Slytherins: Race and Ambition
Apr. 1st, 2011 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseI don't have a lot of time to put my thoughts down in a terribly coherent way, but I'd love to continue the discussion about Slytherins. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marlowe1 noted that Slytherins get outed for their racism in the later Harry books, but it is interesting to remember that Voldemort himself is a half-blood, who hated his Muggle father. Snape, the head of Slytherin House, is also a half-blood; he is, in point of fact, the Half-Blood Prince of the title of that book. (Harry, of course, is PURE blood. His mom was Muggle born, but she was a witch.)
While mostly pure bloods get sorted to Slytherin it's NOT a requirement. Harry, as we all remember, was nearly sorted into Slytherin (and speaks parseltongue for crying out loud), and comes around to the idea at the end that it would be okay if his own son were sorted there.
So what about Harry would have made him a good Slytherin, besides the ability to speak to snakes, do you think?
He's not terribly ambitious. I mean, I love Harry, but neither he nor Ron show a lot of apptitude for school work (until, perhaps, inspired by the non-Moody.) Even Neville, by the fourth year, has shown promise in herbology. And, of course, Draco is good at potions. What's Harry got? Quidditch. Dude is a JOCK. I would have hated him in high school.
Is it his tendency toward self-pity? His quickness to anger? His inability to follow even the simplest school rules? (As a Slytherin, frankly, I resent the implication of the first and second, but the third shows some promise. He can be pretty sneaky. Give that boy a Maurader's Map and he's good to go -- although that was an entirely Gryffindor product from the beginning.)
Harry is also a cheater. He cheats in potions class. I mean, straight-up. And he has no qualms whatsoever about using the morally ambiguous curses he finds in Snape's potion book on his enemies. He might favor the "Expelliarmus" spell, but is shown willing to use the Unforgivable Curses against Bellatrix afer she's killed Sirius.
What do y'all think?
(I need to take off. I'm supposed to pick up Shawn for her birthday celebration NOW.)
marlowe1 noted that Slytherins get outed for their racism in the later Harry books, but it is interesting to remember that Voldemort himself is a half-blood, who hated his Muggle father. Snape, the head of Slytherin House, is also a half-blood; he is, in point of fact, the Half-Blood Prince of the title of that book. (Harry, of course, is PURE blood. His mom was Muggle born, but she was a witch.)While mostly pure bloods get sorted to Slytherin it's NOT a requirement. Harry, as we all remember, was nearly sorted into Slytherin (and speaks parseltongue for crying out loud), and comes around to the idea at the end that it would be okay if his own son were sorted there.
So what about Harry would have made him a good Slytherin, besides the ability to speak to snakes, do you think?
He's not terribly ambitious. I mean, I love Harry, but neither he nor Ron show a lot of apptitude for school work (until, perhaps, inspired by the non-Moody.) Even Neville, by the fourth year, has shown promise in herbology. And, of course, Draco is good at potions. What's Harry got? Quidditch. Dude is a JOCK. I would have hated him in high school.
Is it his tendency toward self-pity? His quickness to anger? His inability to follow even the simplest school rules? (As a Slytherin, frankly, I resent the implication of the first and second, but the third shows some promise. He can be pretty sneaky. Give that boy a Maurader's Map and he's good to go -- although that was an entirely Gryffindor product from the beginning.)
Harry is also a cheater. He cheats in potions class. I mean, straight-up. And he has no qualms whatsoever about using the morally ambiguous curses he finds in Snape's potion book on his enemies. He might favor the "Expelliarmus" spell, but is shown willing to use the Unforgivable Curses against Bellatrix afer she's killed Sirius.
What do y'all think?
(I need to take off. I'm supposed to pick up Shawn for her birthday celebration NOW.)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-01 04:34 pm (UTC)One of the things I have LOVED about playing in Alternity is the opportunity to explore the intersection of the classic "Slytherin" traits, and heroism. Alternity is an alt-u Hogwarts, in which Voldemort killed James and Lily, then adopted Harry. It's now Year Three; Harry is Harry Marvolo, who was Sorted into Gryffindor but moved to Slytherin on the orders of his father, the Lord Protector. Draco Malfoy is his best friend, although he's maintained some tenuous connections to Ron. Hermione is his personal servant. The Carrows teach at Hogwarts. Barty Crouch is the head of Magical Law Enforcement and Bellatrix Lestrange is an auror (and has a daughter who is a second-year student at Hogwarts).
In a fascist dystopia, if you want to think your own thoughts, you HAVE to be able to lie, shamelessly -- shamelessly is important, because when you feel shame, you start to adjust your own thoughts to match the things you're being forced to say. In a fascist dystopia, only the most crazily ambitious people will look at the situation and think, "I am going to change this."
(Incidentally, even though I know she's a Slytherin, Bellatrix Lestrange could totally have been Sorted into Gryffindor. She is INCREDIBLY brave. Also incredibly EVIL. But really brave. Kind of the flip side of Neville: all is lost, but she still believes. JKR really values bravery and seems to feel on some level that only good people are brave -- Pettigrew was a mis-Sorted Gryffindor, someone who probably should have been in Hufflepuff but was likely Sorted into Gryffindor because he so desperately wanted to be. Pettigrew turned to the dark side because ultimately he was a coward. Bellatrix sought out the dark side and embraced it and didn't even fear Azkaban.)