Slytherin's Reputation was Re: CHAPDISC: DH, EPILOGUE

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 185636

> a_svirn: 
> > More importantly even, it reinforces the idea of Slytherin as a house 
> > of rotters. Because in this instance "I think we sort too early" 
> > translates as "I think we cull or discard too early." Obviously, 
> > Dumbledore meant that there was something in Snape worthy of a better 
> > fate than being consigned to the lifetime of slytherinness.  
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Hm, sure if one takes Dumbledore's every opinion as the one that author 
> holds as correct, then sure it can reinforce that idea I agree.
> 
> But Dumbledore at various points of his life hold such opinions as 
> muggle domination is a good thing, he also thought that it would be 
> good to divert Harry from Horcruxes and to hallows, those are two 
> examples where text pretty explicitly tells us that those opinions are 
> wrong, no?

Montavilla47:
Hmm.  I'm not sure we're supposed to think that Dumbledore's idea
to divert Harry from the Horcruxes and to the Hallows was a bad one.
I got the impression that this was supposed to part of his brilliant plan.
He gives Harry the information about the Hallows, but in such a way
that it takes Hermione several months to find out what they are and 
that they are said to exist.

In the meantime, Harry apparently acquires the needed maturity not
to choose to seek the Hallows and instead to continue the Horcrux
quest.  But, at the same time, Harry has the knowledge that allows 
him to recognize the Hallows and to become their master.

That's the way I read it, anyway.  But, getting back to that remark...

Alla:
> So, yes, sure it can reinforce the idea that Slytherin is a house of 
> rotters, it can also reinforce my thoughts of telling Dumbledore to 
> shove this opinion of his to the same part of his brain where he holds 
> the opinion that it is okay to lecture the teenager about the 
> misgivings of his just dead godfather, and where he holds the opinion 
> that it is totally ok to disregard the danger whole school is in as 
> long as he is trying to save Draco's soul, and where he holds the 
> opinion that he would not let Minerva in on some Order's secrets, etc, 
> etc.

Montavilla47:
I'll agree that all of these were stupid ideas.  Although, again, I 
think that we're supposed to agree with Harry not divulging the 
secrets that Dumbledore taught him about Voldemort in HBP.

I still don't know how we're supposed to take that scene with
Snape in the garden.  I'll give JKR credit for being deliberately
ambiguous here.  Is Snape's "stricken" look because Dumbledore
is being so horribly offensive?  Or is it because he realizes his
enthusiasm for the "brainy" House was what led him astray so
many years ago?

I mean, I don't think it would have made Snape's life much
better to have been sorted into Slytherin.  I shudder to think
what it would have been like to have been stuck in the same
dorm with the Marauders for seven years.  But maybe JKR's
message here is that Snape could have been a better person
if he had hadn't been sorted into a House that played to his
evil side--what with the Dark Arts obsession and all.

Alla:
> This last paragraph is of course my intepretation of what Dumbledore 
> thought or did, and I am not bringing it as facts, I am bringing those 
> into the mix to say that I personally heard Dumbledore being wrong so 
> so many times, that this remark, well, reallly does not account for 
> much, if anything, except another time when he could be wrong.

Montavilla47:
Right.  And I think this is coming from the same place, for you, that
certain things about Harry and Hermione come from for me.  The 
biggest example being, of course, the disfigurement of Marietta.

At first, I thought this was just another amusing storyline where 
someone who threatens harm to Harry is punished in a comic
magical fashion.  (Like that pig tail Dudley gets in PS/SS.)  But,
when we see that the disfigurement is permanent (at least, it's
still there several months later), it crossed a line for me.  

And. from that point on, everything Harry and Hermione had 
done became suspect for me.   Like Dumbledore did for you 
once you realized he had placed Harry with the family who
treated him so badly.