Realistic Resolutions - WAS: Slytherins come back

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 180745

> 
> a_svirn:
> No. Slytherin was the father of all Slytherins. 


Pippin:
But when Slytherin left the school, the Slytherins stayed behind. They
broke with their founder when he went too far, just Regulus and Snape
broke from Voldemort when they realized he did not respect purity
or family.

 Though  Salazar's departure from the House he founded
casts a shadow, they are just as brave in defense of 
their values as Harry is in defense of his. Being power-hungry is a 
red herring, IMO. *All* the students are there to become more powerful. 

JKR put the values of liberalism, her own values, into Gryffindor: they
are the champions of community and fairness. Naturally she thinks,
should push come to shove, that those values should be privileged 
over the traditionally conservative values of loyalty, purity and
family.

But that is politics: it has nothing to do with the innate 
morality of Slytherin House. No one has to be taught to prefer the
pure to the impure or to prefer family to strangers.

It's interesting that you used the word "disgusting" to refer to
House Elves -- that suggests your  objection to slavery in the 
books is more about purity  than fairness. Violation of taboo
feels wrong even in fiction about imaginary creatures and begs
for some ritual of cleansing which the books do not give.

 But I think that difference is just what JKR wanted
Hermione to confront. 

The House Elf saga *starts* with a cleansing ritual -- Hermione
deprives herself of food  after she realizes she's
been benefitting from the labor of a hundred slaves.  Contrast
that to Harry's reaction -- the first thing Harry does when he
finds out that Dobby is a slave is to ask if anyone can free him.

Hermione's ritual accomplished nothing of practical value either for
her or the House Elves. She had to learn, like Shaw's barbarian, that
the customs of her tribe and island are not the laws of nature. The
wizards are unmoved by her vision of slavery as essentially wrong--
it's only when Ron is forced to confront its unfairness, a Gryffindor
value, that he  begins to see her concern for House Elves as important.

There is the same sort of set up for Slytherin itself. Harry initially
sees them as tainted, (cf his constant references to Snape's greasy
hair) and though Harry himself shakes this feeling
off, JKR does not insist that the reader do so. We have to see for
ourselves, if we choose, that it's unfair. Harry gives the same
choice to his son. 


Pippin
fascinated by an article about the moral instinct in this week's NY Times
Sunday magazine. You can find it at nytimes.com. You have to
register but it's free.