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

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 187903

Pippin:

I agree that Dumbledore was being an ass. That is how we know he was honest.
When he's kind and supportive, you can bet he is up to something with a capital
Up.:)

He's saying that emotionally immature students are disproportionately attracted
to Slytherin, and maybe that wouldn't happen so much if students were sorted at
an older age. But it's a one-sided view of the House.

Slytherins fight with their brains, as Snape told James, which sometimes means
they have to go away and think rather than rush into battle. It doesn't always
mean they are too immature to think of anyone but themselves.


Alla:

I am not sure I understand, do you think that author agrees with Dumbledore here or not? Because this is book 7 and not book 1 and I would think that if the idea was to show that Slytherin house is just as the same as any other house in Hogwarts and has his good qualities and bad qualities, it is really strange to make Dumbledore say it.

I mean, really what exactly IS wrong to be attracted to house of people with brains? What exactly IS wrong of being attracted to the house of people with great ambition in life?

It seems to me that if the idea was to show that those qualities are what determines who Slytherins really are and not purebloods rule, everybody else can go to hell and die, I would think that it is totally all right to be attracted to Slytherin?

Why do you think Dumbledore thinks it is bad for students to want to be in Slytherin if not because this ideology is what House was established on and ambition and brains are only good as long as they accept this idea?