The problem of Slytherin

Thanks for accepting, Tulle. For reference, all of the books can be found here: http://tinyurl.com... “Oh, know the perils, read the signs, the warning history shows, for our Hogwarts is in danger from external, deadly foes And we must unite inside her or we'll crumble from within I have told you, I have warned you... let the Sorting now begin.” –The Sorting Hat, 1995.I contend that the treatment of Slytherin House in the Harry Potter novels is one of the biggest blunders in the entire series and serves to undermine the series thematically. I. Missed opportunitiesOne of the biggest themes in the Harry Potter series is the idea of the moral worth of the individual and of choice. Slytherin House is dehumanized and its members treated with the utmost disrespect and in many cases viewed as not even human. From the very first novel where Dumbledore let's Slytherin believe that their hard work had payed off and they had won the House Cup--only to change the point distribution at the last minute and give the win to the fourth place team to McGonagall summarily dismissing the entire house before the final battle due to the cowardly antics of a single house member, Slytherin is routinely not given a square deal.Indeed, in The Order of The Phoenix, the Weasley twins nearly murder a Slytherin student, Montague, by forcing him into a broken vanishing cabinet when he attempted to take house points from them[1]. The incident proved nearly fatal to the boy and caused him to be disoriented for weeks. Not only were the twins never punished for it, the moral implications of treating someone in such a way are not once discussed and the whole incident seems to be intended to be viewed as some sort of joke, or as a villain getting his righteous comeuppance. This kind of treatment of characters in the text is frankly disturbing and a giant missed opportunity. In the previous novels, we learn that during the first Voldemort war many on the light side became just as brutal and violent as those they fought--killing instead of capturing and throwing enemies into what amounts to psychological torture for their entire lives without a trial[2]. The incident could've served as a sobering lesson to Harry and his friends that they too could repeat the mistakes of their elders and prove that victory is of no value if the good side becomes evil in its attempts to fight it. Instead, when Hermione suggests that they tell the nurse what they know in order to help him recover, Ron and Harry blow her off and express satisfaction at the trouble the whole incident is giving the administration[3]. To my knowledge, the issue isn't ever discussed again. Declaring 25% of the schools population as unworthy of protection and justice at age 11 is a moral travesty. In the final book, the Slytherins as a whole are all led into the dungeons and not given the chance to make their choice and take a stand against Voldemort. This is never once argued to be an unjust or foolish act. Once again, what could've been a compelling image of a number of Slytherins walking away from the prejudice that envelops their house and fighting for justice, an image of Harry realizing that he, too, has committed the heinous fallacy of generalization and painted Slytherins as a whole with too broad of a brush is replaced by instead pretty much affirming all of Harry's pre existing beliefs. Indeed, with the exception of Wormtail and a few minorly annoying characters like Zacharias Smith, virtually everyone we see in the novels who is evil or unlikable is in Slytherin. Throughout the entire series, there is literally not a *single* Slytherin the reader meets who is a likable character. What makes Snape such a great character is because of his morally ambiguous nature--Snape is a sadist who bullies 11 year old children to the point of tears and who didn't care if an infant died as long as the object of his love exists. His deep love for Lily, while admirable in it's way, is also pathetically creepy, sad, and one sided. At the beginning of the fifth book, the Sorting Hat warns that if Hogwarts does not unite, it will fall to it's external foes. The Sorting Hat was wrong. There are no Slytherin members of Dumblerdore's Army, and their absence is specifically mentioned in the seventh book. A powerful image is created in the room of requirement where the banner of every Hogwarts house except Slytherin is present. This is not house unity. II. Prejudice underminedYet another theme in the Harry Potter books is the idea of prejudice. Unfortunately, this theme is severely undermined by J.K. Rowling's treatment of Slytherin as well. Indeed, the prejudice people like Hagrid and Ron have towards Slytherin house, the idea that there's not "a single witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin." seems to be wholly justified with only the single notable exception of Wormtail who was in Gryffindor. Instead of the reader being shown that discrimination comes in all forms and exists even among fundamentally decent people like Harry, the reader is instead given every reason to believe that Ron and Hagrid's bigotry is based in reality. Moreover, the idea of blood purity in Harry Potter is clearly supposed to reflect prejudice in our own world. Sadly, Rowling does an absolutely appalling job of making the discrimination seen in the Wizarding World anything at all like the kind we see in reality. In the real world even fundamentally decent people can be somewhat racist and oftentimes not even noticing it. A good deal of the social justice movement as of late has focused on raising awareness of peoples own implicit biases and teaching them how to overcome them. Basically, bigotry runs on a spectrum in the real world with outspoken bigots being but a tiny minority of a problem that runs much deeper and can be found in people of all stripes, even when least expected. In Harry Potter, quite the opposite is shown. Asking oneself "Am I a Slytherin?" may as well be the same as asking oneself "Am I an entitled, racist jerk who wants to uphold my own privilege at the expense of everyone else?" for all Slytherin is portrayed in canon. The only people to show slight Pureblood prejudice (the kind of bias that is more applicable to the real world) as opposed to outspoken bigotry are Snape who hesitates when Lily asks him if being a muggleborn matters and Slughorn who expressed surprise when Muggleborns turned out to be good students. Both of the characters are, predictably, Slytherins. Literally every single blood purist in the entire series who's house affiliation the reader is given is a Slytherin. Again, because this warrants repeating, there is literally not a single example of a person with even mild blood purist sentiments who was not a Slytherin. The majority of Slytherins in canon are outspoken bigots who use the equivalent of racial slurs on a regular basis.Given everything we are told about the rarity of remaining purebloods in the Wizarding World, there is *no way* that traditionally Gryffindor families like the Potters or the Weasley's could have remained pureblood until the late 20th century without having implicit biases. What could've been a compelling narrative of Harry's dad overcoming his own prejudice to marry a muggleborn is lost. What could've been a compelling, and realistic, narrative about prejudice popping up where it is least expected, among people you never would've suspected, is lost. Blood prejudice, it seems, is a sin that belongs to Slytherin house alone, and most bigots are outspoken and honest about it. This runs completely contrary to the real world, and makes a mockery of the real struggles against prejudice real people have to deal with. In reality, we don't get to determine who is or isn't a bigot at age 11 and know that everyone else is not. This is unrealistic, uncompelling, and an enormous missed opportunity. Citations:1. Book 5, Chapter 282. Book four, Chapter 273. Book 5, Chapter 30