[HPforGrownups] Re: The Sorting Hat

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 87394



> Sue here:
>
> Very true ... but, aha! Think how nearly *Harry* was to being sorted
> into Slytherin! (g). What if he hadn't met Ron on the train and got
> his side of the story? No doubt he'd have been an unhappy Slytherin,
> but if the Hat could sort him into that house, maybe there are some
> other perfectly nice Slytherins? Besides, there's a definite house
> rivalry at work. Among the teachers, it's friendly, but kids take
> things so seriously. Even poor Cedric Diggory is sneered at by
> Griyffindors for having the nerve to be a good Quidditch player and
> in a rival team. But it makes everyone feel good to gang up on
> Slytherin, whatever their own rivalries.
>

K

But even that backs up the idea of all Slytherins are evil because when
Harry was wondering if he should have been a Slytherin like Voldemort
Dumbledore emphasised that it was his choice that made him different. Which
seems to have the surface meaning that he chose to be a (good) Gryffindor
instead of an (evil) Slytherin - I'm hoping she's going to show us that your
House allegiance is irrelevant when it comes to your choices about good and
evil and we can then see that statement in a totally different light (like
when Dumbledore told Harry that his relationship with Draco was much like
James and Severus - why yes it was but James was the arrogant little twerp,
not Severus!).

I don't like the way the other houses look at Slytherin - teenagers after
all are not prone to making rational decisions and I think Slytherin
teenagers who might not fully embrace the DE way of life (like Regulus
maybe, or Severus) will think, 'well damn if everyone's going to assume I'm
evil I might as well actually join them' - I realise that actually the
prejudice is a lot more pronounced amongst the kids rather than the ww in
general, but when you're a teenager the other kids are 'everyone' as far as
you're concerned. I wonder how much of the Slytherin's self identity comes
from what other people think of them. Draco seems to measure himself against
Harry - you can't associate with both you have to choose a side, Harry is
Gryffindor, Draco Slytherin, Harry is a seeker so Draco must try and be
better etc. When it comes to the struggle between Voldemort and the OotP
Harry is the 'champion' of the light, to achieve the same status and not let
Harry 'beat' him Draco *must* become a champion for the Death Eaters. A lot
of Draco's actions seem to have stemmed from his first two meetings with
Harry where Harry rejected him and his views. I wonder if Draco even *has* a
way of defining himself that doesn't involve Harry or Lucius - everything he
does is aimed at emulating one and competing with the other.

Oh hell, I'm beginning to feel sorry for the little prat - I'm trying to
understand him, not sympathise with him, please don't take anything I've
said as meaning that I think Draco is anything but an arrogant, annoying
berk who doesn't even have the presence to be a 'decent' nemesis for our
'hero'.

K