Sorting Hat (was: muggle baiting...)/Arthur is right or not?

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 155932

Alla:
 
> I agree - the story **is** very likely to end with all 
> four houses beating Voldemort together, but that does not 
> IMO change the fact that Gryffindor **is** JKR's favorite 
> house, that she values courage per her words more than any 
> **other** virtue, therefore she put the most of **good** 
> guys (as I see it) in Gryffindor.

houyhnhnm:

I don't doubt that it is her favorite House, probably because 
it represents the type of personality she relates to the best.  
That is not the same as ending the books with the message that 
there is only one way to be a good person or that All Houses 
are Equal, but Some are More Equal Than Others.  I hope that 
is not where she is going.

There is a kind of transitive property of traits going on 
here, it seems to me.  Gryffindors are brave and daring.  
Being brave and daring is the same thing as having courage.  
Rowling has said she values courage above all other virtues.  
Therefore Gryffindor is better than the other Houses.  Where 
this breaks down for me is the equation of daring with courage.  
The Sorting Hat never actually uses the word "courage." 

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;

By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name,"

While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor,

Boldness, nerve, and daring are not necessarily synonymous 
with courage. There are many definitions of courage. It can 
be physical or moral. For some it is lack of fear.  For 
others, courage requires one to have fear and to overcome 
it.  This is the way I would define courage, myself.

Among the Gryffindors, Neville and Harry show the latter 
kind.  Harry's acts of courage are proceeded by visceral 
descriptions of his physical state: His dry throat, his 
shaking hands, his fingers tingling with fear, his lurching 
stomach.  Yet he does not give in to his fear.  This is 
courage in the highest sense.  I don't see that in all the 
Gryffindor characters, who may show *fearlessness* but not 
necessarily courage.  It seems to me that the Gryffindor 
common denominator is an action-oriented (as opposed to, 
say, emotional or analytical) approach to life.  It may 
demonstrate real courage and it may not.  It is not the 
only way to be courageous.