Slytherins come back WAS: Re: My Most Annoying Character

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 180286

> >>Carol responds: 
> Right. Harry is not the narrator, and the third-person-limited
> narrator has been shown to be unreliable on certain occasions       
> because Harry, whose viewpoint the narrator is usually presenting, 
> is not always observant or correctly informed or unbiased. So what 
> the narrator reports is what Harry sees or thinks he sees or Harry's
> reaction to or interpretation of what he sees (or hears or feels). 
> And his interpretation, as I have shown in some half a dozen posts 
> at least, is not always reliable, starting with Snape causing or
> appearing to cause the pain in Harry's scar.

Betsy Hp:
Yes, JKR has used Harry's limited view point to set up a mystery 
before.  We know that, because she's also *solved* those mysteries.  
So, could you please point out to me the scene in which this 
particular mystery is solved?  You know, the big reveal where Harry 
realizes that his fellow Slytherin class-mates behaved in a manner 
he'd long thought impossible and risked their lives to defend the 
school?  That big bang moment similar to the big bang moments where 
Fake-Moody or Quirrel are revealed as the actual villains and Snape 
is revealed as innocent?

> >>Carol:
> <snip>
> (Have you ever tried to identify faces in a rushing, pajama-clad   
> crowd?)
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Have you ever identified a hypnosis victim in a pitched battle in the 
middle of the night? <eg>  I'm afraid JKR doesn't cling close to 
reality when she enters the realm of battle.

But really this, in a nutshell, illustrates why there aren't many 
good, meaty, positive discussions on this list about these books, 
IMO.  We can't even agree on a basic premise like: was Slytherin 
House redeemed.

To my mind the obvious answer is no: they are and were just as bad as 
Harry feared.  Sure there were a few members who managed to crawl 
above their fellows (3, I believe). But on the whole, Slytherin is 
the bad guy house, home of bigots and cowards.  Others, just as 
obviously, disagree.  IMO, it's this confusion (among other things) 
that will keep the series from ever achieving "epic" status.  In 
general, if you end a book saying "wait... what?" the author's fallen 
down on her job.  At least, IMO. ;)

Betsy Hp