Outcasts and Slytherin

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 42161

I had to race to work and overextended my lunch hour with 
my "Snape/Slytherin as outcasts" post earlier, but I thought of a way 
to illustrate my point much better.

Picture a young man or woman who fits the classic profile of an 
outcast.

Maybe the kid struggles with his or her sexuality. Maybe he or she 
comes from a poor background or has family members that 
aren't "proper."

Maybe the kid has interests outside of the traditional, be it musical 
tastes, or drama, or religions not considered mainstream. Or, the kid 
has a lack of interest in sports, popular music or the dating scene.

Picture that kid.

Do you think he or she really would be welcome among the Slytherins 
that we know?

I'm not talking about the "good Slytherin" that may or may not exist. 
I'm talking about Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Flint, and Millicent. 
Those are the ones we know and those are the ones we must deal with.

Tell me that kid is welcome in that world, in Draco's world, because 
he is the de facto leader of the Slytherins we know.

People identifying Slytherin with outcasts are doing the same thing 
they accuse others of doing, looking at the world through Harry's 
eyes. Harry is the hero and hates Slytherin. 

This translates that Harry is somehow the popular jock who gets any 
girl he wants and goes out of his way to make life miserable for 
those that don't fit his view of what a wizard or a person should be. 

He's not. If anything, that describes Draco.

The Slytherins we know aren't the outcasts. They'd be the ones 
torturing the outcasts. 

Darrin
-- Who has felt like Neville more often than he wants to admit and 
remembers EXACTLY what Draco and his gang did to Neville.