Does the sorting hat sort?

[maneelyfh]

No: HPFGUIDX 84788

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hermowninny719" 
<hermowninny719 at y...> wrote:
> YolandaCarrol wrote:
> > Harry didn't chose Gryffindor.  The Sorting Hat did.
> > 
> > The whole point of the Sorting Hat is to determine 
> > what house you would do best in.
> > 
> > You do *not* get to chose what house you go in.  
> > Remember in PS/SS, Draco bragging that his whole 
> > family had been in Slytherin, so that he was sure 
> > to go there.
<SNIP>
>> > The Hat made several comments about Harry that 
> > showed he could have done well in different 
> > houses.  For example, "not a bad mind" would 
> > suggest Ravenclaw.
> > 
> > Harry's "thirst to prove himself" is what 
> > prompted the Sorting Hat to say "You would do 
> > well in Slytherin."  When Harry says, 
> > "Not Slytherin", the hat then puts Harry in 
> > it's second choice for him "Gryffindor".
> 
> Hermowninny:
> Perhaps the sorting hat simply puts you into the house you really 
> want to go in.  From the mirror of erised, we see that it is 
possible 
> for inanimate object to detect what you want.
> 
<SNIP>
If the sortiing hat does not decide the house you go into, then why 
have the cerenomy at all.  Why not just let the students choose the 
house they want. It is the sorting hats job so to speak to evaluate a 
students ability and put them in the house they will do best in.  
IMHO all students have characteristics of all the houses, but certain 
ones are stronger and that strongest characteristic is the 
determining factor in which house you go to. 

AS for DD's comment about the choice you make....... is a charcter 
issue and indirectly related to what house you are sorted into. If 
Harry was the type of person to save his butt at all costs he 
probably would have been put into Slytherin but his strongest 
characteristic is bravery. It's just who he is as a person.
Fran