DH as Christian Allegory

[Ricky & LeAnn]

No: HPFGUIDX 173457

Sydney:

"What does a House like this sound like to you? A House associated with
reptiles and ghettoes like Nocturn Alley? A House whose Founder has a
'monkey-like' face and a name that's suspiciously foreign? A House
with sinister ties to Eastern Europe? Whose Head-- redeemed only by a
passion, presented as kind of creepy and wrong, for a woman on the
'pure' side-- has greasy black hair and a freakin' *hooked nose*??!"



I didn't read as much negativity into Jo's Slytherin descriptions as you
seemed to get from them. To me, she was showing us that there are all kinds
of people in this world, and some of them aren't as nice as others, but
there were also Slytherins who turned out good. Harry Potter wasn't killed
by Slytherins, he was killed by the evil which possessed Tom Riddle, who was
a descendant of Slytherin, and seemed to have been possessed by the same
evil attitude.

Slughorn didn't hate muggles although he was quite self-serving, and even
Harry himself would likely have been a Slytherin had he not fought against
it.  It seemed to me that even Slytherin himself wasn't always a bad guy,
since it said that at first all the houses got along. It was only after
Slytherin developed his deep prejudice against muggles and mudbloods that
problems erupted in the house system. He became obsessed with his own ideas,
and his obsession was handed down through the generations of his family. I
think Jo was also telling us that people who have a tendency toward cunning
and self-serving can sometimes be steered into the wrong direction by people
who play upon those tendencies. And she was telling us that sometimes we
should question the things we've been told by our parents, such as, "Only
purebloods are worthy." By the time Harry entered school, it seemed to me
that Slytherin House had been corrupted by Salazar's ideas. It had nothing
to do with who he was or what he looked like, although I must agree that I
hadn't pictured him as monkey-like in my own mind, but rather as one who was
very tall, handsome and haughty in manner who had developed a sneer over
time. 

I thought Jo fought against the labeling idea when Sirius told Harry that
the world isn't divided into Death Eaters and good guys. I thought the
biggest example of that in the last book was her treatment of Snape. He had
both good and bad tendencies, and he had been part of both worlds at various
times. And finally, I thought by continuing with the sorting hat, I thought
she was telling us that it's okay to be in a group with others of similar
tastes and abilities as long as one group doesn't begin to think they are
superior to others. I thought she was telling us that it wasn't the sorting
which had caused the evil, but the bad ideas passed down from Slytherin's
twisted mind which found fertile ground in some of those with qualities
associated with Slytherin House.  In book one we were also told that those
same qualities could make a person great, and there were many Slytherins who
had made good, as evidenced by Horace Slughorn's friends. Jo also showed us
negative qualities in Sirius who was a Gryffindor, Ernie MacMillan who was
Hufflepuff, and Cho, who was Ravenclaw. I didn't feel Jo was slurring all
Asians when Cho turned out to be, IMO, shallow.

How would you suggest she should have portrayed "the bad guys" to the
readers? She had to make some type of distinction to move the story along. I
didn't read her description of Bellatrix as a slur against any particular
ethnic group, but rather as reptilian (hooded lids)to show that she was
cold-blooded and without mercy, just as Voldemort was snakelike. I took the
description of Bella's greasy black hair to show that she was so obsessed
with Voldy and the dark arts that she didn't even take care of her own
physical appearance. Jo described Narcissa Malfoy with an expression as
having just smelled something unpleasant. I immediately pictured her in my
mind as a complete, arrogant snob - do I think Jo was slurring all wealthy
people? No. I never saw Knockturn Alley as a ghetto, but rather as a
sinister, underworld street where people purchased items associated with the
dark arts. It was the movie which made the people there look homeless, not
the book. I also didn't see that Jo was slurring Eastern Europeans, but just
chose Albania as a random place for Voldy to run to. It was also obviously a
place where many wizards preferred to vacation. It is close to Romania which
already has an association with vampires in literature, but we can't blame
that on Jo. She also put in hints about Hitler and his attempts at genocide
and creating a "pure race". I'm part German, but I didn't find any of those
references offensive.

In the end Jo showed us that anyone, regardless of their past, can be
forgiven of evil if they want to change, but a price must be paid. Even the
Malfoys who murdered, owned slaves, stole, were arrogant, - who did about
everything "un-nice" Rowling could think of, - were still forgiven in the
eleventh hour when they decided to turn against evil. Harry's act of saving
Draco caused Narcissa to save Harry later on. I think Jo was telling us that
no one is beyond redemption if they desire it.

Anders