muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[triinum]

No: HPFGUIDX 155420


> Sydney:
> 
> What I wonder is, why on earth aren't the twins in Slytherin?  They
> are by far the most Slytherinish of the kids we've met, certainly way
> more so than Crabbe or Goyle, or even Draco who could stand to brush
> up on his cunning and ambition. 

<big snip> 

> So, what I wonder is, why didn't JKR put them in Slytherin?  As I see
> it, either the point is that Slytherin IS the universal house of
> vileness and of course no one with a trace of okayness would wind up
> there;  or, as I think more likely, there's something hinkey with the
> house system.  As in, it's actually pretty meaningless and only an
> artificial source of division.


Triin:

I think the answer is given. I can't remember where, but I think we
are told that almost everybody goes to the house where their parents
and siblings went. This may be because most children already know
where they _want_ to go, that being usually the house their parents
have spoken approvingly about. And the hat takes their preference into
account very strongly. I guess it only puts the kids in another house
than that of their parents when a) they don't want to go there, or b)
they really really wouldn't fit in.  

The twins wanted to go to Gryffindor, and they fit in just well
enough, even though they might have matched the Slytherin stereotype
somewhat better. 

The personality traits that presumably distinguish one house from
another do not run in families quite as firmly as the house-membership
seems to. That's why we get slytherinish kids in gryffindor and vice
versa. And the differences between the houses the hat sings about are
not as clear as they would be if it chose by personality fist, and by
the child's own preference only then. 

Once in a House, the child gets forced into a role associated with
that House, by the housemates and outsiders alike. And they probably
try to "live up" to their house stereotype. Just like many people who
know what they should be like according to their zodiac sign,
conciously or subconciously try to act fittingly. 

This explanation may be boring, but it's the only simple and logical
one, IMO.

Triin