[HPforGrownups] re: Marvolo-Lockhart-Color Symbolism

[Irene Mikhlin]

No: HPFGUIDX 44427

Daharja wrote:

> Actually, water is more commonly associated with emotion, rather than
outright deviousness. But certainly our emotions are a leading *cause* of
deviousness. Slytherins are seen as unreliable (or devious) because they do
'anything to achieve their ends' - in other words, their emotions (what they
want)  are what drives them.

Emotional is not the first word that springs to mind to describe Slytherin.
Actually when I think about historical Slytherins like Machiavelli,
Catherine Medici,
Talleyrand and other charming folks like that, it would be about the last
word.
Gryffindors are much more likely to be driven by emotions.

> For me, at least, this is clearly associating Gryffindor with maleness,
and Slytherin with femaleness. Even the two symbolic animals - the Lion and
Snake - are representative of male and female. The Snake is associated
throughout Western (esp Greek and old testament/Hebrew) mythology with
femaleness.

Don't know about Paganism, Greek or other symbolisms, but you can't use
Hebrew to support this theory. Every noun has a gender, and the snake is
undoubtedly male.

>
> Furthermore, why have the houses founded by women (Hufflepuff and
Ravenclaw) taken a very secondary role throughout the books? Up until Cedric
Diggory, very few students from either house (if any, arguably) were
portrayed with any level of detail. Even Harry's would-be love interest, Cho
Chang, is little more than a caricature.

Here we go again. But the house currently managed by a woman is the most
important/noble/popular/what not? How inconvinient. But of course McGonagall
does not really move the plot or whatever is the excuse that allows to write
her off.

>
> Finally, is JKR aware of the sexual bias in her books and is it
intentional? Personally, she striked me as a very intelligent writer, and
I've no doubt she is fully aware of the sexism inherent in HP. But (to be
totally cynical) she's also aware that you don't make money outside the
status quo.

I agree that her presentation is intentional and I've no doubt she derives a
great pleasure from pulling people's chains.

Irene