Chapter 5 / Evanesco / House System

[rhkennerly]

No: HPFGUIDX 187921

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince" <catlady at ...> wrote:
>

> But when Rowling was asked whether the Sorting Hat was right in that song, she replied that the Sorting Hat was 'certainly sincere'. Since the series ended without anything about House amity (much less House unity), it seems to me that she didn't agree with the Hat's opinion.
>

Well, if the final battle for Hogwarts was anything, it was a display of unity to defeat a common foe--but no idea how long it would last.  Even Slughorn--the prototypical Slytherin--eventually, joined against the LV in the very end.  

Certainly, pigeonholing students at such a young age, particularly the less than stellar also-rans--the Hufflepuffs--neither brave, sly nor clever, seems damaging to me and overly deterministic.  And JKR makes a point of showing how porous the boundaries could be.  Harry could have been either a G or an S, Hg could have been either a G or an R.  Certainly, until the end, Longbottom wasn't G material.  

Worse is the inherited legacy of the House system.  Draco was merely the latest in a long line of Slytherin Puppet Masters and pure blood racists. Unlike the HP/Hg/RW gang of Griffs, nothing good came of the Draco, Crabb, Goyle, Parkinson gang.  

rick