Something I have wondered for several years, and would dearly like to ask JKR
How do Muggle-borns detatch themselves from the Muggle world?
I think they have to. Otherwise, how do they and their immediate families explain to the world where they go all year? Or that they're not in school? Justin Finch-Fletchley got accepted into Eton; how did he justify turning THAT one down?
What do they tell their old friends? Do they lose touch with them completely?
If, somehow, they don't, then what about when they grow up? When they get wizard jobs? What do they tell people they do for a living?
They'll probably marry or at least date magical people. Then what do they tell their friends about their boy/girlfriend,fiance(e), etc?
Hermione was originally supposed to have a little sister who was a Muggle, but she never came up for FIVE years, so JKR decided to cut her. (Too bad; I would have liked to meet her. In my mind, canon!Hermione has a little sister. Named...uh...Helen. Sure.) Point is, if Hermione can go five years without her sister ever coming up in a conversation, it proves that Muggle-born witches and wizards get separated from their previous Muggle lives. A "them" and "us" attitude develops when there are different terms and people like Hermione can't categorize themselves the same way as their loved ones. No wonder the magical world has always struggled with such intolerance.
These are the things that keep me up at night, people.
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I think they have to. Otherwise, how do they and their immediate families explain to the world where they go all year? Or that they're not in school? Justin Finch-Fletchley got accepted into Eton; how did he justify turning THAT one down?
What do they tell their old friends? Do they lose touch with them completely?
If, somehow, they don't, then what about when they grow up? When they get wizard jobs? What do they tell people they do for a living?
They'll probably marry or at least date magical people. Then what do they tell their friends about their boy/girlfriend,fiance(e), etc?
Hermione was originally supposed to have a little sister who was a Muggle, but she never came up for FIVE years, so JKR decided to cut her. (Too bad; I would have liked to meet her. In my mind, canon!Hermione has a little sister. Named...uh...Helen. Sure.) Point is, if Hermione can go five years without her sister ever coming up in a conversation, it proves that Muggle-born witches and wizards get separated from their previous Muggle lives. A "them" and "us" attitude develops when there are different terms and people like Hermione can't categorize themselves the same way as their loved ones. No wonder the magical world has always struggled with such intolerance.
These are the things that keep me up at night, people.
**