![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Hogwarts Houses
Apr. 30th, 2005 12:10 pmI've been meaning to say this for quite some time: I don't believe in the Hogwarts houses and don't take them into account when writing fics or considering characterisation. There.
All right, that's not quite correct. Obviously, the Sorting is an important initiation ritual at Hogwarts, and the houses form the way a student is thinking and acting. But that's exactly the point: the Hat does not sort the children with regard to the character traits that are developed the strongest a priori. It sorts the children into the house in which they will do best and which will help them to develop certain character traits. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: tell an 11-years-old that they are supposedly hard-working and loyal and put them into an environment that promotes hard work and loyality and award them for being hard-working and loyal, and you most likely will get a hard-working and loyal person in the end.
During Sorting, the Hat listens to the children's wishes and does not put them into houses they don't want to be in, as Harry and Hermione's examples prove. This shows that the Hat acknowledges that each person has many different character traits, all of which can be promoted and nourished, and that putting them into a certain house does not mean that the other characteristics do not exist. Being sorted into Gryffindor means that one values bravery most as a method of getting things done, not that one is completely unable of logical thinking, cunning or loyalty.
Also, it should be obvious, given the strong family bonds in the wizarding world, that children grow up in an environment that favours one particular house over the others before they get to Hogwarts. The Weasleys were all sorted into Gryffindor not necessarily because they are braver than, say, the Malfoys, but because they grew up believing that Gryffindor is the best house to be sorted into. They most likely sat under the Hat thinking, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin... Please let me be in Gryffindor..." and the Hat said, "Not Slytherin, eh? Very well, then... GRYFFINDOR!" - I understand that when a boy comes from a family with a long Oxford tradition, he will go to Oxford, too, and not to Cambridge, and he will be considered later in life to be a typical Oxfordian. The same happens with the Hogwarts students. If someone behaves in a certain manner, everyone says, oh, yeah, that is because they're such an [insert house here]! Had they been in a different house, everyone would say, oh, yeah, that is because they're such an [insert different house here]!
Basically, this is the way logic works. You don't start at A, proceed through B and arrive at C. - You know what C will be from the very beginning, and then start looking for a B that will get you there from your starting point A.
( Because, really, Neville Longbottom is such a Slytherin. )
And before you ask: Yeah, I'm a Ravenclaw. We love logic games and intellectual exercises.
All right, that's not quite correct. Obviously, the Sorting is an important initiation ritual at Hogwarts, and the houses form the way a student is thinking and acting. But that's exactly the point: the Hat does not sort the children with regard to the character traits that are developed the strongest a priori. It sorts the children into the house in which they will do best and which will help them to develop certain character traits. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: tell an 11-years-old that they are supposedly hard-working and loyal and put them into an environment that promotes hard work and loyality and award them for being hard-working and loyal, and you most likely will get a hard-working and loyal person in the end.
During Sorting, the Hat listens to the children's wishes and does not put them into houses they don't want to be in, as Harry and Hermione's examples prove. This shows that the Hat acknowledges that each person has many different character traits, all of which can be promoted and nourished, and that putting them into a certain house does not mean that the other characteristics do not exist. Being sorted into Gryffindor means that one values bravery most as a method of getting things done, not that one is completely unable of logical thinking, cunning or loyalty.
Also, it should be obvious, given the strong family bonds in the wizarding world, that children grow up in an environment that favours one particular house over the others before they get to Hogwarts. The Weasleys were all sorted into Gryffindor not necessarily because they are braver than, say, the Malfoys, but because they grew up believing that Gryffindor is the best house to be sorted into. They most likely sat under the Hat thinking, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin... Please let me be in Gryffindor..." and the Hat said, "Not Slytherin, eh? Very well, then... GRYFFINDOR!" - I understand that when a boy comes from a family with a long Oxford tradition, he will go to Oxford, too, and not to Cambridge, and he will be considered later in life to be a typical Oxfordian. The same happens with the Hogwarts students. If someone behaves in a certain manner, everyone says, oh, yeah, that is because they're such an [insert house here]! Had they been in a different house, everyone would say, oh, yeah, that is because they're such an [insert different house here]!
Basically, this is the way logic works. You don't start at A, proceed through B and arrive at C. - You know what C will be from the very beginning, and then start looking for a B that will get you there from your starting point A.
( Because, really, Neville Longbottom is such a Slytherin. )
And before you ask: Yeah, I'm a Ravenclaw. We love logic games and intellectual exercises.
