[HPforGrownups] Dumbledore and Sytherin's Bad Rap

[John McCutcheon]

No: HPFGUIDX 41867

Wendy

> The rest of the school seems to hate the Slytherins,
> and I don't think it's completely justified.  The  >
 main reason why they hate them 
> is because of the fact that their in Slytherin. 
> That's just not fair. Can you imagine
> because loathed your entire school career because
>you happen to be ambitious?  Being 
> sorted into Slytherin could still mean a person
> could be loyal, or brave, or intelligent.  If a
>Gryffindor can be intelligent, or a 
> Hufflebuff brave, who's to say a Slytherin can't be
> loyal?  

> Even if Slytherins aren't necessarily good
>people...well, why do they have to be?  
> So they aren't noble and honorable, not everyone
>is. This doesn't mean they are basically evil >   
>people...and it doesn't mean they should be
>condemned. 
> 
> In the first book, Hermione said the best houses 
> were Gyrffindor or Ravenclaw, and I guess most
> people just assume that as well.  Even though
>logically each house is supposed to be 
> equal, it's almost as if there's a heirarchy to them
> before one is sorted: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw,
>Hufflefpuff, and then
> Slytherin.  


I agree with what you say.  Look at Harry for example.
 The sorting hat wanted to put him into Slytherin. 
Did that necessarily mean he would have turned out bad
in the end?  While the qualities that Slytherin prized
over the other three founders would more often tend to
be found in less than honorable people, that doesn't
necessarily make them all bad.  I'm sure Dumbledore
would eliminate the house completely if all he thought
that Hogwarts was doing was cranking out more DE's to
fight.  Unfortunately JKR does nothing to show that
there are decent people in the Slytherin class.  At
the very least we can see that Snape, while formerly a
DE, seems to have turned out right.  

And while there seems to be little focus on the other
two houses, there have been a couple of characters
worth mentioning from both.  Cho Chang from Ravenclaw,
and Cedric Diggory, who played a huge role, was from
Hufflepuff.  To be honest, I think Ravenclaw gets the
least spotlight of the four houses, especially
considering how Hufflepuff got all the attention from
Cedric besting Harry in their Quidditch match in POA,
and then with his role in GOF.

Of course, JKR does have a story to tell, so I guess
she can't spend her time talking about all four
houses.  It's easier to create two dominate houses
that have a somewhat of a fued then try and create
something between four of them.  It would have been
interesting if maybe Harry was in Gryffindor, Hermione
in Ravenclaw, and Ron in Hufflepuff maybe, just to see
people from different houses working together instead
of from the same.  But I guess for story purposes, it
is easier to have them together, in the same House. 
Sometimes it is frustrating, wanting a more in depth
story, and more to be told, but I realize these books
have to be kept on a certain level, as they are after
all, written for kids.

John

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