Hagrid/ Bigotry/ Morality & a question on sorting

[sing2wine]

No: HPFGUIDX 33969

Christi writes:
Hagrid is one of my favorite characters. You could not hope for a 
gentler and more devoted friend.

I'm with Christi and would also like to thank Kimberly for her 
eloquent defense of Hagrid:
 I totally see Hagrid's flaws as understandable and normal, and no 
more debilitating to him as a teacher than Snape's flaws.....given 
the choice between Hagrid and Snape, I wouldn't have to think long to 
decide who's class I'd want to take as a student...
Snape doesn't subject his students to things that are dangerous 
or difficult to understand? Hagrid never would have threatened to 
sic one of his creatures on a childs pet, but Snape doesn't hesitate 
to threaten to kill Trevor....

and yet, Mahoney writes:
I do know Hagrids of varying similarity. 
Most of them I find colorful but not friend-material;
(i.e. relatives, whom I can't escape) I argue with when they have the
bad sense to air their occasionally un-thought-through black and 
white views in front of me.  

Is that not a statement that implies bigotry on the part of the 
writer? I have always valued kindness above intelligence - much to 
the chagrin of some of my more "intellectual" friends. And yet, when 
it comes to being there when you need them - the kinder, simpler 
folks win hands down over the intellectuals - much the way Hagrid 
would be there over Snape who literally tried to block Harry from 
seeking badly needed help from Dumbledore in GoF(unlike Kimberly I 
have not yet developed empathy for Snape...). I sense, from the 
description of Mahoney's relatives airing their un-thought-through 
views, that these relatives may have the bad combination of being  
small-minded but sure their views are correct. Hagrid, on the other 
hand, while emotional, is always aware of that which he does not  
understand - which makes him rather a wise man in his own way.... 


pigwidgeonthirtyseven writes:
what we are talking about here are 11 YOs! What "choices" can
a
child of this age make or have made that would truly justify him or 
her being
put into a house with as doubtful a reputation as Slytherin? 

Piaget described the age of reason as being between 5 and 7 years 
old - the age when children begin to grasp the concept of morality 
outside themselves. Children can begin taking the Red Cross  
babysitting course at age 11. I know I made moral choices at that age 
(I was conscientious objector to frog dissection...).  Slytherin's 
primary characteristic is ambition - we all know that ambition is 
connected to power and power is often corrupting. Many an ambitious 
person has begun with noble characteristics but was unable to resist 
the dark side of power (Anakin Skywalker). Last I knew, in our muggle 
society, ambition was considered a "good" characteristic. That's how 
a lot of innocent 11 year olds might want to end up in Slytherin. As 
for Draco Malfoy - he already embraces the dark reputation of 
Slytherin (his overheard conversation on the Hogwarts Express in GoF -
 about his father wanting to send him to Durmstrang - because of 
their more "balanced" attitude toward the dark arts....)

And this brings me to my last question:

Many of the list members sign their names with the house they believe 
they would have been sorted into (Jenny:Ravenclaw, Alexander 
Gryffindor-Slytherin crossbreed). for those of you who have done 
this - are you looking back at your 11 year old selves or your 
present selves? Do you see a difference in where you might have been 
placed? I have a terrible time trying to sort my present middle-aged 
self. I am no longer ambitious or brave though some of my cleverness 
seems to have remained (which means Jenny & I would be arguing late 
into the night in our dormitory about Hagrid....) But at 11 I was 
both brave & ambitious (never hard working - would never have been a 
Hufflepuff...). This has relevance with regard to pigwidgeon's 
question about sorting 11 year olds...

Bonnie / sing2wine
 
[Moderator Note -- if you would like to reply to Bonnie's thought-provoking last question, please make sure that it goes to the appropriate list. Remember that the main HPforGrownups list is for book discussion only, so if you're going to say "based on the characteristics of character X and Y, combined with X value from Chapter 98 of GoF, I would be in Hufftherclor House", the Main List is fine, yet if you're not referring to specific bits in the books but to yourself "I'm ambitious, yet not evil, and I love hard work and books, so I'd be a Slyffincluff" then HPFGU-OTChatter would be the place for it. Cheers, --John, technoMod]