Slytherins: selfish, not evil + Ariana raped?

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 172745




Erin: 
> 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.

Magpie:
Exactly. Though I don't think Snape's quite so much a success story 
as you say. He's not the only Slytherin to sacrifice himself--they 
just sacrifice for reasons that mean something to them even when 
they're doing the sacrificing. So even Snape's redemptive sacrifice 
was, imo, a personal one that didn't go beyond himself as it could 
have. He sacrificed himself and saved himself. I don't happen to 
find the "it takes all kinds so learn to live with the assholes" all 
that inspiring myself, but that definitely seems to be the message 
of JKR's Christ-figure.

Julie:
I think this is an unfair assessment though. In reality there is some
measure of self-interest in *everything* we do. We give to a cause  
or help build a house with Habitat-For-Humanity partly because the act
makes us feel good about ourselves. Snape's sacrifices were in part
motivated by selfishness (assuaging his guilt over Lily's death) but
especially as time went by, he acted selflessly on numerous occasions.
It didn't benefit him in any way whatsoever to keep helping Dumbledore
defeat Voldemort once he knew Harry would be sacrificed--*saving* Harry
to honor Lily was his original "selfish" motive. It didn't benefit him
to save a man he truly despised (Lupin). Too many things Snape did were
not motivated by pure self-interest, as supposedly befits a Slytherin,
IMO.


Julie, who thinks the whole concept of Sorting is directly opposed to
Dumbledore's belief that it is our choices which define us.





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