Back to Slytherin House - Choosing

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 176159

> Jen: Why is that a complaint, btw?  I predicted prior to DH that 
> Harry might face a decision about Snape such as Voldemort luring 
> Harry to him using Snape as the temptation, and Harry would have to 
> choose at a pivotal moment: revenge on Snape vs. some higher 
> calling.  So I was also a reader expecting a big good vs. evil battle 
> prior to DH.  Since it turned out he had evil inside him already with 
> a soul piece, that wasn't the story and instead Harry's biggest 
> choice was life vs. death.  Why then is the internal battle between 
> good and evil still necessary?  It wasn't the crisis of conscience 
> Harry was meant to face apparently.  

lizzyben:

Because he's doing what might be called evil things, and not even
recognizing it as such. (Crucios, double-crosses, etc.) The novel
doesn't even recognize it as such. Instead, there's an assumption that
anything Harry does is intrinsically good & right. And that makes
sense if you see it more as that Harry has already been sorted among
the Elect& Good, and so his actions will always be good, even if those
same actions would be wrong if a different person did it. 

Life vs. Death, I don't see as a big crisis for Harry. DD has trained
Harry to be willing to sacrifice himself since SS at least. And Harry
has always been somewhat drawn to death - the Dementors, the Veil, the
Resurrection Stone, etc. What w/his loved ones cheering him one, and
the grief he was in, it was almost an easy choice for him to make. 


> lizzyben: 
> > The Sorting Hat strongly considered putting Harry into Slytherin 
> > House, telling him that it would bring him "greatness" - power, 
> > fame, fortune. Well, after DH we know that JKR considers 
> > unrestrained ambition & a lust for power to be true evils. DD & 
> > Snape fall into evil because of their desire for greatness & power. 
> > The "Elder Wand" symbolizes the ultimate power that various wizards 
> > want & kill over, and Harry the hero gives up. He worries that 
> > Hermione & Ron are still tempted by its power, etc.
> 
> Jen: I agree refusing power is virtuous in this particular story.  I 
> also notice that it's not only Slytherins or even Hogwartians who are 
> tempted by power.  I'm not clear what you're saying here for this 
> reason.  If the logic of the elect holds up then Harry wouldn't need 
> to reject the wand for Ron and Hermione, they would do it for 
> themselves (one example).

lizzyben:

Well, I'm saying that refusing power is a virtue, and desiring power
is a sin - therefore, the Slytherin qualities of ambition, using any
means to reach their goals, etc. are sins, evil qualities. 

So, when the Sorting Hat promises Harry "greatness" if he goes to
Slytherin, IMO JKR is representing that as Harry's temptation to evil.
Once he rejects power in that instance, Harry is sorted into
Goodness, and remains there. 

You're right, Ron & Hermione are still tempted, and DD too. But Harry
isn't - he rejected power during his Sorting and that choice showed
his true nature. This is why only Harry could become the master of
Elder Wand, and give up the wand. DD also praises Harry for not being
tempted by power. This is about Harry as the Elect, more than a
Gryffindor-elect thing. Because even though Gryffindors are pretty
high up, it seems like Harry is the most Elect of all - maybe it's his
ability to reject power that makes him so special? (According to JKR). 

Jen:
> This story isn't about the four houses of Hogwarts even though 
> sorting and houses are important at various junctures.  One fairly 
> large part of the story is about people with unique abilities of 
> various backgrounds who start to wonder just how far those abilities 
> will take them, i.e., can magical power bring back the dead?  Help 
> someone discover the secret to immortality?  Help a person seeking 
> power over others?  Harry even has some tastes of power himself, 
> before realizing how much destruction that seeking power has brought 
> into the lives of people whom he's both admired and hated across the 
> course of seven years.  

lizzyben:

Oh, sure, there's other themes, especially related to death. The theme
of power & seeking power is independent, but also relates to the
Houses because Slytherins are generally characterized as more
power-hungry.


> Jen:  This is also becoming the basis for the entire story from how I 
> understand your post, something that denies any other theme or motif 
> or symbolism to play a role.  Sure, it's tempting to distill a story 
> down to one understandable line in the narrative but doing so 
> completely negates the parts of the story that can't be forced into 
> this box called Calvinism and Slytherin house.

lizzyben:

There's lots of different themes, this is just the one I'm focusing on
. Because I never thought about Harry's own Sorting as being a
predestined choice between good & evil, but that seems like a better
interpretation given how JKR characterizes the Houses. At eleven,
Harry had the choice between love (Gryffindor) or power (Slytherin) -
and chose love. This choice illustrates Harry's essential goodness. At
first, I thought this event was meant to show that Slytherin House had
some redeemable qualities, but now I believe it was meant to show
Harry's ability to reject evil.