The problem of Slytherin

Please refer to the following link when the Harry Potter books are cited: http://www.freebestbooks.net... Before I begin, I would like to remind the reader that, in order for Pro to win, Pro must show that the portrayal of Slytherin House detracts from the series as a whole. This is important. It is not enough for my opponent to show why he dislikes Slytherin House’s portrayal. He may dislike it, and the reader may agree with him, but he must demonstrate why it detracts from the series as a whole. =My Arguments= (1) The series is from Harry’s perspective. The reader is taken on a journey through Harry’s eyes, and we are meant to dislike Slytherin because Harry dislikes Slytherin. Throughout the series, the evils of Slytherin House are magnified and exaggerated while the evils of characters from other houses are downplayed. This not because Slytherin is necessarily worse than the other houses, but rather we are seeing Slytherin portrayed through a biased lens. From the start, Harry's opinion of Slytherin House is contaminated by outside sources. Hagrid poisons the well by telling Harry, "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one." [Book 1, Ch.5] When Ron first meets Draco Malfoy, he bullies him by laughing at his name. However, since Slytherin are the “bad guys” and Crabbe and Goyle "look mean", the reader is supposed to side with Ron and Harry when Draco retaliates. [Book 1, Ch.6] From the moments Harry is introduced to this new world, he is told that 1) all bad witches and wizards are Slytherin and 2) the person who murdered his parents was one. Harry is a biased source and what we read serves to confirm this bias. We see from the Philosopher’s Stone that Harry immediately assumes Snape is the reason his scar hurts, simply from the way he looks [Book 1, Ch.7]. Harry continues to accuse Snape of trying to steal the stone, and is surprised when he learns that Snape has been protecting him the entire time from the real enemy [Book 1, Ch.17]. The entire school shuns Harry in Books 2, 4, and 5, but he never hates the other houses. In Book 6, Harry nearly kills Draco with Sectumsempra [Ch.24] and yet we don't hate Harry because we understand his motivations and thought processes. We don't have the benefit of seeing Slytherin characters' motivations, nor does Harry care to understand them. We learn that Harry's own father, James Potter, made Snape's life a living nightmare while they were at Hogwarts, taunting Snape in ways that were far worse than anything Draco has ever done. [Book 5, Ch.28] Sirius Black even tried to kill Snape when they were 16 by sending him down to the Shrieking Shack, knowing he would meet Remus as a werewolf. [Book 3, Chs.18/27] These evils are vastly underplayed simply because Harry allows them to be, and his feelings dictate what the reader feels. Harry discredits himself as a credible source of what Slytherin House is really like when he admits he was wrong at the end, acknowledging that Snape was the bravest man he ever knew [Book 7, Ch.37]. As the reader, we are meant to understand that the portrayal of Slytherin House has been through Harry's Gryffindor-coloured glasses. (2) The portrayal of Slytherin House contributes to several themes throughout the series. Since we are seeing Slytherin House through Harry's eyes, it allows the reader to reflect on themes of prejudice and moral ambiguity in a subtle way. One of the more prominent running themes in the Harry Potter series is that first impressions are not always correct. In Book 1, Harry thought Snape was the bad guy when it was Quirrell. In Book 2, he thought Draco was opening the Chamber of Secrets but it was Ginny; he also didn't realize until the end that Lockhart was not a good guy. In Book 3, he thinks Sirius is trying to kill him when it was Scabbers he was after all along. In Book 4, he trusts Mad-Eye Moody who turns out to be Barty Crouch Jr. In Book 6, his bias causes him to tunnel on Snape, despite the fact that Dumbledore insists that Snape can be trusted. It is clear that Harry's judgement of other characters is regularly wrong, including his judgements of Slytherin characters being evil, while failing to recognize the evil in non-Slytherin characters. Another theme that is clear throughout the series is that there is grey area between who is “good” and who is “bad”. The first time Harry (and thus, the reader) is really challenged to reflect on his beliefs is when Sirius tells him "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters” [Book 6, Ch.14]. This goes to show that at least up until that point, Harry's perception of who is good or bad is incredibly one-dimensional and immature. A third theme in the series is of treating others how you wish to be treated. Hermione and Dumbledore understood the importance of treating Kreacher with respect, and Kreacher betraying Sirius was a reflection of how Sirius treated him [Book 5, Ch.37]. Harry even comes to like Kreacher when they leave Grimauld Place [Book 7, Ch.14]. This shows how prejudice and the way you treat others directly affects not only how you perceive them, but also how they treat you. Harry's prejudice of Slytherin House would certainly affect how the Slytherins he encounters treat him. We see this most obviously when Draco offers his friendship and Harry rebukes it. (3) Even a one-dimensional portrayal doesn’t detract from the series as a whole. Thus far I have been trying to convince you that the portrayal of Slytherin House was incredibly nuanced and contributed to overarching themes. However, even if I'm wrong and the portrayal of Slytherin House was actually one-dimensional, one mustn't forget that the Harry Potter series is for children. Children’s books often teach complex themes in very simple ways. How do we know the Dursley’s were evil? Because they locked a child in a cupboard under the stairs. Despite child abuse never really being explored in the series, this was not the point. The point was to establish the Dursley's as "bad people" in the mind of a child reader. Similarly, the concept of the “bad Slytherin” was needed early on to establish prejudice in a child reader’s mind. In this way, the reveal of Snape not being the villain in the Philosopher's Stone carried more weight. Additionally, Harry's defense of Slytherin House and admission that Snape was the bravest man he knew [Book 7, Ch.37] would not have had the same impact had Slytherin House not been established as "bad". =Conclusion= The portrayal of Slytherin House was necessary in order to convey the themes of prejudice and good vs evil throughout the Harry Potter series in a subtle way. It may have seemed one-dimensional for a time simply because the story was told from Harry's point of view, and his understanding of Slytherin witches and wizards was one-dimensional. At best, this contributes to the series' themes, but at worst, it's a children's book that establishes who the bad guys are in a way that children can understand---but certainly doesn't detract from the series as a whole.