The good Slytherin

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 130932

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
 
> 
> Someone has remarked in a reply that just because a person chooses 
> Slytherin doesn't make them scum. 

Hickengruendler:

I think you meant my post. But that's not really what I said. I said 
that choice wasn't the only reason why the students are sorted into a 
particular house, as we can see with Harry, since Ravenclaw and 
Hufflepuff never seemed to be an alternative. But nonetheless choice 
does play a part, IMO, and the students, who went to Slytherin, 
obviously went there despite it's bad reputation and it's bad history. 
They do not seem to care enough about this to reject the house, and 
what Harry has to learn, IMO, is, that that doesn't make them bad 
people. They could have completely legitime reasons not to be appaled 
by the house's history or to choose the house despite of this, for 
example because all their family members went there or because they are 
very ambitious people. 

You said that Harry questioned the Sorting Hat. But IMO he did not. He 
went there thinking "Not Slytherin", and the Sorting Hat than answered 
to his thoughts. I don't think he was the only student, who had heared 
about Slytherin's bad reputation and went to the Hat, thinking, "I hope 
I'm not a Slytherin". Sure, the Sorting Hat then teased Harry and said 
that he could have been powerful in Slytherin, and then Harry rejected 
his words, but I'm still sure he's not the only student to do so. In 
fact, this simplistic thinking like "I still don't want to go there, 
because I don't want to be evil" is rather typical for children.

Hickengruendler