Evil Slytherin

[Mark]

No: HPFGUIDX 67806

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Katy Cartee" <rainbow at r...> 
wrote:
> Nemi wrote:
> > Whoa!  Hold Up There!  Slytherin?  Evil?  Breeding
> > grounds for Dark?  Uhmn, no.  Definetly not.
> 
> Where is your proof to the contrary? I must remind you that we 
STILL have
> not seen a "good" Slyth!

Yet all the references to taunting and such from the Slytherin camp 
was always qualified: "Many" or "Some" - never "All" (unless it's 
somethign like a Quiddich victory).  I suggest the house may be a 
good breeding ground for those who *choose* evil, but as the Sorting 
Hat said: Slytherin was for those who are ambitious - and there are 
other ways to work out one's ambitions than being Evil, right?

Second, I don't think either JKR or real life shows that any one 
person can be *totally* evil.  Note that in the OOP, when Dumbeldore 
speaks to Voldemort, he calls him "Tom".  Even Voldemort is 
redeemable?   Possibly.   People don't fit into nice mathematical 
equations like the Death Eaters would like to have us believe.


> > Point Seven: Harry is Very Slytherin.
> 
> Not of his own accord. He only has Slytherin trates because 
SLYTHERIN
> VOLDEMORT gave them to him.

So how is that much different from Draco Malfoy - who learned evil 
at the knee of his Father.   We are all defined by our choices - and 
even Draco has choices.

> Dorothy wrote:
> > I think we see a foreshadowing of this in the Sorting Hat's plea 
for
> > unity. Will the house system be done away with altogether /Will
> > Slytherin be absorbed into the others? Will there be a new house?
> > Seems like we need at least four for Quidditch Cup play.
> 
> I like someone else's idea (sorry, i've forgotten who) that 
they'll do away
> with the house system and elect Quidditch captains who can choose 
their own
> teams. There really is no need for the house system any longer in 
my
> opinion.

I fully expect Slytherin House to be there forever.  The reason is 
not that the Slytherin House has anything of knowledge to contribute 
(in fact, the Teachers do the primary teaching, not the houses), but 
they are representative of the state of the world - or other people 
in the Wizarding World.  If you see the school as imparting 
kowledge, then you only want to teach the best.  But if you see it 
as an incubator - preparing students for the world - a world with 
malfoys and Lestranges in it - then you do want Slytherins around.  
There will be bullies everywhere and the state cannot be expected to 
protect you.  You need to learn *Patience*.  You need to learn how 
to control your temper, now to ignore sniggering from pompous 
fools.  This is why Dumbeldore has not banned Slytherin - or perhaps 
more immediately - has not banned Malfoy.  

You see this philosophy that the school is not there just for 
knowledge by Dumbeldore's pronouncements at the end of the GOF that 
there would be no final exams.  Things like OWLS are imposed from 
without, but the wisdom of HSoWW is more practical.  You might even 
say that the school treats them much like adults.  

Mark