Slytherins: selfish, not evil + Ariana raped?

[Erin Ridgeway]

No: HPFGUIDX 172683

Quoth Nightmasque:
<<It has been pointed out elsewhere that all the Slytherins who
were on the 'good side' so to speak were given ulterior motives for doing so, i.e. Snape's was Lily.>>

Ah, precisely. Ulterior motives are the hallmark of a Slytherin. We sometimes forget that students aren’t Sorted based upon their family background, or what they’re wearing that day, or whatever. They’re Sorted based upon what is at the core of their personalities. The criteria for being Sorted into Slytherin (as best I can remember, not having my books on hand at work) is to put self first. To look out for number one. And given what we know now, we can see that selfishness is the greatest sin in JKR’s world.

Every Slytherin is motivated by self-interest. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been Sorted into the house in the first place. That’s why no Slytherin student returned to fight Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts. Throwing oneself into the line of fire for the good of others is a selfless act. It’s not a Slytherin’s bag, baby. They don’t get it.

Does this mean that Slytherins are all bad, evil terrorists, hell-bent on the destruction of all that is good and pure? By no means. But self-sacrifice isn’t in their nature. In a world where selflessness is valued above all, a group that puts selfishness on a pedestal is not going to find themselves honored. Rich, maybe, and safe. But not loved.

The exception is, of course, Snape. His love for Lily leads him from a selfish mindset — one that wanted Lily safe in part because it suited him, with no thought for her husband and child — to one where he goes against his basic nature (choices, again!) to protect a child he hates for the good of the entire world. IMO, THAT’S why Dumbledore suggested that they Sorted too soon. Not because he’s basically good, but because he has the ability to selflessly.

It seems to me that what JKR is suggesting is that while Slytherin itself is not evil, putting self above others is a swift boat to Evil Island, population you. We learn that from Wormtail. He put his selfish desire for power before his friends, and what does that get him? Strangled by his own hand. Poetic.

Personally, I would’ve been displeased if JKR had integrated the houses. It’s not that I appreciate a simplistic black-and-white,
Slytherin-bad-Gryffindor-good-everybody-else-just-OK worldview. It’s that I relish the thought that it takes all kinds. Harry has learned that, too, based upon the polite acknowledgement nod he gives Draco at Platform 9 ¾. Yep, there are some selfish a-holes in the world, Albus. You have to get along with them.

On another note: did anyone else read the Muggle torture of Ariana as rape? Or do I just like my backstories as twisted as possible?

Erin