Of Sorting and Snape

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 175701

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "houyhnhnm102" <celizwh at ...> wrote:
>
> 
>> houyhnhnm:
> 
> There's > the "ridiculous amount about alchemy" that she had to 
> learn "to invent this wizard world" (by the way, where 
> was it in DH?)

Renee:

Try this link: http://hogwartsprofessor.com/?p=155
It's an alchemical analysis of the first half of DH by John Granger
(the other half will follow in due time). Also, the Leaky Cauldron has
a thread about Alchemy in HP, Part 7:
http://www.leakylounge.com/index.php?s=81657de9545d08ab576e33ea32584309&showtopic=51485&st=0


Houyhnhnm:
 There's the statements she made in the 
> LC/Mugglenet interview.  <snip>

> She was right on with the personality traits associated 
> with fire and not too far off on earth and air.  But 
> water?  Not anywhere close.  That's the single biggest 
> wtf for me in the whole series.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> So where's the Slytherin compassion, sensitivity, 
> kindness, gentleness, and graciousness?  I think she 
> was caught between the notion to use elemental archetypes 
> and the need to make Slytherin the repository of all that 
> is bad and that need won out.

Renee:
Actually, I agree with you about that. It seems that she tried to
combine a morally neutral system with a morally "charged" one, so to
speak, and I don't think this was a very lucky move. 

If I try to think of a reason why she combined the House of Water with
the pureblood ideology, what I can come up with is the association of
water with cleansing. From there, it's only one step to notions of
"ethnic cleansing", etcetera. But if this is how the House of Water
acquired its traits, I doubt it was a step in the right direction.

Renée