OoP: More on the Slytherin "cariacture"

[bowlwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 64489

darrin_burnett wrote:

> So, I'm thinking why there hasn't been a good Slyth kid yet, and 
I'm suggesting 
> that maybe there is some indoctrination going on that Dumbledore, 
Harry and 
> the rest of the good guys are going to have to break through.
> 
> Again, the Sorting Hat, containing the essence of Salazar, picked 
Draco as a 
> Slyth before the hat even settled on his head. That tells me 
Salazar thought 
> Draco an ideal Slyth.
> 
> And that says all kinds of lousy things about Slytherin.


bowlwoman:

I'm not so sure about some sort of indoctrination, I feel that it's 
probably just the prevailing attitudes of the students passed down 
from their families.

Sirius says when discussing his parents and the family tree:

(US hardback, page 111):

>>> "
 my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be 
a Black made you practically royal 
" <<<

(US hardback, page 112):

>>> "Come on, Harry, haven't you seen enough of this house to tell 
what kind of wizards my family were?" said Sirius testily.

"Were – were your parents Death Eaters as well?"

"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, 
they were all for the purification of the Wizarding race, getting rid 
of Muggle-borns and having purebloods in charge.  They weren't alone 
either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his 
true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things. 
 They 
got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, 
though." <<<

I get the feeling that most (I would like to say all, but I want to 
qualify my answer) of the Slytherins have this same sort of 
attitude.  From what we've seen, Slytherins consider themselves 
better than everyone else, almost as if they were part of the Wizard 
Aristocracy or the Wizarding Elite.  Sirius' parents seemed to think 
they were.  But, notice that not ALL pureblood wizarding families 
think this way, and you'll find that students from those families are 
NOT in Slytherin.


I think a lot of the Slytherin nastiness stems from the fact that 
most of the families represented in that house come from this same 
sort of background.  This is also a good breeding ground for Death 
Eaters, as evidenced in canon through Sirius' family and the parents 
of a lot of Slytherin students.

bowlwoman
-- who would have loved if Tonks had popped up during the battle and 
said "Hey Uncle Lucy, are you and Aunt Narcy EVER coming over for 
dinner?"