Slytherins as jews WAS: Re: DH as Christian Allegory/I am about to rant

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 173555

Alla:
> You know, it is not the first time I read the argument that people 
see Slytherins cast in the part of persecuted Jews and they see the 
symbolism with jews from eastern Europe.

And of course I cannot argue with anybody's right to see that 
symbolysm, intentional or not.

But this jew from eastern Europe, who as I mentioned several times 
seen enough antisemitism in my life, is so scratching her head every 
time this argument comes out.

Ceridwen:
It isn't about symbolism, it's about stereotypes.  "All" Jews have 
large, hooked noses, sweep around in old-fashioned cloaks, cackle 
over charging exorbitant amounts of interest, and are evil, evil, 
evil.  Look at pre-WWII cartoons.  You'll see this very guy, hunched 
over, his cape swirling out around him, his nose large, hooked and 
(presumably, since these cartoons are in black and white) red, 
carrying his money box and bedevilling Our Hero or his girlfriend, 
starting horrible things the main character needs to get out of.

Many Western stereotypes of Jews involve money and power.  In the 
Middle Ages, Christians weren't supposed to charge each other 
interest.  People who needed money either had to take a loan from the 
lord of their property, or go to the Jews outside the walls of town 
and secure a loan with interest payments added.  Since charging 
interest was seen then as un-Christian, Jews were suspect for doing 
so.

There is still a conspiracy theory going around about Jews, the World 
Bank, and various positions of power.  They are, to hear this theory, 
all in cahoots with one another and reap the benefits of wars, 
Depression, stock market crashes, and the like.  It was supposedly 
set out in a document called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  It 
uses the spectre of power to emotionally convince people to believe 
this theory.  Believing this is ignorant, but some people do believe 
it.  This plays on the same stereotypes some of us see depicted in 
Slytherin House.

Lucius Malfoy had the MoM in his pocket.  He threatened the Board of 
Governors to oust Dumbledore.  He has money, tons of money, with no 
explanation of where he got it.  This is not a symbol of the real 
life of an Eastern European Jew, but it has been a Western stereotype 
of the Eastern European Jew for centuries.  Snape, with his greasy 
hair, large hooked nose, and dead black eyes, is another stereotype 
that has nothing to do with reality.  It's just a stereotype to turn 
Eastern European Jews into something different than the Christian 
population, into Other.

Like Snape, they are not capable of growing beyond their one great 
sin, that of killing Jesus, or Lily, in Snape's case.  They can do 
pennance through eternity, but they will never be redeemed.  Snape is 
the Wandering Jew.  He goes through life, trying to atone.  But, dead 
is dead.  He can't undo what he has done, and he is reprobate.  The 
most he can hope for is to somehow aid the Good Guys and earn a small 
measure, a pat on the head, someone saying he probably wouldn't have 
been a Slytherin at all, if they only Sorted later.

It isn't about symbolism.  That would mean a likeness on some level.  
The Muggle and Muggle-born story line was about symbols.  There is a 
very conscious, I think, tie to the Jews of WWII era and the Muggle-
borns of the WW.  That statue in the MoM was chilling.  Seeing the 
poor jobless begging in Diagon Alley was breath-taking.  This was a 
direct and, I think, conscious parallel between the Nazis and the 
WW.  This was where the symbolism came in.

Slytherin House and its story line is about stereotypes, which teach 
people to hate.  *All* Slytherins are Pureblood Supremacists, even 
the Half-bloods.  Of course, these half-bloods are magical on their 
mothers' sides.  *All* Slytherins are not fit to stick around for the 
final battle, because they'll betray Hogwarts, or at least Harry 
Potter.  I agree with Sydney and Magpie, JKR didn't consciously do 
this.  The stereotypes, which before WWII were understood to be about 
Jews, have spread into the culture as traits of the generic Bad Guy, 
and she applied them to Slytherin House and its various members we 
saw in the books.  Given that these traits, in some circles, denote a 
generic Bad Guy, I don't think JKR realizes that these are 
stereotypes which are still applied to Jews in certain circles even 
now.

I really hate this, this is the second attempt I've made at this 
post.  I don't like the idea that such stereotypes that are still so 
recognizable in our world.  Thinking about it makes me afraid, 
because there are still people who believe this drivel.  People like 
identifying Other by easily-discernable traits.  If they used 
symbolism, there would be some humanity in the depictions, some basis 
for truth in there somewhere.  But these are stereotypes, 
caricatures.  And their only purpose is to divide.

And, some of us see these stereotypes being applied, unconsciously, 
to Slytherin House, and to various Slytherins.  Unredeemable, 
completely reprobate, ugly, untrustworthy, unlovable, better to be 
gotten rid of than to keep.  When Slytherin House was not redeemed in 
the end, when it was still the house the Good Guys didn't want to be 
in, the entire storyline of redemption and unity crashed and burned 
around our ears.  I'm afraid of what some people might learn from 
this.

Ceridwen.