The Virtues of Hufflepuff House and Cedric Diggory (Was: Snape and . . .cour

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 106375

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" <delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> HunterGreen:
> > The sad thing is that Cedric was always looked upon as such 
> > a "surprise" in a way to the Hufflepuff house (which as its said over 
> > and over again in GoF, hardly ever gets any glory). The general 
> > attitude in the books is that being a Hufflepuff is nothing to be 
> > proud of. And I wonder how much of that is JKR's intention. 
> 
> Del replies :
> Well, she's the one who had a kid (Neville ?) say that "Hufflepuff
> wouldn't be too bad", and Hagrid call the Hufflepuffs "a load of
> duffers" (might not be exact quotes, but I'm sure I'm not very far),
> right back in PS/SS.
> 
> Then in CoS, Ernie's bunch of Hufflepuffs appear quite stupid, coward
> and even ridiculous for believing so easily that Harry is the Heir of
> Slytherin and for making up huge stories about Harry and Justin.
> 
> Then of course there's simply the way the few Hufflepuffs we know are
> described : Justin the bubbling Muggle quasi-aristocrat or obvious
> queer figure, Ernie the New Percy, Hannah Abbott and her pigtails.
> 
> And of course Cedric "pretty boy" Diggory. We readers might be aware
> that Cedric is really a neat person, but Harry's (and the other
> Gryffindors, in particular the twins) constant dislike of him is
> *bound* to have an effect on our judgement after a while.
> 
> And then in OoP, we get Zacharias Smith !
> 
> So yes, I think it is quite obvious that JKR intended for us to have
> little consideration for the Hufflepuffs. Now, why ever she would do
> that, I have no idea, but the proofs are there.
> 
> Del

Sue:

What a pity - if you're a Hufflepuff, you're probably a "leftover", if you're a Slytherin, you're 
probably nasty and beyond redemption... Not really the message we want kids to get when 
reading, is it? I suspect young readers mostly want to be in Gryffindor. Personally, I 
suspect I'd have been one of the nerds in Ravenclaw. :-)