Friday, October 29, 2010

Facebook Sorting Hat

In the spirit of Halloween and in response to a quiz that's been going around my extended friend group on Facebook for the last week and a half, I thought I'd go all Harry Potter on you. Honestly, it doesn't take a lot - read: any - prompting for me to go all Harry Potter, but I have a really good excuse this time.
Usually I resist FB quizzes, but the Sorting one intrigued me. I've done a lot of them in the past. I usually get Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, which both suit me fine, though I tend to think of myself as a Ravenclaw - I'm analytical, read a lot, and am more reserved than your average American college student. I'm loyal, but it takes me a long time to open up to people.

(I have this other tie to the Sorting Hat -
check out the pic to the right. Behold: my school's Suess Spruce/Sorting Hat.)

The quiz was a fairly high quality one. You know, it asked about what role you take in a group and how you'd react to being caught in the wrong (if you'd even be caught in the wrong to begin with), instead of asking if you like green or blue better and whether you consider yourself more of a badger or a lion.

I answered honestly, even though some of the answers were a little unflattering. I figured, correctly that no one would see the answers and I'd get one of the houses I always get.

I got Slytherin. Huh?

I was surprised, but then I wondered why I was surprised, and was then chagrined that I was vaguely unsettled by it. It's just a Facebook quiz, right?

And what's wrong with being Slytherin, after all? I think JK is unfair in her treatment of them. (This is, of course, an absurd statement, as she can write whatever she wants about the things she invents, but stay with me here.) They're the flattest house of the four. Yes, they have characters on the faculty level who round them out - Slughorn, Snape - but on the student level, they pretty much are exactly what they're said to be. Every other house has much more well-rounded students, and saying that we know they're rounded because Harry spends more time with them only proves the point. There's never a redeeming student. I think the most unrealistic moment comes in DH, when none of the Slytherins opt to stay to defend the school. Not one? Really?

I think, as far as the Sorting Hat's words go, Slytherin's sound pretty badass. They're clever and determined and, sure, they cut corners, but they get what they want. But I can't believe they're without morals, as some Sorting Hat quizzes suggest. I don't think a quarter of the world has no morals.

So, what do I strike you guys as? Have you taken this quiz, or one like it?

5 comments:

  1. I always get Hufflepuff on quizzes. I actually got Ravenclaw on this one. But I'm totally with you on the Slytherin thing. Maybe that's why I'm forever trying to redeem them. (My newest project is Pansy.) But yeah, the way Slytherins are just perceived as "evil" seems silly. If I divided up my school into four categories, no way would 1/4th of the school qualify as "evil". (Granted, in college there might be 1/4th with no morals.. *cough*) Anyways.. basically, totally agree.

    Oh, and I think you strike me as a Ravenclaw. Probably because you're super clever. And for some reason (maybe BECAUSE JKR is partial to them) I always shy away from really liking Gryffindor. And because I really like YOU, you can't be Gryffindor. HA. That's my logic. :P

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  2. Join me in Ravenclaw! I can totally see you as a Hufflepuff, too, you've got the loyalty thing down pat, from my point of view. You're one of my most steadfast HPANA friends and after - wait, how long has it been? - that's saying something. :-)

    Hahaha, I totally agree on the Gryffindors! I resist them because JK doesn't want us to. They seem kind of too full of themselves, and the way they are about winning and beating Slytherin and generally ignoring the other two houses makes me imagine all the jokes in my school being Gryffindors. Of course, ultimately I like them *cough* Marauders *cough*

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  3. I haven't taken the quiz, but LOL at your essay on Slytherin. Love it!

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  4. Yay! A Harry Potter post!

    I totally agree with you on the treatment of Slytherin's students. I thought the same thing about the fact that none of them seemed to have stayed for the fight. JKR makes an attempt to redeem them with Harry telling his son that the bravest man he knew was in Slytherin so there's nothing wrong with being in the house (*rolls eyes at the cheesiness of that epilogue*), but I don't think it was enough. We'd spent seven books hearing about how horrible the students are, for heaven's sake!

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