Houses / Sorting "too soon"

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 173297

--- "colebiancardi" <muellem at ...> wrote:
> What the heck was DD's comment to Snape about "sorting too 
> soon" because Snape was brave?  Are we to believe that 
> Dumbledore, a champion *against* the whole sorting of the 
> Houses, is stating that anyone *not* in Gryffindor is *not 
> brave*? 

I think that to understand the comment in a way that is consistent
with Dumbledore's worldview you need to consider the context of the
conversation.  On the surface, he clearly means to imply that the then
Snape might have been sorted differently than the 11-year-old Snape. 
And in doing so, I would suggest that he is focusing not only on the
aspect that has grown in Snape's character (bravery), but also on the
aspects that have waned (ambition; out-for-himself-ness), that now tie
him less to Slytherin.

That suggestion does not require Dumbledore to assume that the
characteristic traits of the houses are unique to those in the houses
-- on the contrary, since he is explicitly recognizing that people's
character changes over time, the comment reinforces his position that
there are no strict dividing lines.  To recognize that the grown-up
Snape fits the Gryffindor more than the Slytherin stereotypes hardly
implies that Gryffindors have a monopoly on bravery (or Slytherins on
egocentrism).  

I read Snape's double-take not as an indication that he eschews house
stereotypes (or expects Dumbledore to), but that he still has not
shaken those stereotypes.  After all these years, he still sees James
and Sirius as the characteristic Gryffindors -- foolhardy, arrogant,
risk-takers.  He fails to see his own actions in the same light,
somewhat ironically, given that he has (paraphrasing his own words)
put himself in a position where he needs to continually hoodwink the
greatest legilimens to ever hold a wand.

Finally, I think that Snape's double-take was exactly what Dumbledore
wanted to provoke.  Rather than an acknowledgement of the house
stereotypes, the comment was a continuation of Dumbeldore's effort to
explode them, in this case by pointing out to Snape how much he was
like James, Sirius et al. in his own positive actions.  

I agree with elmntrymdr (in #172789) that the comment was also tinged
with regret about how Snape's particular environment helped to shape
him, and the pain that that caused, but I think that Dumbledore blames
Voldemort much more than the house system for creating and exploiting
divisions.  (Indeed, it would be a bit strange to look at Snape, the
Slytherin in love with a Gryffindor, and conclude that it was the
house system driving students apart.)

-- Matt