Slytherins come back WAS: Re: My Most Annoying Character

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 180168

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Because, this strikes me as a similar thing.  Slytherins         
> > returning to fight *against* Voldemort shouldn't be something the 
> > reader has to either guess at or read so deeply between the lines 
> > one risks the accusation of making things up whole cloth.  (The   
> > accusation I'm leveling, actually <g>.)

> >>Pippin:
> But this is only an issue at all because you've set up an artificial
> distinction between Slytherin students and Slughorn.

Betsy Hp:
Um, no, there's nothing "artificial" about it.  There is a definite 
distinction between Slughorn and Slytherin.  Maybe if JKR had used 
Snape (the real head of Slytherin, not a Johnny-come-lately) or more 
correctly, Draco, who's been the face of the Slytherin students 
throughout the series, maybe then I'd have bought the suggestion that 
Harry recognized shop-keepers and students' parents, but not his 
fellow classmates.

But this idea that Slughorn, introduced in the eleventh hour and 
apologetic about Slytherin from the get go, is supposed to suddenly 
be the face of Slytherin...  Once again, it's crap writing if that's 
what JKR was going for; a lazy and confusing use of symbolism, IMO.

> >>Pippin:
> It's Slughorn who speaks for the  Slytherins when he says          
> resistance is suicide (just like Han Solo in Star Wars IV <g>) and 
> so it's Slughorn whose return makes the "I knew there was more to   
> you than..." point. If we'd heard from Theo or Blaise  separately   
> then it would be an issue whether they'd come back or not, but we   
> didn't. 

Betsy Hp:
We *did* hear from Draco, however.  Who *did* come back.  To capture 
Harry for Voldemort.  When you've got the kid who's stood for 
Slytherin since we learned of Slytherin's existance doing one thing, 
the author needs to be *very* clear if she's expecting us to stick 
another symbol in his place doing something completely different.


> >>Pippin:
> If you consider all of JKR's comments on Slytherin it certainly
> seems that ambiguity is  the whole point -- you can't generalize
> about them.

Betsy Hp:
But if you ignore her comments and go with the books, generalizing 
Slytherin is the proper thing to do.  There's no depth there.  They 
really are greedy, bigoted, failures.  A few manage to scrape above 
their level, but in the end, Slytherin is the loser house.

> >>Pippin:
> Some of them are certainly warped, but the qualities
> that make it easy for them to make bad choices are also necessary
> for survival and not just for Slytherins: where would the WW be    
> without resourcefulness, determination, a certain disregard for    
> rules and the desire to preserve itself?

Betsy Hp:
But those qualities aren't really Slytherin, are they?  They're 
Gryffindor.  (Though I'll grant you the desire to preserve oneself.)

Betsy Hp