Deathly Hallows Reaction - Could do Better, Sorry

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 173787



Shagufta wrote:

I think what everyone keeps missing when talking about the Hat is 
that it does not force any kid into any house. It allows for Choice. 
And Choice is a big word in JK's world.


Julie:
Actually I think most of us do understand that the hat does not 
force any kid into a particular house. Choice is a big word in JKR's
world, but once again, choices aren't made in a vacuum. As Jen pointed
out, these kids come to Hogwarts at age 11, having been heavily 
influenced by their parents and family, naturally wanting to honor
them, and IMO being too young and inexperienced to see all the 
ramifications of their choice. To choose the against your parents
and upbringing is a huge thing for a child. The kids whose parents
raised them to already feel allegiance to the other houses values are
making the right *and* the easy choice, it's only for the kids who
were raised to feel allegiance to Slytherin (and by this point in
time, Voldemort) are faced with making a choice between what's right
and what's hard.
Oh, and yes, Sirius made that choice, but as a child he had already
rejected Slytherin and his family's values for whatever reason. I
suppose he may have had an unusually strong moral center, or he 
simply was very rebellious in nature, and his mother's particularly
strident brand of allegiance to Purebloods only exacerbated that
rebelliousness. I suspect it was a combination of both, given that
on smaller moral issues (tormenting Snape because he was bored) he
wasn't quite so noble. But he did see the larger picture.




Shagufta wrote:
And i don't think Harry was the only one to get to choose. We know 
for a fact that the Hat suggested Ravenclaw to Hermione but she 
chose Gryffindor. So, what i'm saying, the Hat is an opportunity for children to 
choose, not an absolute decree. But ofcourse, 11 is too young to 
choose for some, and that's exactly what Dumbledore implied.
 

Julie:
I think it's too young for anyone, which is really my main objection
to the House system. That and the fact that the adults around them
make no attempt to assert any influence whatsoever on them, to give
them any incentive to see other options as viable, or to change their
choices. Dumbledore, with all his experience and wisdom, just leaves
these children whose souls he values so much to sink or swim. 

I do see that this is the way the WW works. Each person is on their
own, child or adult. There's no sense of "it takes a village to raise
a child." Which is one way to do it, just not one I like very much.

Julie 




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