Mixed blood in houses; Snape and Draco; Lucius; underdeveloped ch aracters; Vamp essay; Draco's broom

[Hillman, Lee]

No: HPFGUIDX 33498

So many topics, so little time.
 
I really should be writing a paper now, but I've been burning to add some
sickles to the discussions lately and just have to get it out because it's
distracting me.
 
Okay. I'll try to be brief.
 
First of all, the question of whether non pureblood kids would be in
Slytherin. My question is why not? Sure, it wouldn't be particularly easy,
especially during periods when there's more prejudice against them, but I
agree with list members who have said that Salazar probably did not exclude
solely on the basis of blood. He was *concerned* about them for security,
yes, but perhaps it grew over time to be a problem, it didn't emerge
full-fledged at once. It's difficult to imagine Gryffindor and Slytherin
working together long enough to build the school and get it underway,
otherwise. I'm also taking into consideration the possible time at which the
sorting hat was created: if it was closer to the foundation of the school,
it's possible Slytherin's attitudes weren't as prejudicial, or that he would
have been more willing to overlook it for pupils he could handpick.
 
That's not a hard-and-fast theory, but it does make sense to me that the hat
judges primarily on fit based on characteristics and desire, not birth.
(Search the archives for more on how the sorting hat sorts.)
 
Furthermore, on the subject of Hogwarts houses and the general attitude
about Muggle-born students, I think it's mixed. We've discussed JKR's
housism, but I prefer to see students of all types in all houses--and also
to see that the school itself ran on a continuum. In fact, in my own fanfic,
I decided that there were probably eras where the prejudice against
Muggle-born wizards was more and less prevalent, and the administration may
have been chosen with that in mind. So say a new Headmaster is appointed
exactly because he wants to "cleanse" the school. He grandfathers the
existing enrollment, or maybe the upperclassmen, but refuses to accept
Muggle-born children in the incoming classes. So over a period of 7 years,
there are no more Muggle-born students at all. But attitudes are on a
pendulum just like most things, so over time, the public opinion swings back
to the left, that Muggle-borns should be allowed back in. Perhaps it's
because, as Ron mentioned in CoS, without the inclusion of Muggle-born and
half-born wizards, the population would die out. So a new Headmaster is
appointed who is sympathetic to Muggles, and the process reverses itself
again.
 
Throughout this, there will always be extremist families who are either
highly conservative (purebloods only) or highly liberal (why hide who we
are?) who object to the views of the other side. There are also moderate
lefties like Arthur Weasley who believes Muggles are all right, but is
fairly condescending to them as a whole, and moderate rights who accept
half-bloods, but not Muggle-born, etc. The point is that as control of the
system changes hands, so too will the population and the popularity of the
views expressed by the administration. 
 
I firmly believe that all four houses have students who are pure, half, and
Muggle-born, and that each house has members who are liberal, moderate, or
conservative about their view of the importance of blood. Slytherin may have
a higher percentage of purebloods, or it may be that anyone who isn't
pureblood either hides it or is shut out a lot, but in Slytherin, one would
expect that the students could get around it somehow.
 
 
Many discussions this weekend about Snape and Draco. Most of you will
breathe a sigh of relief when I say I don't have time to write an essay on
either of them. I'll just briefly address something about Draco's
redemption.
 
Dave asked how it could be satisfying. Well, to me, it would be satisfying
to see the *very beginnings* of Draco's redemption, without having to go
through the long and possibly bloody, definitely turbulent, process. 
 
Others have pointed out the ways in which Snape serves as a literary foil
for Draco. I also believe that one of Snape's functions as a character is to
represent a version of Draco's story. Therefore, having set Draco on the
first few steps of the path to good, Rowling eliminates the need to show his
entire journey. We "know" in one sense how it will turn out, becuase we will
have already "seen" such a transformation (or at least its results) in
Snape.
 
I'm not suggesting that Draco will turn out to be just like Snape, or that
their family backgrounds parallel, or even that Draco will take Snape's
place (at Hogwarts, for ex.), but that by the end of the series, I think, we
will know enough about Snape to know how he got where he is, and we will be
given the impression that Draco, while not there yet, is on his way.
 
I don't want to see Draco kill Lucius or work with Harry. I don't want him
to turn around completely and become Joe NiceGuy. I certainly don't want him
to take up the mantle of Chief Evil Baddie when Voldemort bites the dust.
All I anticipate is that by subtle and mostly off-stage actions, Draco will
begin to see that there are alternatives that are equally rewarding, or
possibly even more rewarding, than being a snot.
 
And one thing about Lucius: Lucius does deserve whatever is coming to him,
but I don't believe he's completely beyond help, either. Yes, he made and
keeps making conscious choices to be ruthless, cold, underhanded, and
generally abysmally low, but I believe his cruelty is motivated by fear--not
fear of Muggles, as someone suggested, because of what they might do to his
family personally, but fear of losing the wizarding way of life. As I see
it, he thinks he is protecting his world by keeping Muggles largely out of
it. Though I also don't believe that's his primary motivation in joining the
Death Eaters, either: I think he's almost as obsessed with immortality as
Voldy is, but he's letting Voldy take all the risks until they get it right.
Then he'll be in the position to take advantage of the power before Voldy
decides he no longer needs Death Eaters.
 
 
I just want to say one last thing about the discussion regarding
underdeveloped characters, primarily females, in the Potterverse. 
 
We all have minor characters we'd like to know more about. But I'm here to
tell you, folks, when you're writing a novel and worried about a central
plot, a bunch of subplots, balancing humour and suspense, and getting to all
the things you really want to get to....well, some of it falls away in the
process. There simply is not time to get into every single detail of every
character you create. Sometimes you need a place filler (such as, IMO, Madam
Pince or Professor Vector), and you come up with a name and a vague idea of
the character (search the messages for "stock characters" for more about
this), but never develop anything else because you don't need to do.
Sometimes, the main identifying characteristic comes to you immediately, and
the character has a distinct voice and manner, but no specific history (IMO,
Dean and Seamus fit this category). Sometimes, you have to delve into a
character's past, but even though you as author know many details of his
life, there just isn't room to add it in or it just isn't as important as
the central plot (Sirius Black). And on rare occasions, there are characters
who may have started as any of the above, but who leap off and do things on
their own and INSIST that you tell the readers all about them (Snape).
 
In any case, there just is no way any of us would want to read something
that delves heavily into character study every time one of the minor
characters arrives on the scene. Inevitably, while we may learn an
interesting detail or two (for ex., what if the next time we see Madam
Pince, she is wearing heavy perfume, or dark glasses and has a headache, or
something?), we will probably never get the whole story. 
 
Unless she really does decide to compile the encyclopedia after book 7.
 
Until then, that's one of the many productive uses of fanfic. 
 
Gwen
 
Two quick PS's:
 
1. The vampire essay in PoA is not confirmed by Lupin, who could have been
making it up as an excuse to extricate Ron and Harry from Snape's office,
but by Harry's earlier discussion with Neville, when he ditches Neville by
saying he needs to work on it in the library.
 
2. Draco does say he'll bully his father into buying him a broom, and Lucius
does buy him seven and we suspect thus secures Draco's place on the team,
but notice that he doesn't do this until their second year, when Draco is
*eligible* to play (first-years generally aren't allowed to try out for the
teams). So either Draco decided not to ask or was told categorically no. He
*is* a spoiled brat, but he doesn't get his way all the time with his
father. Lucius also refuses to tell him anything in CoS... oh, bugger, I
said I wouldn't get into this. Right. Well, I'm off then.