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Harry Potter
Feb. 19th, 2002 10:11 amI'm partway into the third book, and am strongly feeling the urge to worship Satan. No, no, no, that's not what I meant to write. Let me try again:
1. Every evil wizard ever was a member of Slytherin when s/he was at Hogwarts. Furthermore, it is currently (in Harry-time) full of cheaters and miscreants. Why does the Ministry of Magic, to say nothing of Dumbledore, allow the house to continue? At the very least you'd think they'd have it taken over by people, well, unlike Snape, to clean house and instill better values.
My guess about why they don't (aside from the obvious one that it makes for better fiction) is that they're preparing the Hufflepuff, Ravensclaw and Gryffindor students for adult life, where there are Slytherins around every corner so you'd better get used to dealing with them.
But this does seem rather callous, as if they'r writing off all the Slytherin students as "Incurably Criminal Boys."
2. Why must Harry remain with the Dursleys? I mean, there are intelligent, caring, influential adults on Harry's side: Dumbledore, McGonagall, the Weasleys. Besides that, Harry has his own resources: a fortune in wizard money left behind by his parents.
Yet he is made to endure a homelife that is frankly miserable; barely a step up from a Dickensian orphan. His talents aren't nurtured, hell, he isn't even treated kindly. Is there really nowhere else in the wizard, or even Muggle, world, where he could spend his non-Hogwarts time?
Again, my only guess is they're all thinking adversity breeds character. But good grief, how strong does one's character need to be? It's bad enough someone tries to kill him during every school year...
1. Every evil wizard ever was a member of Slytherin when s/he was at Hogwarts. Furthermore, it is currently (in Harry-time) full of cheaters and miscreants. Why does the Ministry of Magic, to say nothing of Dumbledore, allow the house to continue? At the very least you'd think they'd have it taken over by people, well, unlike Snape, to clean house and instill better values.
My guess about why they don't (aside from the obvious one that it makes for better fiction) is that they're preparing the Hufflepuff, Ravensclaw and Gryffindor students for adult life, where there are Slytherins around every corner so you'd better get used to dealing with them.
But this does seem rather callous, as if they'r writing off all the Slytherin students as "Incurably Criminal Boys."
2. Why must Harry remain with the Dursleys? I mean, there are intelligent, caring, influential adults on Harry's side: Dumbledore, McGonagall, the Weasleys. Besides that, Harry has his own resources: a fortune in wizard money left behind by his parents.
Yet he is made to endure a homelife that is frankly miserable; barely a step up from a Dickensian orphan. His talents aren't nurtured, hell, he isn't even treated kindly. Is there really nowhere else in the wizard, or even Muggle, world, where he could spend his non-Hogwarts time?
Again, my only guess is they're all thinking adversity breeds character. But good grief, how strong does one's character need to be? It's bad enough someone tries to kill him during every school year...
