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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 185639

> > Montavilla47:
> 
> > <snip> 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?
> 
> Carol responds:
> 
<snip-snip> 
> As for Snape's "stricken" look, I think it's open to 
interpretation. I
> don't think he's offended, just surprised and hurt as if DD had
> slapped him--which, of course, is not DD's intended reaction. I'm
> quite sure that he was speaking aloud to himself, and if he had said
> directly to Snape, "You should have been Sorted into Gryffindor," 
he'd
> have meant it as a compliment.
> 

a_svirn:
Which, in turn, would mean that Slytherin House is a very bad 
proposition. Dumbledore is basically saying, "We wrote you off too 
early, Severus. You are not all that rotten we shouldn't have lumped 
you with all the other baddies after all". Whether Rowling shares his 
opinion on both Slytherin and Severus is debatable; however if 
Dumbledore himself felt this way, the question is why on earth did he 
tolerate the existence of this house of baddies much less expose 
students in his care to its corrupting influence. 
a_svirn