(Essay) The Slytherin Bias

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

The Slytherin Bias
Moon Faery & Slytherin House//Slytherin

Notes: This was posted first in cunningfolk. Since my fellow Slytherins seem to be throwing their support behind it, I'm posting it here for the Mods and other House members to read. This spawned from frustration over the incredibly large gap in numbers between Slytherin and the rest of the Houses, giving Slytherin a strong disadvantage in the race for Points. I'd like to ask any Mods that read this to consider the negative wording in the Cheat Sheets and general House concepts applied to Slytherin, and how this might affect both morale, Sorting and inter-House relations.

Resources: "What is Slytherin?" thread in cunningfolk (http://community.livejournal.com/cunningfolk/237887.html).
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, books 1-6.
"What is a Slytherin?" poem by onezeronothing

Abstract: Slytherin, with the other three Houses, is a keystone on which Hogwarts and hogwartsishome stands. Much maligned in the series, why does Slytherin hold such a poor reputation? What is the truth behind the House of the snake and those who bear its banner? The Slytherin House at hogwartsishome would like to officially set the record straight.



Hard work. Courage. Ambition. Wisdom. These traits are what the four Houses of Hogwarts (and through it, hogwartsishome) rest their foundations upon. None of these traits can stand on their own, no matter what certain icons and signature tags may claim. Hard work with no intelligence accomplishes nothing, and courage without ambition is pointless. Ambition without effort is mere dreaming, and wisdom without action is in stasis. The unity of all these things is the strength of Hogwarts. As evident in the Harry Potter series, the derision of even a single House can cause the entire structure to "crumble from within". In the series, the maligned House was Slytherin. Is it any surprise to see this bias carried over to hogwartsishome?

Slytherin prides itself on ambition and cunning, its key traits as defined by the Sorting Hat. That is to say, they pride themselves on the desire to achieve and the resourcefulness to do so. Within these two traits lay all depths of ambition. From the drive to change the world for good or ill, or simply to change their own place in it, Slytherin is the House for those who strive to attain their goals, not merely for those of "higher" goals – such as world domination or bloody slaughter. As the Hat says, "Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends." Or, in other words, the ends justify the means, and the ends can be and often are vastly varied.

This definition, however, is often sorely slandered, and Slytherin House with it. Character opinions, such as Hagrid's untrue (yet firmly held) statement that Dark witches and wizards only come from Slytherin and Ron's family-born intolerance prejudices the main character Harry very early in the series. Since the series is written mostly from a single point of view, and that perspective is a highly sympathetic one, an unwary reader is caught up in the bias very swiftly.

The rift between Slytherin and the rest of the Houses only deepens as the villains of the story are introduced. Voldemort, clearly deranged and just as clearly evil, is the foremost Slytherin introduced early in the series. His thirst for revenge and power are hardly a gold star in Slytherin House's record, and his murder of Harry's famously Gryffindor parents only highlight the differences between those two Houses. Then Draco Malfoy appears, and Slytherin's reputation with the reader falls even farther with his cold-hearted and twisted world-view. Draco doesn't become a truly three-dimensional character until the series is almost complete, when he is finally allowed to reveal his own ambition: to make his parents proud. Sadly, between his introduction and his exposed humanity, Draco does nothing except strengthen the Slytherin stereotype of cruelty in the name of hedonistic morality and goals. The final blow to Slytherin's pride is suffered by way of Professor Severus Snape, whose bat-like and unpleasant appearance couple with his sour demeanor and hatred of Harry to make him an instant villain without any true action on his part. He sums up Harry's feeling of Slytherin double-dealing and evil, and confirms them with his actions at the end of book 6. Through Snape, the bias is "proven" in the eyes of the readers and the main character.

Because the main-character is an unreliable narrator in this instance, the view of Slytherin put forth by Harry cannot be trusted. Just as Gryffindors cannot be measured by Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape is by no means the Slytherin measuring stick. So the question becomes, "What is a Slytherin?" Ambition and cunning, of course, but what minor traits weigh most heavily when Sorting a snake from a mass of folk?

A Slytherin must be practical to some extent. After all, ambitions become dreams if they're impossible to achieve. But a Slytherin is almost certainly optimistic as well as practical, for doubt breeds inaction rather than ambition. For these same reasons, Slytherins are idealistic: to see things as they should or could be is more likely to spark ambition than to see things as they are. Even Voldemort, for all his evil, shows these traits in his dogged pursuit of the future he intends to carve out for the wizarding world, and his followers are the same. Opportunistic and resourceful come from cunning, for "cunning" is no less than the immediate recognition of the value of resources as they become available?

What about interpersonally? Surely, against all propaganda otherwise, an un-beleaguered Slytherin may take its place as one of the most open, accepting and friendliest of all Hogwarts Houses. It's already been noted that resourcefulness comes to the House via cunning. A House of cunning would be greatly out of character to turn away people without practical justification, for people are a resource not easily replaced. Such would be a waste uncharacteristic of Slytherin. Similarly, while not necessarily kind, a Slytherin is a friend that can always be counted on to be there in need, and will expect the same consideration. A small amount of open-minded courtesy and friendship earn great rewards, as Slytherin House well knows.

If all that is what Slytherin is, then what is it not? It's not inherently evil, any more than Gryffindor is inherently good, and any concepts with a similarly negative weight similarly are inapplicable. Ambition itself is neither good nor evil, only the action it leads to can be given a moral value. Indeed, if ambition were evil, then perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with his ambition for a desegregated and prejudice-free country is the greatest evil-doer of the twentieth century. No Slytherin can be said to be meek, for that is the providence of those lacking in drive. Wasteful is directly in opposition to resourceful, and therefore distinctly un-Slytherin. Complacency and the lack of ambition it carries has no place in the House of the snake. Close-minded, already mentioned above, is a sign of a mind too set in its ways to achieve anything new, and is more likely to oppose change rather than strive for it. Weak is another word that fits quite well with Slytherin antonyms, for the weak of heart accomplish nothing and are unlikely to try. Perhaps at the top of the list should be dull, for no matter what else the characters in the series achieve, they certainly liven up the story.

Slytherin, while commonly boasted as the "House of Evil", holds people whose only aim (as a group) are a wish to be and to do things, great and small. While that drive can be used for the betterment of themselves like any other personality trait, it holds as much potential to be used for the good of all people. The bearers of a tarnished reputation at Hogwarts, the Slytherins of hogwartsishome hold themselves above the stereotype, and all of the community is enriched by their presence.

In conclusion, "What is a Slytherin?" (by onezeronothing)

A childhood toy
The love of a friend
A hand to hold
When tears fill the end

The comforting hush
The end of a scream
A friend willing to protect
At all extremes

A loyal ally
A painful foe
A shoulder to cry on
When you've no place to go

The merciful one hiding
A resentment so deep
The ally whose anger
Will stew with no peep

The sudden humiliation
Wrought from a friend
The ages old fight
You were sure had its end

A gentle word locked
In condescending phrase
A love fathoms deep
To conceal the rage

The killing whisper
In the dead of night
A scream in the dark
Embracing a fright

The strike when you're down
A stab in the heart
A friend's laughter
The poisoned dart

The genial hand
To wipe away tears
The calming voice
Erasing all fears

Boundless loyalty
Encouraging wit
Circumstantial valour
The final hit

That's a Slytherin.

Comments

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Thank you. (sheepish bow)

[rindiggfelt.livejournal.com]

Well said. I'm no Slytherin myself, but I do believe Slytherin is not about evil as much as it is about having a goal and working towards it regardless of the circumstances.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Precisely. Seems like at least a few people were gotten through to. Makes the pain of watching my grammar worth-while.

[serpentine.livejournal.com]

i may be partial to slytherin because i almost ended up in that house, but i agree. i've never thought of slytherin as a house of evil or anything of that nature. the truly ambitious lie within slytherin (as so other houses) and sometimes... well... they get a little out of control.

i try to sort people on what i see in them... and i won't lie. there've been a few times where i see people choosing puff and i see slytherin.

good essay, nevertheless. very literary and well thought out. almost claw like ;)

liz; ravenclaw

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Ravenclaw was my runner-up in the Sorting, though it was far behind... Slytherin to the core, I suppose.

[beccastareyes]

I recall once seeing an essay on the social structure of the Wizarding World that pointed out that the one reason many of the most recent crop of Dark Wizards were from Slytherin was not because of any inheirent quality of the House, but because the Death Eaters were lead by Voldemort (Tom Riddle -- heir to Slytherin) and had Lucius Malfoy (another Slytherin) as a prominant member, both of whom probably recruited primarily among school friends (other Slytherins). If Voldemort had been sorted into another House, the Death Eaters would mostly be from that House.

But, yes, anyway, good essay. As a House, Syltherin is much maligned (not just in HiH -- many of the ranting posts about HP RPGs usually include the complaint about too many 'evil' (or 'gothy') Slytherins and not enough people who actually show the qualities of the House.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

I never thought about that. Hm. It's a possibility though. Most of my thoughts on it were that Sytherins tend to be branded as the "outsiders" (such as in the DA, where they were the only House not to have a single member). Since the labeling happens so young, they might develop a "them versus us" attitude towards the rest of the Wizarding world. It would make them easy prey for anyone charismatic who claims they want to grant them equal or even high status. Then again, only J.K. Rowling knows, and she's not talking. Thank you for the thought though! And the read.

[beccastareyes]

I don't think Slytherins are outsiders -- I think, until Tom Riddle, they were probably disproportionatly in roles of authority (and well-respected). Look at Slughorn for an example, or Phinneas Nigellus. The fact that so many went Dark probably meant that the reputation of Slytherin changed in Harry's generation and his schoolmates' parents began to wonder what happened.

Now, I'm wondering if other British Dark Wizards in history had mostly people from their House in Hogwarts as followers. It would be kind of cool to see how a Ravenclaw/Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Dark Lord would be different from Voldemort.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Phinneas Nigellus! I think I may have mixed up my characters in another comment! Whoops! I'll have to fix it or it shall drive me insane.

Come to think of it, my thoery is just conjecture based on the Sorting Hat's song in book five (Slytherin left, we were never the same, et cetera and so on). Really, the readers have no idea of the school atmostphere pre-dating Harry's parents. We do have one tiny comment that Nigellus was one of the rare Slytherin Headmasters, but that could just be that ambition might look a bit higher than leading a boarding school.

It would be interesting to see how a Dark Lord from another House would operate. They all have such different ideals and out-looks... And now my inner fiction-writer must be shoved back with a stick!

[devils-sidekick.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing,I love the ♥ the essay.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! I hope other Houses do the same. It would be interesting to read them all!

[lariren-shadow.livejournal.com]

I liked it, and it was nice a well thought out. I agree that in the books we seem to get a bias view of Slytherin. Its sort of tried to be changed with Horce Slughorn, but only a little.

One of the things I noticed, that I think should be pointed out, is that Slytherin and Gryffindor have a lot in common. As do all the Houses, but those seeming enemies do have a lot in common. Both are loyal to their friends, as we have seen through Harry and even others(think Hermione with the confundous charm to get Ron on the Quidditch team) have some cunning too. I have even seen this in sorting. There are some people who get literally almost neck and neck Slytherin and Gryffindor votes because the Houses can be seen as so alike.

Anyway, that is my two cents but I really liked this and I always thought that not all Slytherins were evil. And looking at the cheat sheet, yes, it does need to be changed.

And wonderful poem as well.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

I am re-posting this because I made a phenomenal blunder on a character name, and can't forgive myself until I fix it. So it's fixed.

Actually, that was one of the points made in the original query thread. All the Houses have some similarities, but Slytherin in particular seems to draw on the traits of the others, which may be part of the problem in Sorting. Crabbe and Goyle are loyal to a fault, even looking lost when Draco's gone. Snape is both courageous and intelligent, and Phinneas Nigellus seems to have been a very wise headmaster. I decided not to include it because it was getting just a bit off-topic. Good of you to notice though!

My next move on the Cheat Sheet may be to beg certain Mods to bring up the issue... I'm determined to get that thing changed.

The poem was written by onezeronothing. Isn't it perfect? I couldn't keep from including it. Maybe I should use the royal we when answering comments... The essay really belongs to all of the House... They supplied the ideas. I just typed it up.

Maybe not though. That would be a bit pretentious.

[lariren-shadow.livejournal.com]

Really? I did not see the first time. Huh, oh well. At least someone noticed.

I really only noticed that more when I came here. I mean, I know about Slytherin in the books, but for some reason I just thought that maybe all the ones who were not Death Eater potentionals were just not in Harry's year. Meh. You do bring up a good point. I mean, I entirly see that all the time. In fact, one application is going through the whole Gryffindor and Slytherin neck and neck vote right now(noticed that). But everyone thinks that to be a Slytherin it means that they are evil, not true ever.

You should. I think they are taking it into consideration. With the poll about where you sort people and all. I kind of like that they are doing that too.

Yes, it was. You could use the royal we because you are addressing for the whole House. Not too pretentious, because tis everyone's opinion, right? At least that is how I would see it.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

I know exactly which application you mean, and am desperately trying not to talk about it, lest I create unnecessary drama. It is an excellent example of my perspective though.

I rather hope they're already considering it, but I'm willing to give it a little time before pushing again. No reason to annoy people after all. Slytherin House has lasted this long after all. A few more days shall kill nothing.

I can't be certain that everyone agrees with me though! There's always the inactive or silent ones, and I'd hate to presume upon their opinions just to promote my own. (In other words, I'd rather not be lynched for assuming too much. It's not important enough to risk offending anyone.)

[spider-fan.livejournal.com]

Very nice! That was a really good read. I'm a newly appointed Gryffindor, but I agree completely with you. I think just because alot of dark witches and wizards came from a certain house, does not make that house evil, it just has a tendancy to draw people with certain traits that could be persuaded to more evil purposes.

I'm a big comic geek, and I've kind of thought that Slytherin and Gryffindor are alot like The X-Men and Magneto. They are both trying to make the world a better place, but have vastly differant views of how that should be done.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

We can't even really be sure that most Dark witches and wizards come from Slytherin. A lot of focus is given to Slytherin as the Dark House, so real megalomantiacs from other Houses might be counted off as anamolies and unconsciously played down. Like Pettigrew or Sirius Black, who aren't really even counted because they're Gryffindors and everyone should have known better!

In the books, maybe the X-men analogy is a good one. I'm still not convinced that all Slytherins in the series are on Voldemort's side, but I haven't seen any evidence against it either. Aa, well. Thank you for the reply!

[prettyveela.livejournal.com]

Nice essay!

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[seer-trelawney.livejournal.com]

Clue to the next piece:
As holidays go, Butterbeer is crucial
and a recipe for it is, truthfully, useful

This is for The Order's Department of Mysteries Activity. Please do not delete until after April 16th.