Discussion: Sorting Hat, Founders, and the Hogwarts Houses

[Genevieve Pratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 26248

Because of the tragedy of last Tuesday, I had decided not to post this
at my normally scheduled time. I then spent my weekend for the most part
either working or just reassuring myself of life and only now am I
finally ready to post this. So, I hope you're ready to do some serious
(or not so serious as the case may be) discussion of the Sorting Hat,
Houses, and Founders plus the last 3 chapters of the Chamber of Secrets.
I apologize to Jana for usurping her discussion on the first chapter of
Philosopher's Stone and whoever is going to do the essay on Herbology
and History of Magic classes. 

So, without further ado, I present to you... my discussions. I've try to
keep them for the most part factual, but I know I've let my own personal
biases slipped through a few places.

The Sorting Hat

What house a first year student is placed in is entirely in the realm of
an old, beaten up talking pointy hat. When one considers it is been
around for centuries, it's actually looking rather good. Its entire
function thus far in the series is to sit around, come up with a song
for the beginning of the year, sort the students, and to hold one big
sword. Harry's had it on his head for a total of three times. Once, to
get sorted. Second, to question the Sorting Hat about his position in
Gryffindor. Third, to get Godric's sword. We've seen it one other time
for the Sorting in his fourth year. 

The Sorting Hat was also Godric Gryffindor's hat until they made it into
an artifact to help sort the students into their proper houses after
they were dead. They enchanted it to give it the ability to look into a
person's brain when on their head and to sing. It also was a holding
place for Godric's sword. It has a good sense of humor and a slight bias
against Slytherin, probably because it was Gryffindor's former cap.

Who are these people who made the Hat?

Professor Binns says they were the "greatest witches and wizards of the
age."(CoS) which according to the Sorting Hat was at least a thousand
years ago. They lived during a time of when the Church was gaining power
in Britain and being a witch or wizard would probably get you killed by
the government. 

Beyond that, we know almost nothing about the founders. They just seem
to have decided one day to get together and start up a school. The
Sorting Hat has this to say about them:

"Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor, 
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen, 
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad, 
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen, 
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, 
They hatched a daring plan 
To educate young sorcerers 
Thus Hogwarts School began." (GoF)

About every thing else we know is about Salazar Slytherin. He was a
Parselmouth who wasn't in favor of having Muggles in the school. When
none of the others would go along with him, he left the school. Before
that, though, he added the Chamber of Secrets to Hogwarts to contain the
basilisk and enchanted the entrance so that only someone speaking
Parseltongue could enter it. His last known descendent is Tom Riddle,
aka Voldemort. 

What are these Houses and what do they stand for?
	
As an American, I don't quite know what the purpose of houses is for;
they apparently seem to be a way to sort students with other students of
similar personalities to help facilitate learning and friendship. In our
story, we have four of them, one for each of the founders. They seem to
have their foundation in the fact that each of the Founders claimed for
themselves students with traits they like. 

Despite Harry's one romantic interest belong to the Ravenclaw House; we
really know the least about them and their members. Their colors are
blue and bronze and their mascot is an eagle. Their ghost is the Grey
Lady, of which we didn't even know her name until JKR told us in an
interview. They value intelligence and wisdom and the Sorting Hat says
this of them:

"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, 
If you've a ready mind, 
Where those of wit and learning, 
Will always find their kind;" (SS/PS)

"For Ravenclaw, the cleverest 
Would always be the best;" (GoF)

Since Harry doesn't apparently share any classes with them, we've really
only seen two Ravenclaws: Penelope Clearwater, Head Girl in Harry's
third year and Percy's girlfriend, and Cho Chang, Ravenclaw seeker, the
girl Harry likes, and Cedric Diggory's date to the Yule Ball. The few
glimpses we've seen of these two girls hasn't given us a lot of detail
on their personality, much less given us a good enough handle to help
extrapolate about their house.

The second least well known house is Hufflepuff. Their colors are yellow
and black and their animal is the badger. The Fat Friar is their ghost,
another one we've seen very little in the story. They are known for
their loyalty and fairness. The Sorting Hat has said this:

"You might belong in Hufflepuff, 
Where they are just and loyal, 
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true 
And unfraid of toil;" (SS/PS)

"For Hufflepuff, hard workers were 
Most worthy of admission;" (GoF)

While they don't have as evil a reputation as the Slytherins,
Hufflepuffs have almost as bad an image. Everyone seems to dump on them.
Draco Malfoy derides them and even Hagrid implies that they are just
only better than the Slytherins. Whatever the cause for this contempt,
the Hufflepuffs we know in the books do not support this. While they
were among the first to believe that Harry was the one who open the
Chamber of Secrets, they were also the only ones who apologize
afterwards. Cedric Diggory wanted to claim a rematch when Harry fell off
his broom in the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match third year. He also gave
Harry a critical clue in the second task to repay the assistance Harry
gave him earlier and when given a chance to claim the prize for the
Tri-Wizard Tournament, he refused. More often than not, when we've seen
a Hufflepuff, they are doing something that isn't worth the flak they
get from everyone else.

Gryffindor's arch rivals and seemingly breeding ground for dark wizards,
Slytherin House is next on our list. The colors are green and silver and
their mascot is the snake, from Slytherin's ability to speak
Parseltongue. The Bloody Baron is their ghost and is the only one who
can control Peeves. Shrewdness, cunning, and ambition are what make a
Slytherin and the Sorting Hat sings thus:

"Or perhaps in Slytherin 
You'll make your real friends, 
Those cunning folks use any means 
To achieve their ends." (SS/PS)

"And power-hungry Slytherin 
Loved those of great ambition." (GoF)

As I noted above, Slytherins are considered almost an evil house by
everyone else. Hagrid makes the comment about how not a wizard has gone
bad that wasn't in Gryffindor (imho, an overgeneralization.) Draco thus
far has seemed to support this with his general nastiness, his delight
in other people's miseries, and desire to cause more suffering. Draco's
two goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, seem to be painted in the
fashion of school yard bullies, with more brawn that brains. Severus
Snape, for all that he's on the good side, isn't one for a pleasant
disposition, fairness, or consideration of other people. Yet, in all
this negativity, we've seen Draco possibly warning Harry and Hermione in
the beginning of Goblet of Fire about keeping her away from the Death
Eaters. Snape has proven himself to Dumbledore and has turned away from
the Death Eaters. Also, the Slytherins are usually up in the top of the
list in school points and while that is probably at least attributed to
Snape's obvious favoritism of his house, if they were always acting up,
they would end up losing more points than they gain.

Gryffindor is the last house and is the one we're most familiar with
since it is Harry's own. Their colors are red and gold and the lion is
their animal. Their ghost is Nearly Headless Nick, who's been trying to
join the Headless Hunt for years. The Sorting Hat says:

"You might belong in Gryffindor, 
Where dwell the brave at heart, 
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry 
Set Gryffindors apart;" (PS/SS)

"By Gryffindor, the bravest were 
Prized far beyond the rest;"

Since the story is told from Harry's point of view, we've seen many
Gryffindors in various different situations. We go from bookish Hermione
to awkward Neville to pranksters George and Fred to perfectionist Percy.
Of the bunch of them, there doesn't seem to be a lot of reoccurring
traits. But many of them have shown their own unique bravery through out
the story; it's just never as flashy as the trio's. We all know of
Neville standing up to Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the first year, but
what of Percy's perseverance in the face of Fred's and George's taunts?
Or Ginny's ability to keep going after the Chamber of Secrets and being
able to even speak to Harry again? These small acts of bravery that
often go unnoticed that have always been the mark of a true Gryffindor. 

Discussion Questions:

1)	The classic question: (Did you really think we could have an
essay on Houses and not bring this up?) Slytherin House: evil or just
bad press? 

2)	What houses do you think some of the people belonged to when
they went to Hogwarts? Such as, what house produced batty ol' Trelawney
anyways? 

3)	How does the Sorting Hat sort? For example, what sort of process
does it use that ends up with Hermione in Gryffindor? (Disclaimer: I'm
not saying she should be elsewhere, but considering how she was in the
beginning of PS, I think she would have been happier at first in
Ravenclaw where being smart is cool and not in Gryffindor where she was
teased for being a know-it-all.)

4)	JKR has said there is more to the Sorting Hat than is apparent.
What sort of things do you think we'll see the Hat involved with?

5)	How important do you think is the fact that the Sorting Hat used
to be Godric Gryffindor's?

6)	Do you think we'll find out more about the Founders as the
series continues and what do you think we'll learn?

7)	What did Salazar Slytherin hope to accomplish with his building
of the Chamber of Secrets? Do you think the chamber had some other
purpose beyond having a giant creature available to kill Muggle born
wizards, perhaps to be used in defense of the school? 

8)	We haven't seen much of either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff in the
first four books. Do you think they will end up playing a more important
role later?

9)	What do you think the reasons are for the colors and animals of
the different houses? You can choose to answer this either from JKR's
perspective (i.e. the mythological reasons) or from the Founders (like
Slytherin being a Parselmouth.)

10)	Do the other wizardly schools have houses or is this something
just with Hogwarts?

Well, I think that's enough questions, I already deleted a bunch of
questions because they were a bit silly. In case you were wondering,
this essay was brought to you by the letter X, the number 8, and the
color purple.

Seriously, I would like to thank Steve Vander Ark for the lexicon, Penny
Linsenmayer for the FAQ on the Hogwarts School, and Hella for her essay
on Hufflepuffs that she posted back in June. Their previous efforts made
this essay and discussion a lot easier and I'm indebted to them. 

Genevieve

P.S. I'm sending this around midnight, Eastern Standard Time. I don't
know when it'll arrive in your mailbox but hopefully some time soon.