Slytherin House again. Was: Re: Problem with OotP? (was: Pampering)

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 118904


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Hannah: 
> 
> snip.
> 
> > I also agree with Renee that I hope the 'good' Slytherin isn't just 
> > an exception to prove the rule, and that there isn't just the one, 
> > token nice student.  It's time that we were shown what it is about 
> > Slytherin house that has justified its existence over the past 1000 
> > years.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> JKR is really good in convincing me that Slytherin House is not to be 
> liked, unless she is just playing of course.
> 
> But I definitely agree with you and Renee - eleven years old as "lost 
> causes" do start to annoy me.
> 
> On the other hand, it is quite possible as someone recently pointed 
> out that the only reason Slytherin House is allowed to exist is in 
> order to keep all potentiall DE on display.
> 
> If it is true, I don't like it at all.

We're only seeing a "wartime" context right now, and our window on
things is really a peephole.  The "good" Slytherins are bound to be
more complex than some of the other "good" characters.  We already
have a "good" Slytherin: Snape. He still appears to be on the right
side despite what a truly nasty person he is.

The best analogy I can think of to our world is _The Apprentice_ (with
Donald Trump - is it showing in the UK?) Just about all the
"apprentices" are Slytherins. No easy reads there.

JKR seems to intend it'll always be difficult to like a Slytherin, or
at least that Slytherins will always be hard to figure out (hence the
lack of trust - you'll have to let a Slytherin DA *know* what signing
that parchment means.)

Jim Ferer