Of Sorting and Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 175663

lizzyben wrote:
> 
> Sydney, thanks for bringing up yet another level of symbolic
weirdness. Yeah, that's totally what DD seems to be saying - ignore
that pain! Stuff it under the chair! Don't cry! And this seems to also
connect w/the message that expressing emotions or sadness is just
wrong. Other people have brought up that Slytherins like Draco & Snape
cry and become emotional under stress, while Gryffindors tend to get
angry & explosive. Slytherin is the house of "water" & emotion, and
it's also the house of evil? Emotions are evil? And even though "love"
is supposed to be a central message, it's actually never handled in a
healthy way - and Slytherins also are assigned all the unhealthy
aspects of love. Love is evil? Empathy is evil?  <snip>

Carol responds:
This is Voldemort's soul we're talking about. Have you forgotten the
anguish Voldemort endured when his soul came into contact with Harry's
love for Sirius? Love and compassion cannot help Voldemort. They might
even increase his pain. He is quite literally beyond help. Only his
own remorse can save him.

Emotions are not evil in this book. Note Harry's reaction when Molly
gives him her brother Fabian's watch. And Harry is learning
compassion--for Kreacher, for Draco, for Snape. It just doesn't come
naturally to a boy raised as he was and who has, through most of the
books, focused primarily on his own problems, his own little world,
his own friends. Gradually, he learns to feel affection and respect
for Luna and Neville, but only near the end does he learn to trust
them and the other DA members. He learns that he doesn't have to act
alone or with the help only of his closest friends. He learns
compassion for Kreacher, respecting and honoring his adoration of
Master Regulus and Kreacher's own terrible suffering, understanding,
finally (along with Hermione) how his mind works. And Harry saves his
enemy, Draco, who, with Ron's grudging help, saves Goyle, another
enemy. (That Crabbe isn't also saved is his own fault. there would be
nothing to save him from if he hadn't cast the Fiendfyre.)

You don't need to agree with me that Harry has learned compassion, but
I think he's come a long way from the Boy who Takes Action to Save
People But Is Oblivious to Everyone Else's Feelings that we see in the
first five books and still, to some degree, in the sixth. Seeing Draco
on the tower and again forced to perform cruel deeds he doesn't want
to do changes Harry's view of Draco. He doesn't say so, but, IMO, he
understands him and wants to help him.)

I won't repeat my other arguments about the creature under the chair,
but I would like to see your responses to them. We're getting nowhere
with emotional, gut reactions and rhetorical questions. Let's look at
the canon, shall we?

Carol, wondering why Slytherins (except Draco) mostly have dragon-
heartstring wandcores if they're the House of water