Not Slytherin, not Slytherin

[pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51312

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "derannimer 
<susannahlm at y...>" <susannahlm at y...> wrote:

> 
> The Sorting Hat does not put the biased in Slytherin; it puts the 
> *ambitious* in Slytherin. Ambition is, canonically, the standard 
the  Hat uses to Sort the Slytherins. So why is it that all the 
ambitious  just happen to also be all the bigoted?
> 
> Why wouldn't there be studious bigots, or brave bigots, or hard-
> working bigots?
> 
> Why is there *such* a one-to-one correspondence between 
ambition and  evil in the books? And between ambition and 
bigotry? 
> 
<snip>
> This is one of the biggest problems I have with the story: the 
> conflation of the school rivalries and the larger struggle. *Why* 
is it that all the Bad Guys are coming out of *one House in a 
boarding  school?* The one house, moreover, that Harry most 
wants to beat at Quidditch?
> 
> I don't know; usually I enjoy the way the genres in the books 
> interact, but the Boarding School/ Fight Against Evil 
concurrences I  find problematic. The Gryff/Slyth rivalries tend to 
reduce and  *shrink* the broader conflict, for me. 
> 

 It isn't the ambition to be brave, studious, or hard-working that 
Sorts you into Slytherin. It's the ambition for *power.* Bigotry ties 
into that, because those who are hungry for  power seldom wish 
to share it--if they must, they would prefer to share it with people 
like themselves. 

There *are* bigots in the other Houses. Ron and Hermione both 
make bigoted remarks about werewolves. In fact, one of the 
more realistic things about the series is that it shows that no one  
in a bigoted environment remains uncontaminated by it, despite 
good intentions.

 I'm not so sure that the reputation of  Slytherin House is as 
widely associated with  anti-Muggle prejudice or with Dark 
Wizardry as Harry believes. Voldemort doesn't seem to trade on 
his Heir of Slytherin connection nowadays--in fact nobody at 
Hogwarts realized the connection between Voldemort and the 
Heir except Dumbledore, who kept quiet about it. It's as if 
he doesn't want it known that the Heir and Voldemort are one 
and the same. 

It's a surprise to Ron that Slytherin was anti-Muggleborn. I think 
that Slytherin's attitudes as preserved in the Hat may have been 
less hardened than they became later. After all, the Slytherin 
students who remained behind at Hogwarts and didn't leave 
when Slytherin did would be those who did not share Slytherin's 
prejudices. It could be that Riddle, with his "intimate friends" was 
responsible for re-introducing anti-Muggle prejudice into 
Slytherin House.

The idea that adults outside the Hogwarts environment share 
Hagrid's "all dark wizards come from Slytherin" bias, or consider 
it when deciding whom to trust, is not supported in the text.  
When Arthur Weasley is introducing his co-workers, he doesn't 
say a word about which House they belonged to. 

It's true that Arthur has evidently influenced his children against 
Slytherin. But that could be because he doesn't like the Malfoys, 
and doesn't want his children influenced by them. That would be 
reason enough to shun Slytherin without believing  that all dark 
wizards come from that House.

I think we are going to see a broader spectrum of Slytherins in 
the books to come. Not *all* the Slytherins refuse to drink to 
Harry. This is the first indication that they are not all firmly in 
Malfoy's camp.

Pippin