chapter discussions, SS/PS, chapter 5, Diagon Alley

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 187895

Alla wrote:
> The episode that for me packs the most emotional punch is disgusting Pansy wanting to sell Harry to Voldemort and a lot of her house supporting her, this picture just stands out the most vividly for this particular reader.  <snip>

Carol responds:

I don't recall "a lot of her House supporting her" or even a single Slytherin doing so. They're immediately turned upon by the Gryffindors, followed by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, who point their wands at them, and summarily dismissed as a group by McGonagall, who has already told Slughorn, without cause (other than, perhaps, her knowledge of Draco's involvement in DD's death, her view of Snape as a "murderer," and her awareness that several other Slytherins are children of Death Eaters) that she and the other staff members will kill any Slytherin student who fights on Voldemort's side.

I do think that Harry should have recognized, say, Theo Nott or Blaise Zabini in the crowd that followed Slughorn to confirm for the reader that the group contained Slytherin students. But the worst that we can say of the Slytherins who are present in that scene is that one student, Pansy Parkinson, assumed that they should turn over Harry to Voldemort to save themselves. The other Slytherins neither agreed nor disagreed and obeyed McGonagall's order to follow Slughorn to safety. We know that Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle later fell out of line and Disillusioned themselves (followed by the incident in the MoM), but we have no indication (other than Voldemort's unreliable word, which is certainly false regarding Crabbe and Goyle, and is countered by Phineas Nigellus's statement that "Slytherin played its part" *against Voldemort) that the Slytherins did anything except what McGonagall told them to do--follow Slughorn and go home--exactly like the under-age students from all four Houses (and a few older students from other Houses like Zacharias Smith).

I agree that the general impression of Slytherin that JKR created was unfavorable, but it was also filtered through Gryffindor eyes (every person who said bad things about Slytherin was a Gryffindor, from Hagrid to Percy) and colored by Harry's own encounters with Draco and Snape, including his mistaken assumption that Snape caused his scar to hurt. But I thought (and still think) that the depiction of most Slytherin students as ugly (a Quidditch player who looks like he has Troll blood, the thuggish CrabbenGoyle), the haglike Millicent Bulstrode) was overkill and exaggeration comparable to the exaggerated descriptions of Hagrid's hands and feet. (One of these days, I'll look up other instances of hyperbole in the books--it's a favorite device of JKR's, along with puns).

And, for me, the overall impression was countered by as sense of Draco's naivete (he's repeating what his parents have told him) and by the intriguing mystique of Severus Snape, whose loyalties, Quirrell informs us, lie not with Voldemort but with Dumbledore. So if Snape is not as bad as he seems (the misunderstanding between him and Harry is mutual), it seemed likely to me that Slytherin, too, is not as bad as it is painted (with the exception of a few students, notably not including Theo Nott or Blaise Zabini, who become members of the Inquisitorial Squad).

For me, "Spinner's End" and HBP in general provided the first hint that even Death Eaters and other Voldemort supporters had a human side (Narcissa's love for her son and loyalty to her husband; Draco's fears for his family and hesitation on the Tower). Even Bellatrix cares about "Cissy" (but not as much as she adores Voldemort).

The roles of the Slytherins who opposed Voldemort in small and large ways--and even the genial if self-centered character of Slughorn himself--indicate to me that Epilogue!Harry is right. Slytherin may be connected with Voldemort, but in other respects, it's just another Hogwarts House, with its own heroes. Without the malign influence of Voldemort, with the DEs imprisoned or dead and no longer recruiting, all that remains is to require all students to take a Charity-Burbage-style Muggle Studies class and root out prejudice against "Mud-Bloods" and Muggles. Let Slytherin "play its part," not isolated from the other Houses. Let bygones be bygones.

The HP books show Harry's preconceptions and prejudices falling away one by one--Sirius Black, Neville, Luna, Grawp, Scrimgeour, Regulus Black, Snape--and his idealized views of the "good guys"--his father, Sirius Black, Dumbledore--reshaped and made more realistic, allowing for flaws and minus the idealization.

Granted, certain characters (Hagrid on the good side, Umbridge on the bad) require no reexamination on Harry's part or the readers, but the whole idea of the books is that, Voldemort and a few cardboard characters excepted, no one is wholly good or evil and human beings are complex creatures with multiple motivations. Even the Malfoys can change, becoming, if not good, at least neutral and opposed to Voldemort.

Carol, who hopes that the revised edition of DH will make it clear that Pansy Parkinson is not the representative Slytherin