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

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 155935

Potioncat:

> I agree with Alla, but with a twist. I think the four 
> Houses "should" be valued equally. All of them have virtues 
> and qualities that are important. It could be hoped that 
> every student has qualities of each house. 

> But even though McGonagall says, "Each house has its own 
> noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and 
> wizards." I don't think she means it. I'm pretty sure that 
> JKR doesn't mean it. Or rather, she silently adds, "but 
> Gryffindor has the best and the most." 

> This is a case where I disagree with the author. Not so 
> much that I don't enjoy the story, and that I don't cheer 
> for courage. I think every student must think his house is 
> the best one of the four. I think every student must cherish 
> her own house qualities.

houyhnhnm:

Rowling does seem to contradict herself.  The question is, 
is it unintentional or intentional?  It is possible that she 
pays lip service to the ideal that "All of them have virtues 
and qualities that are important" because she thinks that is 
a good ideal to have, but in the writing, her own prejudices 
betray themselves.

On the other hand, she may be intentionally luring readers 
into identifying with the main characters, the better to 
show up the fact that prejudice in favor of one's own group 
is wrong.  After all, the arguments that have taken place 
on this list over the way the twins push the envelope, over 
Hermione's hexing of Marietta, etc., could not be taking 
place if Rowling had not written those details into the 
story.  It would have been easy to have written the main 
characters as unambiguously good, if she had wanted to.

For example, when I first read PS/SS I saw the Dursleys 
as deliciously evil ogres who were a pleasure to hate.  
When I read it again, in spite the fact that they clearly 
are inadequate human beings, I found myself pitying them 
a little because behind their nastiness there was so much 
fear.  How did I know the Dursleys were afraid?  Because 
Rowling told me so.

Marion:

> I cannot help but thinking that JKR is pulling a same stunt on 
> us. The books handle such concepts as racism and prejudice, 
> and I think we'll see that in book 7, in order to become the 
> hero he wants to be, Harry must face his *own* prejudices and 
> not just him, the *readers* who have followed Harry on his 
> journey will be forced to adjust their views as well. The 
> Unreliable Narrator is just the device to show us how easy 
> it is to think in terms of black and white and how easy it 
> is to be mistaken about those colours.

houyhnhnm:

I haven't read _The Secret History_, but from your description 
it sound exactly like what I think Rowling is doing with the 
Harry Potter books.