Paging Dr. Freud (was:Re: Of Sorting and Snape)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 175657

> >>Sydney:
> > <snip>
> > Because.. okay, it's reaaally hard to read that as anything other 
> > than a conscious decision from a clued-up writer about Shadow-   
> > imagery.  And then she kicks under a chair and says 'that's what 
> > you should do with that awful Shadow thing!'  Which.. okay... is 
> > that a school of psychological thought these days?  *scans JK's   
> > bookshelf*  I see a lot of Freud.. I really don't like Freud so I 
> > don't know what he thought about this sort of thing.  

> >>lizzyben:
> I don't like Freud, either, so I don't what he'd make of it either -
> maybe the baby as id, w/Harry as ego, & Dumbledore as superego?    
> Though I'd have a hard time buying DD as anyone's conscience.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Well, my inner-twelve-year-old likes Freud because he deals so much 
with human sexuality and messed up parents and stuff.  So, releasing 
my inner-twelve-year-old for a bit (and yeah, 12 years old, so no 
expert here, Freud may well start spinning <bg>)...

I'm going to say that Gryffindor tower represtents Hogwarts' penis 
and the Slytherin dungeon is Hogwarts' vagina.  I think much can be 
made of the robust, vibrant tower and the cold, dark dungeon.  And of 
course, Gryffindor is all about the wand (with Harry getting the 
biggest, baddest wand in the end) and Slytherin is all about the 
cauldron (which helps our hero barely at all). 

Um... well, Tom Riddle certainly sprang from some crazy loins, with 
his mother dominating and controlling his father completely, and in 
the end, putting his father above himself. (The bit where the 
destraught girl chooses death over her newborn -- as per Dumbledore 
and Harry anyway.  But heck, if that's how Harry sees it...)  

I think we can also look at the treatment Harry's parental stand-ins 
receive.  Both Sirius (stand-in for James) and Snape (stand-in for 
Lily) die in a rather meaningless way.  (Meaningless in that their 
deaths are sort of accidental and not a case of nobly shielding Harry 
with their bodies or some such.)  And neither men receive any kind of 
burial.  It's also interesting that Dumbledore treats both Sirius and 
Snape so coldly.  He allows Sirius to waste away in prison for years 
without a thought.  He manipulates Snape without cumpunction.

I will say I think Snape gets harsher treatment than Sirius, whatever 
that might mean.  (Heh.  I'm kind of subtly leaning towards these 
books being particularly harsh on women and mothers.  See me being 
subtle? <g>)  And I did think to myself the other day that I should 
have realized we'd have no unifying of the Houses, or more 
specifically, unification of Slytherin and Gryffindor, because Draco 
Malfoy was cast as a boy.  Harry, in marrying Ginny, doesn't so much 
marry his mother as he marries himself.

So that's my twelve-year-old's version of Freud.  Discuss amongst 
yourselves. <bg>

Betsy Hp (looking forward to an extended weekend afk, or starting 
withdrawal pains -- you decide)