Spinner's End - Tumblr Posts

Two up, two down

We talk about Potter as a timeless series, as quills and parchment will never date, but there are a few key elements which are of their time, and I sometimes suspect that eventually, their original meaning may be lost.

Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is one of these.  If you visit Surrey, a house akin to Number 4 on Privet Drive can be found on hundreds of identical estates.  Indeed, the three-bedroom house with a garage, and both front and back gardens, situated on a private housing estate in leafy surburbia is one that most British people will have strolled through at some point.

But Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is the opposite of the Dursleys’ aspirational abode, and is somewhere that few modern readers will have seen in its original form with their own eyes.  Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is a traditional two up, two down through terraced house, mired deep in a maze of identical cobbled streets, overlooked by a looming mill chimney, and seemingly – by the 90s – entirely abandoned.

The difficulty that some may have in accurately picturing this scene is because these houses, in this state, no longer exist.  A large percentage of two up, two down terraces were demolished as part of slum clearance, which should tell you all that you need to know about the state of the houses.  

Those which remained have been extensively modified – usually knocking down the privy (outside toilet), and then building a two storey extension across the bulk of the yard to create a third room downstairs, and a bathroom upstairs.  Some houses only have a single extension; it is rather common in some areas of the Midlands to have a bathroom that leads off the kitchen downstairs – because the bathroom was the missing room, and it was cheaper to build one storey than two.

Pottermore had an article earlier in the year which explained how the filmmakers originally wanted to film on location, but could not, because the houses simply did not exist in their traditional state.

The houses were typically constructed with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs with a tiny backyard entry leading to the outhouse. Craig actually considered shooting on location, but even though the buildings were intact, they had been brought into the modern era, with up-to-date kitchens and plastic extensions, so the set was built at the studio.

Throughout the 20th century, cobbled streets were routinely replaced by various other road surfaces, namely tarmac and asphalt – and, of course, the scarcity of cobblestones now means that such streets are aesthetically desirable.  However, the cobblestones in Spinner’s End are not an indication of affluence, but an indication of an area left behind. This is further illustrated by the rusted railings, the broken streetlights, and the boarded up windows.

These were workers houses, often funded by the owners of the mill, and therefore tied – meaning that rent was deducted from your wage before you received it.  There were benefits to being in tied accommodation, including being close to work and having a guaranteed landlord – but that was as much benefit to the mill owner as the worker.  Seeing great competition, some mill owners invested in their properties to entice workers – but Spinner’s End is not an example of this; Spinner’s End would’ve been regarded as little better than a slum even when fully occupied.

The narrow streets are indicative of when these houses were built, presumably in the late 1800s – cars were not a concern, and the attitude was to build as many houses on as small a piece of land as possible.

By the time the 90s roll around, and we see Narcissa and Bellatrix descend upon the street, Spinner’s End appears to be mostly deserted.  With the closure of traditional manual industries, families would be keen to relocate to where work could be found.  Estates which hadn’t already been cleared by the 60s would find themselves left to rack and ruin, their former occupants long gone – whether seeking a new life elsewhere, or having died.

For once, Bellatrix is not being anti-Muggle when she sneers at the Muggle dunghill; she is unnervingly accurate. It is a slum by her standards, but most importantly, it was a slum by everyone else’s standards as well.  By the time Severus was born, work should’ve been well under way to clear the area, or to renovate it.  This evidently did not occur – which itself explains how undesirable the area is; nobody wanted to spruce it up - they wanted to leave.  There were no jobs, no amenities, no services – and eventually, no people.

We often ponder why Snape remains at Spinner’s End, but perhaps there lies the answer; he wasn’t just hiding from the magical world, but he was also hiding from the Muggle world as well…

I meant to say Snape + Grimmauld Place vs Snape + Spinner's End, but it could also be Black + GP vs Snape + SE, whatever. woops

oldstonefacevimes ha respondido a tu publicación: for your mini-essay prompts: Snape + Grimmauld…

Hi, sorry, It’s late and I’m not very articulate lol. Taking out of the way the sirius/gp vs severus/se parallels thing, how about severus’ relationship with spinner’s end? as a space, a state of mind, a prison, an externalization of snapiness, idk.

Oh!  Okay, now those I can do.

I think we can tackle both “Snape and Grimmauld Place v. Snape and Spinner’s End” and “Sirius Black and Grimmauld Place v. Snape and Spinner’s End” with the same line of thought.

As previously written about in these tags and in this post, Snape’s own psyche traps him in Spinner’s End.  He was trapped there as a child by the obvious circumstances of childhood, but when Hogwarts fails to be his saving grace he remains trapped there, and he chooses to keep his childhood home and to live there during school holidays not only as part of his utilitarian lack of self-care and as a sub-conscious form of self-punishment but as an indication of how trapped he feels in the patterns of his childhood.  With Grimmauld Place, though he is not physically trapped there, his roles as Order member and later as Order Secret-Keeper for the house (an unwanted role, one in which Moody forces him to relive the trauma of killing Dumbledore in order to enter the house and do his job) continue this cycle of entrapment, as they are part and parcel of Dumbledore’s role for him, a role he will never (in life) escape.

Sirius Black, like Snape, was trapped as a child in an unpleasant (and potentially abusive) home situation.  However, unlike Snape, Black finds salvation at Hogwarts in the form of friends and popularity, and he escapes the cycle of childhood trauma manifested by Grimmauld Place.  Unfortunately for Black, this escape is but temporary, and by the time both he and Snape end up in Grimmauld Place again they are both trapped by their lives and their roles in fighting Voldemort in the same childhood homes they had hoped to leave behind.  Snape, of course, taunts Black unceasingly for his “cowardice” in remaining safe in Grimmauld Place while the rest of the Order does their dangerous work, mostly because Snape is admittedly an asshole, but in this he almost has a point–Black’s decision to remain in Grimmauld Place is one which keeps him safe.  Snape’s decision to remain in Spinner’s End and in Grimmauld Place is one which places him in constant and immediate emotional and physical danger.

The difference between them is that, while both situations are manifested in a run-down and miserable childhood home, Black’s prison is a physical one–he would leave it behind in a moment if leaving wouldn’t put his life and his friends’ safety in immediate danger.  Snape’s prison is purely psychological–he can physically go anywhere he wants, but his memories and his mentality would never permit it.  When Sirius Black dies, though his death is tragic and meaningless and endlessly harmful to Harry Potter, he dies free, both physically and psychologically.  Snape never escapes the cycles of his childhood; he dies trapped in them, in the very place where Sirius Black tried to kill him when they were children.

Why do you think severus lives in his old childhood home still?

I think it was an intentional move by JKR to show that he never moved on from the past. Severus was a man who was incapable of moving on, incapable of letting go of his trauma and anger. The fact that he lives in his childhood home, the place where he met Lily and the place where he endured his father’s abuse, symbolises how he was unable to move on from his childhood. But if you’re looking for a more “realistic” answer, then I suspect he never cared enough to put in the effort of moving out since he stayed at Hogwarts for most of the year, and he might have also had debts to pay off from when his parents were alive.

Bonus: I also remember someone saying he might’ve stayed in Spinner’s End because it was where he met Lily and where all of his happiest memories with her were. And during the 2nd chapter of Half-Blood Prince (Spinner’s End), we can see that he was in a better mood than he usually was. He likes Narcissa and would of course be happy to see her, but his pleasantness might also be because of that reason. And I’m sure he didn’t like living in his childhood house, but I think he liked the neighbourhood and the areas where he and Lily would also hang out. Though I think that’s only part of the reason as to why he stayed there.

so many harry potter fans completely erase snape's past and write it over to make him a snobby rich kid who speaks like he's 40 year old count and i think it is so interesting.

because it proves to me that the reality of snape being a kid living in a poverty stricken and abusive household on spinner's end makes you all uncomfortable.

i sure know it made me uncomfortable to re-read the books for the first time and see all the comments about his greasy hair and sallow skin with the new knowledge that these were markers of his poor upbringing. we've heard the saying how being poor never really goes away. snape keeping these two markers as an adult is the author's way of doing it. he's an adult with a better income now but he never quite shakes off spinner's end.

he also stays there as an adult as a way to punish himself, if the front room described as a 'padded cell" is any indicator. he can't move on and he won't allow himself to, and dumbledore won't allow it either. it is he who twists the knife with harry's eyes and tells him this is the only thing he can do to prove he truly loved lily. despite you know, dumbledore apparently not believing this dhe to his shock at snape's patronus 17 years later.

both times in snape's past when he butts heads with petunia is because she insults his background, something he cannot control. she calls him the 'snape boy' from spinner's end, a clearly 'turn up my nose' moment. harry goes through most books referring to snape as 'snape' because snape is a bully and therefore does not have harry's respect. many times adults correct him to say professor. and his first name isn't said often. so this puts a distance to him, almost others him to this 2D character. but 'snape' is an actual person, with feelings and a past, present and future. so severus snape doesn't take kindly to people insulting his family which is why he claps back at petunia.

we also know snape is a muggle name, his muggle father tobias' name. we only find out in book 6 that snape is a half blood. because what wizarding family do you know with the name 'snape'. and prince isn't part of the sacred 28 either. when harry breaks into snape's memories accidentally in occlumency, seeing those three quick snapshots of his life, it's the first time snape starts to become a real person to harry.

moreover, 8 year old snape is described as dirty, unwashed, wearing clothes that are so mismatched it looks deliberate. he hasn't got clothes of his own, wearing an adults jacket and a woman's smock. snape's family either cannot afford to properly clothe or wash their child or they simply don't care too. when petunia insults him again, this time instead of his father she goes for his mother, as she points out snape wearing his mother's blouse, we get another example of underage magic as he causes a tree branch to fall on her.

now despite this, we know it is likely snape really did want to cause her harm due to her insult. snape already is shown to have poor social skills and snaps rather quickly at any point of animosity, but he was also raised in an abusive household. his father whipped him, and shouted at his mother and god knows what else. makes sense that an 8 year old responds to tension with either insults or violence, mirroring his home. snape is also very reluctant to talk about his homelife at all, ending the conversation very pointedly with "he doesn't like anything much." so it's not surprising that a child raised in this kind of environment would respond violently. even worse, he does it without really realising what he has done considering he looked confused when petunia and lily ran away.

on platform 9 and 3/4, snape is eager to get out of his muggle clothes and when put next to james potter, the stark difference between someone who has been loved and adored and someone who hasn't is explicitly put in the books. and lastly when snape calls lily a mudblood after being yanked upside down exposing dirty underwear, lily points that out. her way of saying 'don't you dare say you are better than me - im filthy? how about you wash your clothes.'

all in all, i think the fans write over this backstory because people do not want to give snape any sympathy. he's not the right kind of sympathetic character. he's an unpleasant adult who made terrible decisions. therefore his tragedy doesn't count. it's much easier to hate him when in your head, snape is a rich, snobby supremacist, rather than a penniless, neglected and woefully misguided teenager.

odd that peope can understand the impact of certain characters childhoods like sirius, regulus, draco or harry and how it affected their actions as teens and later adults...

but not snape.

in fact, snape is probably the poorest character in the entire series apart from maybe voldemort, although the orphanage didn't seem underfunded or anything. fans characterise lupin as poor but there is little evidence for him being poor as a child, more as an adult. i've seen people say this was because of the fact that his father worked at the ministry and arthur weasley worked there and he is not rich but the weasley's are poor because there are 7 of them living on one income. and we can assume lupin's muggle mother worked. if anything, lupin's childhood was comfortable but became unstable due to them constantly moving after he was bitten.

abd that's pretty much it, we don't know too much about anyone else. the dursleys are middle class as are hemrione's dentist parents and while the weasley's are poor, they are not poverty stricken - ron never goes hungry. snape also never really adresses his muggle past either. he doesnt bring it up ever. for all his 'life is unfair', he never speaks about that part of his life, choosing to solely reference the marauders. and the two main bullies, james and sirius both being rich kids bullying the poor boy is not lost on me. especially when they constantly reference his greasy hair all the time.

poverty greatly affects a person well into adulthood and we see with snape; it never really goes away. sure he's well spoken now, and doesn't wear mismatched muggle clothing but the remnants are still there. in fact, one of the reasons he hates harry intially is because he thinks the boy has been pampered. quite unlike his upbringing. so i think it's telling how many people refuse to acknowledge its very existence or the how it shaped snape as a person.

becuase i think it all makes you feel really uncomfortable. why else would you ignore or completely erase it?