Rowling interview transcript

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 180346

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, IreneMikhlin 
<irene_mikhlin at ...> wrote:
<snip>
> So, we can't delude ourselves that it was just old sociopath 
Dumbledore 
> talking. Nope, it's the whole authorial intent: he was a bad child, 
so 
> the Slytherin was the right place for him, but he outgrew it later. 
> Mighty white of you, Severus.
> 
> And yet in the next answer she repeats - "they are not all bad, 
and, 
> well, far from it."
> 
> I just don't get it, how it sits together for her - Slytherins are 
not 
> all bad, and yet someone who becomes a better person, stops being 
> suitable for Slytherin.
> 
> Irene
>

lizzyben:

I also liked this part:

"SU: We have to ask this, or we'll get yelled at: Draco Malfoy. (JKR: 
Yeah?) did he graduate, and who did he marry? It wasn't Pansy right? 
Or was it?

JKR: No! God, it wasn't Pansy Parkinson! I loath that girl. (JN and 
su laugh) I don't love Draco but I really dislike her. She's every 
girl who ever teased me at school, she's the anti-Hermione. I loathe 
her. Yes, sorry, sidetracked there by my latent bitterness
"

LOL, she sounds like Snape talking about the Marauders! This comment 
also sheds light on that moment when the entire school aims their 
wands at Pansy Parkinson before she's summarily tossed out of 
Hogwarts. People speculated about the meaning of that moment, whether 
it was about the dangers of mob violence, the tarring an entire group 
for the actions of one person, or even about Judas betraying Jesus. 
It wasn't any of that; it was JKR getting revenge on the mean girl 
from high school. Vengence is sweet, as Snape would say. And that 
might be personally satisfying for her, but not for readers at large 
who don't know that real-life model. JKR doesn't give us good reason 
to *loathe* and hate Pansy Parkinson throughout the series, so we 
don't share her antipathy, and can't share in her sense of righteous 
punishment. 

Basically I think that the Slytherins are everyone JKR couldn't 
stand in real life. So of course they're awful people, and of course 
they should be tossed out of school (or ideally society at large.) 
And in JKR's wish-fullfillment fantasy, they get the treatment they 
deserve. Of course it's *possible* for the mean girl from high school 
to become a good mother later on, or possible that the mean teacher 
might turn out to be a good boss, etc. and you realize that you 
perhaps Sorted them too soon. But it's not likely. 

She does pull back from that in interviews when confronted with the 
possible implications of such a viewpoint, but IMO that's more about 
spinning things for fans or interviewers rather than reflecting her 
real standpoint. 


lizzyben