CHAP. DISCUSSION: CHAP 11 The Sorting Hat's New Song

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 90828

"kiricat2001" wrote:
> Chap. 11 – The Sorting Hat's New Song
<snip summary> 
> 1.	How *does* the Hat get its information?  Is it unbiased or is 
> it a Headmaster mouthpiece?

Carol:
I was just thinking about the Sorting Hat and the challenge of making
it into a character with a distinctive personality. I don't think that
the Sorting Hat is the headmaster's mouthpiece, even though it agrees
with Dumbledore on the need for unity, since according to Sir Nick
it's made the same statement before, presumably pre-Dumbledore. Also,
all four founders put their thoughts and preferences into it, so even
though it was Godric Gryffindor's to begin with, I don't think it has
a pro-Gryffindor or pro-Dumbledore bias. (If it did, it would never
have suggested that Haary would do well in Slytherin.) I think it
really reads the children's thoughts (some sort of Legilmency spell)
and puts them where it thinks they'll fit. Sometimes, as with Seamus
and Neville, it takes a long time to decide, and not all of the
students are going to help it out by thinking "Not Slytherin!" as
Harry did. Some of them will have no idea where they want to go.
Hermione says that it considered putting her in Ravenclaw. That must
have been a tough call. It's possible that the Sorting Hat makes
mistakes, even though it says in Book One that it's never yet been
wrong. But I do think it has its own mind and makes its own decisions
without being told in advance which house to put the students in. Why
have a Sorting Hat at all if it's only the headmaster's mouthpiece?

<snip>

> 3.	What does the Hat do with a pureblood child who is brave, 
> cunning and intelligent?  Is this child a Hufflepuff?

Carol:
Actually, cunning is a type of intelligence and both cunning and pure
blood are Slytherin traits, so we'd have a brave Slytherin. But maybe
you meant "loyal" instead of "cunning," in which case, he or she
probably would be a Hufflepuff if all the traits were in balance.
(Cedric Diggory, anyone?) But if the child's last name was near the
end of the alphabet and one house was running a bit shorter on
students than the rest, I can see the hat putting him or her in
Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Not Slytherin, though, if the only criterion
were pure blood. There would have to be either cunning or ambition as
well.

<snip>
> 
> 5.	Snape's presence in the Great Hall is not mentioned. Is Harry 
> not paying attention to his least favorite teacher because Hagrid's 
> continued absence and Umbridge's unexpected appearance are more 
> worrisome?
> and
> 6.	Some of the teachers are clearly annoyed, perturbed or 
> irritated at Umbridge.  What do you suppose Snape's reaction was, 
> whether it reflected in his expression or not?

Carol:
I'll answer the Snape questions together. I think that, yes, Harry was
distracted by Umbridge's presence and Hagrid's absence so he didn't
pay much attention to Snape, but I also think he wouldn't have noticed
anything unusual in Snape's expression. He'd have been looking at
Umbridge with great distaste, but Harry would have attributed that to
Snape's unpleasant personality and his usual aversion to the DADA
teacher. (JKR, on the other hand, may have been deliberately keeping
us from seeing just how much Snape loathed Umbridge at this early
point in the book. We certainly see it later. ("Don't tell anyone what
you're doing, Potter. Least of all, Delores Umbridge.")

Carol