or does Lucius or whoever know about it?) Either way, to me it communicates that school-age Severus feels he has risen above his origins. He was born half-blood (lesser) but has made himself a Prince. I think there's a version of this person who takes his mother's name as an adult, and goes by Severus Prince. I also have to think this would be the more typical half-blood choice, just use your wizard parent's name. But, adult Snape is also a borderline recluse who socializes entirely with people who knew him at school as "Snape." So I suppose that would have been a hard sell.
And.... I know I've said that it doesn't seem to make much of a difference if you're a half-blood in this universe... but being a pureblood absolutely does get you additional privilege, stability, and freedom. Like, Theodore Nott is able to stay out of the whole Death Eater thing, and I think that decision would have been harder if he wasn't a Sacred 28 Pureblood. Like if he had a muggle mother, that would have made him more of a target... or at least more noticeable.
So... I think Severus definitely could have stayed away from the Death Eaters, even as a half-blood. But, it would have been a little more tricky to negotiate, especially for a very socially awkward teenager. He could have safely flown under the radar... but he definitely does get social stability and power from committing to this whole pure-blood coded thing, and aligning himself with Lucius Malfoy. There's a bit of a "marrying up" vibe. And for a kid who grew up as dirt-poor as Severus, that would have been really hard to pass up.
