JKR's lesson on prejudice (was:Slytherins come back)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 180484

> > Betsy Hp:
> >
> > I expected Harry to have to deal with Slytherin as a group of 
> people rather than an overarching philosophy.  I won't say that the 
> codified prejudice of Slytherin was correct; on the contrary, it 
was 
> something that obviously needed fixing.  But I also thought 
> constantly attacking Slytherin, labeling them as the source of all 
> that was bad in the WW would leave the problem unresolved and 
> buried.  Which, it did, IMO.
<SNIP>


Alla:

But didn't Harry deal with them as group of people as well? And here 
is where surprises lied IMO not in their overarching philosophy, 
which is bad, but he saw that some Slytherins do not follow that 
philosophy and fight bravely and love, and die for Voldemort free 
world, etc.

Didn't the problem show the ways to resolve itself?

Tiffany:

I agree that the overarching philosophy of Harry's helped to
reinforce the negative aspects of Slytherins & justifies maintaining
the status quo about the house as a whole. I personally knew that
Harry was prejudiced since SS & he used Slytherin as a scapegoat,
instead of addressing the real issue on his own. He did have moments
when he had to rethink his ideas on the Slytherin house though & for
that I think he had a huge coming of age moment.

Alla:

But being prejudiced is different from disliking someone or somebody 
with true reason. You think Harry had no true reason to dislike 
Draco? Or do you put different meaning in the word prejudice?

I am seriously asking about different meaning of the word, since I 
totally had misunderstandings based on semantics quite a few times.

I mean, if one were to tell me that Harry did not know everything 
about Slytherins, sure, I would say it is possible.

But based on what Harry saw, how were his ideas prejudicial? I cannot 
blame him for not wanting to go deeper and learn more about those who 
think that his best friend for example is less worthy of being a 
member of WW than Malfoys. Especially since she is always ahead of 
Malfoy even in the classes.

And what ideas about Slytherins did Harry have to rethink?


Tiffany:

I saw a lot of connections between those regimes & LV in the canon as
well. I, however, was really impressed by what LV could do early on,
esp. in SS. I've lost some respect for him since because his ego got
in the way a lot, but his knowledge of black magic & the dark arts
has always been awe-inspiring to me.

Alla:

It is interesting how different we view things. I on the contrary 
gained some respect for Voldemort by the end of book 7. Not much mind 
you but some. I really appreciated that JKR showed me him killing 
people finally AND I really liked how he seemed to thought of and 
implement the plan of infiltration the ministry. I did not even 
realize that killing of Amelia Bones was the part of it.

In the earlier books he often makes me giggle more than be scared of 
him. I mean even in graveyard where he made Harry suffer, him untying 
Harry and asking him to duel was stupidity I thought.

JMO,

All