The Epilogue

[sneeboy2]

No: HPFGUIDX 174128

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Janette <jnferr at ...> wrote:
>
> OK - I have finished rereading DH again, and realised upon rereading the
> epilogue that I have been debating a strawman on the
Slytherin/Gryffindor
> issue.
> 
> In PS, we see primarily a sporting rivalry,

led by their domineering heads
> of house - McGonagall is even willing to break rules to ensure that
> Gryffindor win back the Quidditch Cup after several years.

Sneeboy2:

Was it sports that caused Harry to so vehemently reject the idea of
being a Slytherin when the hat suggested it? In COS, the "heir of
Slytherin" was someone who could unleash a deadly monster on the
school, not win games. Does anyone seriously think that the bullying
and ill feelings between Slytherins and Gryffindors is merely the
result of a sporting rivalry? It's the other way around, no? They're
rivals on the field because they dislike each other off the field. 

Janette:
> 
> Twentyfive years later, we see that the Hat still Sorts, but what
else do we
> see?  The railway platform, and two quarrelling Potter boys, one of
whom is
> a Gryff.  The Potter family has been Gryffs at least as far back as his
> great grandfather.  Another family, the Weasleys, have all been
Gryffs for
> at least three generations.  The parents are all renowned for having
fought
> and beaten, as Gryffs, enemies who were predominantly Slytherin, in
the last
> great Wizarding War, and their headmaster through their school years
was a
> Gryff, opposed to the most infamous Slyth.  The children of the
Potter and
> Weasley families would have grown up with these facts and
allegiances, and
> James teases Albus that he would be Sorted as a Slyth - a House that
none of
> the family has ever belonged to, in anyone's memory.
> 
> And what does Harry say to Al?  "- then Slytherin house will have
gained an
> excellent student, won't it?  It doesn't matter to us."
> 
> *It doesn't matter to us*.  So where is the evil I have been reading
about?
> The intense house hatred and divisions?  The "Slytherins are bad,
> Gryffindors good" depiction that is supposed to be there?  The idea that
> Slytherins are being portrayed as inferior or lesser, that I have read
> expressed so passionately in this thread?  Where in canon?
> 
> montims
> 
> 
Sneeboy2 replies:

Well, you just laid it out for us: the heroes are all Gryffs and the
bad guys are all Slyths. What could be clearer? No Syltherins anywhere
in the books are presented as good-natured, likable people. They are
all selfish, stuck-up bullies to one degree or another. JKR herself
has said that Snape is not a "good" person. Some have suggested that
the house system is merely a reflection of reality. But where, in the
real world, are people so reliably "sorted" into good and bad? And is
it wise to present young readers with an allegorical world where they
can be?

The epilogue offers a very mild statement of open-mindedness -- the
sort of "they're not all bad" that even the most prejudiced person can
muster in a forgiving mood. "Then Slytherin house will have gained an
excellent student, won't it?  It doesn't matter to us." This is not a
statement about Slytherin but a parent's reassurance: you're great,
and it doesn't matter what house you're in; we'll still love you.