The Slytherins (was : Does Snape really favor Draco?)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 117778


Lupinlore wrote :
"This of course brings up yet a further point about DD and the
Slytherins.  Up to this point we see no evidence that DD or Snape 
tries to actively wean them away from the Death Eaters.  Now, it can
be argued that realistically there is little DD can do 
<snip>
he has simply washed his hands of the whole house, viewing them as a 
lost cause.  "

Hannah answered :
"Discussing things to do with Slytherin house and the treatment of its
students is always tricky, because we get such a skewed view of it
from canon.  I can't believe that every single Slytherin is a Draco
Malfoy clone, convinced of their superiority, mean and stupid in the
extreme, with DE's for parents.  But that is certainly the impression
that canon gives at present (oh for the introduction of that 'good'
Slytherin!)."

Del replies :
I've always been uncomfortable with the way Slytherin House is
represented throughout the series. Every single bad student is in
Slytherin. When a student from another House is not nice, it's only
temporary or not that bad. But the Slytherins are all an evil and
malicious bunch. Humph >:-( 

Hannah wrote :
" But do Slytherin students really get that great a deal?  They are 
loathed by everybody who isn't one, with the other three houses 
banding together against them."

Del replies :
Agreed. The problem is : where can that lead them ? Either they become
miserable because of it, or they have to deal with it somehow. They
can choose to believe that the other Houses are just jealous, or that
they are afraid, or that they are stupid, but they have to find some
explanation for it. Nice reasonable people don't just assume that
you're bad because you belong to a specific group, right ? So if the
rest of the school thinks that the Slytherins are bad just because
they are Slytherins, that means the rest of the school is not nice and
reasonable. There are bad Slytherins, sure, but that shouldn't justify
the way the Slytherins as a House are treated. 

Hannah wrote :
"Why does DD not try (or appear to try) to wean them away from the 
DE's?  For the reasons you gave, that it likely wouldn't work.  
Obviously there is a general anti-DE message given out to the whole 
school, but it's a bit like drugs education, I suppose.  You can tell
children again and again that they're bad, throw tonnes of money at
awareness campaigns, but plenty of kids will still take them.  "

Del replies :
Yes, but the official general anti-DE message is countered by the
unofficial specific belief that the Slytherins are hopeless and will
become DEs anyway. It's like in a school where a minority of the
students come from a bad part of the town. The general anti-drug
message will be given to everyone, but the general belief will be that
most of the kids coming from that bad area will do drugs anyway. They
are just bad seeds, they can't be trusted : they'll have to *prove*
they can be trusted before other people trust them, contrarily to what
would happen for any other student. That's exactly what's happening
with the Slytherins : a student from any other House is presumed good
until proven bad, while a Slytherin is presumed bad until proven good.
And we know that kids have a strong tendency to become precisely what
people expect of them.

Hannah wrote :
"As for DD washing his hands of the whole house, that implies that 
every single Slytherin is going to become a DE.  And even Hagrid 
doesn't go as far as saying that all Slytherins are dark wizards (just
that all dark wizards are Slytherins, which isn't true anyway).  I
still think it's a significant minority, rather than all or even most
of them.  A world where 25% people are pure evil is ridiculous, and I
don't think JKR would create such a place.   And it would make the job
of the Aurors much easier - arrest all Slytherins."

Del replies :
Remember the VWI ? Remember the gang of Slytherins who all became DEs
? Comparatively, how many kids from the other Houses do we know that
became DEs ? It *would* have been better if the Aurors had just
arrested all the graduating Slytherins. 

As I said, kids in general tend to become what you expect of them.
Expect them to be good, they'll try harder to be good. Expect them to
be courageous, they'll try harder to be courageous. Expect them to be
bad, lying and deceiving, they won't feel like making any effort to be
good. In general.

Del