After 14 years, perhaps I sorted myself incorrectly..
As anyone who knows me well is more than fully aware, I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. Usually it’s in pretty good remission (and hidden by my other obsessions, i.e. Star Wars, baseball, student government, politics, etc.), but every once in a while (and especially when a new film’s release is pending) it comes out again and I get nice and caught up in the wonderful world that J.K. Rowling has created with her bad, adolescent writing.
Fourteen years ago, when my mother walked into our hotel room and handed me a book with an off-putting-ly long title, I never suspected that I could (let alone would) have the kind of love for the world within that I do.
And, being the ten year-old boy that I was, I did everything I could to immerse myself in the world that I could never truly visit. (Even then, it was apparent to me that eventually a theme park would come into being as long as the book and its successors were successful, and even then, I was able to recognize that whatever experience a theme park might provide me it was not the world I wanted to be a part of so badly.) So what did I do? I started writing fan fiction that involved myself and my friends (but not the characters from the books), I created a world beyond Hogwarts and the UK, I started imagining spells and potions and a school in Los Angeles that my fictional self could attend and have adventures at (for the record, the hardest part of that was coming up with a good enough villain or antagonistic force), and — most importantly for this particular post — I sorted myself into Ravenclaw.
Now, there’s a lot of reasons why I might’ve done that (I was obsessed with birds and flight, blue was my favorite color, it wasn’t the “good” house of Gryffindor, it wasn’t the “bad” house of Slytherin, we had yet to actually meet any Ravenclaws so I could be somewhat special in the HP world), but the reality of it is that I sorted myself into Ravenclaw because it was the house full of “smart people,” and I fancied myself one of them. I suppose I still do, but the interesting part of this whole situation is that as I’ve grown older I’ve found my views on the houses evolving at the same rate as my views on people in general.
When we are children (and trust me, some adults seem to have never lost this particular trait), the world seems so simple that we are able to categorize everything into single labels. For a Red Sox fan, the Yankees are just evil. For a young child, the teacher is just authority. And for the younger readers of the Harry Potter series it’s just as simple: Gryffindor is good, Slytherin is bad, Ravenclaw is smart, and Hufflepuff is everyone else.
And yet, as we grow older, it becomes painfully obvious that such a simple categorization of people is less simple, especially as we begin to have the ability to understand the nuances of human emotion and intellect and ambition. No single Hogwarts house is full of individuals who can so easily be categorized. For example, Gryffidor boasts the less than good Peter Pettigrew (better known by some as Wormtail), and Slytherin was home to perhaps the bravest individual in the entire series, Severus Snape. Even Ravenclaw was home to the quite incapable Gilderoy Lockhart, and Hufflepuff can call the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory its own.
Thus, as I grow older and as the “end of an era” nears this evening, it only seems fitting that I have found myself rather strongly second-guessing my 10 year-old self’s ability to sort myself accurately into Ravenclaw. Interestingly enough, it’s mostly because of Severus Snape and just a little bit because of Hermione Granger. Allow me to explain, beginning with the latter.
Hermione has always been somewhat of an anomaly for those of us in Ravenclaw. It just doesn’t seem to make much sense for the smartest witch in her year to be in anything but Ravenclaw. Except that Ravenclaw is based on more than simple intelligence (both Hermione and Severus Snape are examples of that), but upon placing value on that wit and intelligence above all other things. (After all, it was Rowena Ravenclaw who said, “Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.”) But after seven books, can we truly say that her intelligence was Hermione’s defining trait? Can we even say that it was her most cherished trait. I think not. Rather, it was her bravery and her daring (and perhaps her loyalty, a Hufflepuff trait) that not only defined Ms. Granger, but also that she would most likely say were her most valued traits.
For Severus Snape, the definition is murky as well, specifically because of all he was willing to brave for his love. But it is that love which so firmly places Professor Snape into Slytherin (along with his interest in the Dark Arts, I suppose). It seems to be a rather common misconception that Slytherins are defined by (apart from supposedly being evil) their ambition and cunning. However, I would argue that those traits have been mislabeled and misdefined, and should be better understood to exist under a much stronger and bolder trait: passion. If we look around the Slytherin house tree, we see that its members are not necessarily examples of evil, so much as they are examples of passionate individuals who are not only quite devout in that passion, but willing to do what is necessary to fulfill that passion. For Voldemort, that was the eradication of “mudbloods” and enslavement of muggles. For the Malfoys, it was self-preservation. And for Severus Snape, it was love for Lily Potter.
Thus, as I have been looking at myself and the houses lately, I can’t help but wonder if, after all these years, I should’ve sorted myself into Slytherin.
Really, my doubt comes from reading and thinking more and more about Snape. But lets look at each of the houses in turn. On the one hand we have Ravenclaw, valuing wit, creativity, wisdom, intelligence, resourcefulness, cleverness, and knowledge above all else. On the other hand we have Slytherin, valuing ambition, cleverness, cunning, resourcefulness, strong leadership, and passion. As you can see, there is some crossover. But as I look at the other traits, I can’t help but feel that (despite my love for birds and flight), Slytherin is perhaps the better fit for someone with my personality and traits.
I like to think of myself as witty and intelligent (and I think it’s fair to make the assumption that I am), but they are far from my defining traits. Ravenclaws tend to be academically motivated and talented students, and while I may be able to perform well when I need to, it should be clear to anyone who has ever known me in school that I am anything but academically motivated and my grades tend to show that (whether my actual knowledge and understanding do is another story entirely). On the other hand, Slytherins tend to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes of a decision before taking action. It would seem, then that logic, which would probably initially be considered a Ravenclaw trait, is much better suited to the Slytherins — a thought which was illustrated by the fact that the logic challenge from Sorcerer’s Stone was created not by Professor Flitwick, but rather by Professor Snape.
So, I suppose I don’t really know for sure. Sadly, after nearly 14 years and many an online quiz (which, I would like to point out, seem to all suffer from the idea that it is what kind of activities and traits you possess, not those which you prefer, are the most important in making the decision — a definition that would have seen Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, respectively), I’m leaning toward re-sorting myself as a Slytherin. I suppose I will have to think on it more.
Any input from you?
