House theories/Neville

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48991

Somethingthat came up on another list was the House Sorting on various fan 
sites. This spun off into something that set me off. I thought I'dd toss it 
in here in case anyone wants to play with it.

<< (By the way, why does everyong seem to think hufflepuff is pathetic?  It 
just means your hard-working and loyal, right?) >>

Not exactly. Helga wasn't selecting for duffers. She was selecting for "team 
players". People who would voluntarily step back and forego individual glory 
in favor of being a part of a concerted effort by a group. All of the 
secondary virtues attributed to the 'Puffs (loyalty, fair-mindedness, 
kindness, etc.) are the ones that grease the wheels of an inter-team effort. 
Essentially, she was selecting for a certain degree of self-sacrifice. She 
was also selecting for persistence and endurance.

The down side of this is cliqueishness. I strongly suspect the diciplinary 
problem that the Hufflepuffs present to the staff at Hogwarts is a tendency 
to gang up on whoever they decide has offended one of them. Inside the house, 
the problem is recast as intermittant squabbles between rival subgroups.

For the record; I suspect that the Ravenclaws are the most "individualist" of 
the four houses and that 4th-7th year 'Claws are a byword at making 
themselves ridiculous by trying to differentiate themselves and playing "more 
eccentric than thou", dressing all in black and demanding to be "taken 
seriously". Off of the Quidditch field (and quite possibly on it) trying to 
get Ravenclaws to "pull together" is like herding cats.

The Gryffs play a more or less continuing game of "follow the leader". And 
the Slyths are perpetually re-examining and fine-tuning their collection of 
strategic (and temporary) aliances.

People who wonder why Neville isn't in Hufflepuff have overlooked the above 
considerations. Neville is about as far removed from being a "team player" as 
you can get. He is that rare animal, a Gryffandor loner. The Hat had a hard 
time placing him, since the loners tend to gravitate into Ravenclaw, and Rav
enclaw would have been a really bad fit. He isn't up to the eternal politics 
of Slytherin. Gryffandor was the best pick of a poor assortment. For Neville. 
(Who rather reminds me of Button-Bright.)

-JOdel