[HPforGrownups] Re: Danger in designating an "Other" / Slytherins / DH as Christian Allegory

[Janette]

No: HPFGUIDX 174010

>
> > Goddlefrood:
> > Some time before Deathly Hallows' release there was a speculation
> > somewhere, whether here or elsewhere I can't remember now, that
> > basically set out how Tom Riddle had subverted Slytherin House
> > from under Uncle Horace's control. While Slughorn has some
> > prejudice towards muggle-borns it was a level of prejudice that
> > was not overly likely to lead to the mass production of dark
> > and dangerous wizards. Once Tom Riddle's brand of prejudice began
> > to infiltrate the house of Slytherin then this situation changed
> > quite rapidly and for more than half a century thereafter Slytherins
> > were seen as almost universally evil and likely to join Voldemort's
> > band of merry warriors at the drop of a hat.
>
> Neri:
> It's a nice speculation, only JKR doesn't support it in DH more than
> she does the rest of the series. Phineas Nigellus was a Slytherin
> Headmaster before Riddle's time, and he uses the mudblood word without
> even thinking about it. Or was his portrait infiltrated too? The
> Sorting Hat is our sole source from the founders' days, and it tells
> us that old Salazar wanted to teach only those "who's ancestry was
> purest". Or was the Sorting Hat infiltrated too? Lets face it, the
> official position of the series is that Salazar left an XXXXX class
> monster in a secret room at Hogwarts so that his heir can release it
> and "purge" the school. I don't see why someone would want that kind
> of family tradition, unless someone still likes to believe that his
> "pure" blood makes him better than the mudbloods.


montims:
OK - what if I make a comparison with the Cambridge Apostles?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Apostles) gives a brief intro.

Cambridge itself got a bad name after the discovery of the spy ring of
Burgess, Philby et al.  But people still line up to go there, usually to the
college their families went to.  The Apostles still exists, as do many other
traditional societies, with archaic beliefs.  Trinity was not closed down,
and while I am sure they are not proud of their connection with the spies,
this is just a blip in their total history, and a very small sample of their
students since inception.  Slytherins are purebloods - there is no disputing
that.  All the way through the books we see Slytherins through Gryffindor
eyes - Harry's, Hagrid's, DD's, goodness even JKR herself if Hermione is
really based on her.  As I've said before, it's the jock/geek split - there
is ancient rivalry there.  Nobody says Slytherins are evil, and they are not
on the whole - this particular period has been corrupted by LV and
circumstances.  Gryffindors are happy not to be like them, and Gryffindors
do not understand Slytherins, and vice versa.  If the story had been told by
a Slytherin, the focus would have been very different.

There was no Slytherin flag in the RoR because there was no Slytherin
student there.  But if one of them had tried to join, would the other
students have let him/her?  Or would they have suspected a trap?


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