for Through A Looking Glass, Darkly6/26/2014 c1 Jacqueline
Eye opening. Your essay has made me consider the ramifications of unresolved character bias. Glad I read this piece as it is not something I have previously thought about. Bias is often overlooked in fiction, reserved for non-fiction reading and analysis. Good job.
Eye opening. Your essay has made me consider the ramifications of unresolved character bias. Glad I read this piece as it is not something I have previously thought about. Bias is often overlooked in fiction, reserved for non-fiction reading and analysis. Good job.
5/8/2013 c1 Always Inifinity
Well I think Albus is a manipulator, Severus shouldn't have died, and Harry really is a arrogant little sod. But that's just me. I liked the essay, very nice.
Well I think Albus is a manipulator, Severus shouldn't have died, and Harry really is a arrogant little sod. But that's just me. I liked the essay, very nice.
12/18/2012 c1 Guest
Interesting.. made me think about some Potter-things that I haven't thought of before.
Interesting.. made me think about some Potter-things that I haven't thought of before.
8/29/2012 c1 kush
I'm a big fan of harry potter. i feel like its one of the defining books of our century. So i know i'm biased. lol forgive me.
It's a children's book, so having a easy good vs evil is easier for them to understand, and makes the story interesting for them. I think the idea is to teach them that doing things the syltherin way (cruelty, sneakiness, etc.) is wrong.
With the house cup fiasco with it being stolen last minute, Harry saved everyone at the end of the school year. So its just bad timing, its not like Dumbledore thought "muahaha, i'll steal the cup from slytherin". No it was more of a reward. Also, in life, things can go wrong the last minute; yes its cruel, but its a valuable lesson. Dumbledore trusted his life with Snape; he drank potions snape gave him all the time and he trusted snape to protect harry after he was dead.
just a few thoughts.
luv your writing, big fan
I'm a big fan of harry potter. i feel like its one of the defining books of our century. So i know i'm biased. lol forgive me.
It's a children's book, so having a easy good vs evil is easier for them to understand, and makes the story interesting for them. I think the idea is to teach them that doing things the syltherin way (cruelty, sneakiness, etc.) is wrong.
With the house cup fiasco with it being stolen last minute, Harry saved everyone at the end of the school year. So its just bad timing, its not like Dumbledore thought "muahaha, i'll steal the cup from slytherin". No it was more of a reward. Also, in life, things can go wrong the last minute; yes its cruel, but its a valuable lesson. Dumbledore trusted his life with Snape; he drank potions snape gave him all the time and he trusted snape to protect harry after he was dead.
just a few thoughts.
luv your writing, big fan
6/30/2012 c1 
19Anihyr Moonstar
I agree completely about all your points regarding self-fulfilling prophecies and Dumbledore's bias. This is something I see all over the place - particularly when it comes to racism, sexism, gender stereotypes, etc. - in the real world. So many things that people think of as "facts" or "statistics" or "just the way things are" are, in truth, things that come about at least in large part due to prematurely imposed, reinforced stereotypes that become these self-fulfilling prophecies.
The only part I don't agree with as much is the portion about rule-breaking. Yes, Harry gets away with a lot of things that in the real world a child would almost inevitably get in trouble for on at least some accounts, BUT I believe that some rule breaking *is* merited, both in fiction and the real world. Rules aren't perfect.
Things happen that can't be planned for, and sometimes, the only option available to get where you need to go or accomplish what you need to do, is to bend or break a rule or two. Sometimes people are unjustly punished for breaking ridiculous rules; others are rewarded for breaking rules in ways that most would agree AREN'T justified or fair, but because it works both ways and things don't always go according to plan, I think reinforcing the idea that sometimes, you just have to do what you think is best, regardless of the rules, is - if not good - at least not all bad.
Still, all around, a very good essay, and I enjoyed it.
- Moonstar
19Anihyr MoonstarI agree completely about all your points regarding self-fulfilling prophecies and Dumbledore's bias. This is something I see all over the place - particularly when it comes to racism, sexism, gender stereotypes, etc. - in the real world. So many things that people think of as "facts" or "statistics" or "just the way things are" are, in truth, things that come about at least in large part due to prematurely imposed, reinforced stereotypes that become these self-fulfilling prophecies.
The only part I don't agree with as much is the portion about rule-breaking. Yes, Harry gets away with a lot of things that in the real world a child would almost inevitably get in trouble for on at least some accounts, BUT I believe that some rule breaking *is* merited, both in fiction and the real world. Rules aren't perfect.
Things happen that can't be planned for, and sometimes, the only option available to get where you need to go or accomplish what you need to do, is to bend or break a rule or two. Sometimes people are unjustly punished for breaking ridiculous rules; others are rewarded for breaking rules in ways that most would agree AREN'T justified or fair, but because it works both ways and things don't always go according to plan, I think reinforcing the idea that sometimes, you just have to do what you think is best, regardless of the rules, is - if not good - at least not all bad.
Still, all around, a very good essay, and I enjoyed it.
- Moonstar
5/24/2012 c1 Selene Abernathy
When I first read the end of book one I thought Dumbledore giving those additional points to Gryffindor was fair but I thought back on it and realized that it wasn't, how the hell did Dumbledore even know that Neville stood up when he wasn't even in school? The Slytherins worked hard for those points, and then just because of a Gryffindor's foolish act of bravery they get rewarded blah blah... Gryff wins. Slytherin lost. Biased Dumbles.
And that 'self-fulfilling prophecy' you talk about, I think Snape is a good example, if the Marauders hadn't been targeting him, if he did not call Lily a mudblood, then I believe Snape would never have been a death eater. I think he just became a death eater because they accepted him.
And if Voldemort hadn't gone insane I know he would've won the war.. but well it isn't really my book. *shrugs*
I got a lot of things on my mind but I am too lazy to type. *end*
When I first read the end of book one I thought Dumbledore giving those additional points to Gryffindor was fair but I thought back on it and realized that it wasn't, how the hell did Dumbledore even know that Neville stood up when he wasn't even in school? The Slytherins worked hard for those points, and then just because of a Gryffindor's foolish act of bravery they get rewarded blah blah... Gryff wins. Slytherin lost. Biased Dumbles.
And that 'self-fulfilling prophecy' you talk about, I think Snape is a good example, if the Marauders hadn't been targeting him, if he did not call Lily a mudblood, then I believe Snape would never have been a death eater. I think he just became a death eater because they accepted him.
And if Voldemort hadn't gone insane I know he would've won the war.. but well it isn't really my book. *shrugs*
I got a lot of things on my mind but I am too lazy to type. *end*
12/11/2011 c1 NightMoon66
First and foremost I want to say, Thank you. Every time I bring up these points of Harry Potter and the things I don't like about the book, I am ignored or no one believes me. You are totally right, especially about Dumbledore.
I also want to say that he exploited people's trust in him and used it, including Snape (who is my favorite character) for his own purposes. He was a damn good actor too.
Yes, J.K. Rowling outdid herself for a book series but in the real world these things do have effects. I also began to resent Harry Potter too for being arrogant and obnoxious once he realized he could bend any rule and get away with it.
Anyway, thanks for the much needed insight.
First and foremost I want to say, Thank you. Every time I bring up these points of Harry Potter and the things I don't like about the book, I am ignored or no one believes me. You are totally right, especially about Dumbledore.
I also want to say that he exploited people's trust in him and used it, including Snape (who is my favorite character) for his own purposes. He was a damn good actor too.
Yes, J.K. Rowling outdid herself for a book series but in the real world these things do have effects. I also began to resent Harry Potter too for being arrogant and obnoxious once he realized he could bend any rule and get away with it.
Anyway, thanks for the much needed insight.
8/12/2011 c1 5Taella
Hi!
Just wanted to say how much I liked this. First of all because I think you are right in every aspect. The other thing is how you build up to the finish: starting with pointing out how Hogwarts and its student homes are creating prejudices and ending with these prejudices breaking as people go against them. It's skillfully done, in my opinion.
Cheers!
5TaellaHi!
Just wanted to say how much I liked this. First of all because I think you are right in every aspect. The other thing is how you build up to the finish: starting with pointing out how Hogwarts and its student homes are creating prejudices and ending with these prejudices breaking as people go against them. It's skillfully done, in my opinion.
Cheers!
7/29/2011 c1 Tricorvus
Yes you did put a lot of work into it. You are like the 3rd other person I've ever heard pointing out Dumbledore's cheating at the end of Harry's first year. My Better Half is a Slytherin by choice, for a reason. Good Slytherin Snape, Bad Gryffindor Pettigrew. Nuff said. But you have the same failings as everyone else, alas, not noting that Harry would not have disobeyed in flying class, had not the young villain taken the property belonging to Harry's absent friend, and threatened it. I honestly don't believe that he would have flown at all, had Draco not threatened Neville's remembrall. Of course, JK set that up, so that Harry had a chance to show his stuff... :D
Yes you did put a lot of work into it. You are like the 3rd other person I've ever heard pointing out Dumbledore's cheating at the end of Harry's first year. My Better Half is a Slytherin by choice, for a reason. Good Slytherin Snape, Bad Gryffindor Pettigrew. Nuff said. But you have the same failings as everyone else, alas, not noting that Harry would not have disobeyed in flying class, had not the young villain taken the property belonging to Harry's absent friend, and threatened it. I honestly don't believe that he would have flown at all, had Draco not threatened Neville's remembrall. Of course, JK set that up, so that Harry had a chance to show his stuff... :D
4/8/2011 c1 5Disney Is Hardcore
Um, wow.. I never noticed any of that when I was reading/watching Harry potter...
But it's so true..I'm so conflicted!
5Disney Is HardcoreUm, wow.. I never noticed any of that when I was reading/watching Harry potter...
But it's so true..I'm so conflicted!
2/18/2011 c1 1TheDarkestAbyss
Hm... I can definytely see your point here. Mostly I agree. But I also like to think that when you read the books like I read them (First book on first grade, second on second etc.)
You gradually get to know more about the characters. The plain 'good' and 'bad' disapear almost completely as we see in the last book. It practically says: 'hey, you know what? I know Dumbledore died like a marthyr and is supposed to be the ultimate best good guy, but no, he's a bastard'
I think the classic 'you are bad because we are good and the best!'Setting at the beginning is actually healthy for litle children. Ever seen a kid who doesn't hate anyone because 'deep inside all are good' It's pretty scary. One kid I knew got to mental hospital because of it. So basically it tells that it's allright to be angry and hate people. Of course. At this point I suppose/hope that the reader is a little kid who is terrified by the thought of sleeping giant dog and runs around in exitement playing Harry Potter.
As we get to read onward the basic 'good vs. bad' setting is gratually lessening. Or at least swithing from Slytherins to Voldemort. (And we can argue about if that's right or not for forevrer... Basically he's a kid who kind of snapped and became a killing machine. If you really think about it the reason he became like that was because he never got love from anybody. Whenever he's responsible for it or not is yet another argument)
But What I'm saying is that When the series starts it's the 'good vs. bad' setting but as the reader gets older you get to think with your own head much more. After the last book you have no idea what you should do. I still haven't decided whenever I hate Dumbledore or not. Basically the book sget you feel bad for Voldemort. For fucks sake he's supposed to be the picture of ultimate 'badness'!
Yeah... But sorry about the massive lenght. I promise I tried to keep it short! ^^"
1TheDarkestAbyssHm... I can definytely see your point here. Mostly I agree. But I also like to think that when you read the books like I read them (First book on first grade, second on second etc.)
You gradually get to know more about the characters. The plain 'good' and 'bad' disapear almost completely as we see in the last book. It practically says: 'hey, you know what? I know Dumbledore died like a marthyr and is supposed to be the ultimate best good guy, but no, he's a bastard'
I think the classic 'you are bad because we are good and the best!'Setting at the beginning is actually healthy for litle children. Ever seen a kid who doesn't hate anyone because 'deep inside all are good' It's pretty scary. One kid I knew got to mental hospital because of it. So basically it tells that it's allright to be angry and hate people. Of course. At this point I suppose/hope that the reader is a little kid who is terrified by the thought of sleeping giant dog and runs around in exitement playing Harry Potter.
As we get to read onward the basic 'good vs. bad' setting is gratually lessening. Or at least swithing from Slytherins to Voldemort. (And we can argue about if that's right or not for forevrer... Basically he's a kid who kind of snapped and became a killing machine. If you really think about it the reason he became like that was because he never got love from anybody. Whenever he's responsible for it or not is yet another argument)
But What I'm saying is that When the series starts it's the 'good vs. bad' setting but as the reader gets older you get to think with your own head much more. After the last book you have no idea what you should do. I still haven't decided whenever I hate Dumbledore or not. Basically the book sget you feel bad for Voldemort. For fucks sake he's supposed to be the picture of ultimate 'badness'!
Yeah... But sorry about the massive lenght. I promise I tried to keep it short! ^^"
1/2/2011 c1 4Lazuli Shadow
Since I'd read the first three books (when I was five) up until now and continuing, the Slytherins were my favourite group of people, I adored Draco Malfoy and I hated Ron Weasley. I also thought Albus Dumbledore was very manipulative (a quality thought to be a Slytherin quality, and yet, Dumbledore was a Gryffindor) and I wanted Voldemort to win because I thought Harry didn't really deserve to. He'd been rewarded so much through his life at Hogwarts for breaking rules. However, I think that Voldemort had a very good reaason to hate muggles too - abused in an orphanage, his father run out on him, bullied by muggles and treated with suspicion. Treated like that, who wouldn't hate muggles? Slytherin attributes are ambition, cunning and skill, all things, I think, that are going to get a person where they want to go. Bravery and not thinking before acting, Gryffindor traits, are unlikely to help anyone in the real world - not unless they wanted to be an Auror or a Curse Breaker.
And so, I agree with everything you've said here.
4Lazuli ShadowSince I'd read the first three books (when I was five) up until now and continuing, the Slytherins were my favourite group of people, I adored Draco Malfoy and I hated Ron Weasley. I also thought Albus Dumbledore was very manipulative (a quality thought to be a Slytherin quality, and yet, Dumbledore was a Gryffindor) and I wanted Voldemort to win because I thought Harry didn't really deserve to. He'd been rewarded so much through his life at Hogwarts for breaking rules. However, I think that Voldemort had a very good reaason to hate muggles too - abused in an orphanage, his father run out on him, bullied by muggles and treated with suspicion. Treated like that, who wouldn't hate muggles? Slytherin attributes are ambition, cunning and skill, all things, I think, that are going to get a person where they want to go. Bravery and not thinking before acting, Gryffindor traits, are unlikely to help anyone in the real world - not unless they wanted to be an Auror or a Curse Breaker.
And so, I agree with everything you've said here.
9/1/2010 c1 RandomReviewer
i cant believe you only got 17 reviews! this is really insightful. i love all your very creative stories, so i didnt expect that you could write such a good essay. i have thought of the Slytherine/Grifindor thing a lot, like how not all Slytherines are bad and not all Grifindors are good. the sorting hat says that ravenclaw is for the inteligent, hufflepuf is for the kind and loyal (but a lot of times grifindor is decipted as kind and loyal) slytherine is just sly (not a bad trait) and grifindors are loyal. it never says anything about good or bad in any of the houses. i think it is just because slytherines are sly and cunning that so many dark wizards come from them, dark wizards are assumed to be cunning. if you ever plan to rewrite this essay, you should definetly add fred and george into the thing about Dumbeledor favoring the grifindors. by all means, fred and george should have been expelled a long time ago, but they rarely are ever shown to serve a punishment. anyway, i loved this essay, and keep writing, you are by far my favorite author on fictionpress! (i LOVE breaking the mirror)!
i cant believe you only got 17 reviews! this is really insightful. i love all your very creative stories, so i didnt expect that you could write such a good essay. i have thought of the Slytherine/Grifindor thing a lot, like how not all Slytherines are bad and not all Grifindors are good. the sorting hat says that ravenclaw is for the inteligent, hufflepuf is for the kind and loyal (but a lot of times grifindor is decipted as kind and loyal) slytherine is just sly (not a bad trait) and grifindors are loyal. it never says anything about good or bad in any of the houses. i think it is just because slytherines are sly and cunning that so many dark wizards come from them, dark wizards are assumed to be cunning. if you ever plan to rewrite this essay, you should definetly add fred and george into the thing about Dumbeledor favoring the grifindors. by all means, fred and george should have been expelled a long time ago, but they rarely are ever shown to serve a punishment. anyway, i loved this essay, and keep writing, you are by far my favorite author on fictionpress! (i LOVE breaking the mirror)!
8/4/2010 c1 Verbally Dangerous
This was a really interesting read I must say - makes me wanna grab my Harry potter books and skip through them to the things you pointed out - THAT is not an easy thing to, making your reader want to read more into it ;)
Great work!
Moon Flow3r
This was a really interesting read I must say - makes me wanna grab my Harry potter books and skip through them to the things you pointed out - THAT is not an easy thing to, making your reader want to read more into it ;)
Great work!
Moon Flow3r
3/7/2010 c1 Arillian
I love you for writing this!
Much of what you say is things I’ve disliked. For example, when I was on a camp as a child, my teachers did what Dumbledore did. We had a competition where you win by points. In the counting of these points, one team got many more than the rest and won. Then another team was given even more points and by that tipping the scale. Even though my team ended up winning, it just didn't feel right. Those kids were fooled into being happy only to lose because the leaders thought it funny. Just like that time, what Dumbledore did just wasn’t okay.
Another thing is that when a bad person does something bad, he’s a horrible person without any chance of forgiveness, but when a good person does something bad it’s understandable and forgiven. Just take Harry’s dad and his little team for one. I’ve talked with my friends who are real hardcore fans, that if Snape’s a bad person for the things he’s done, then surely they had to be bad too since they tormented his entire school existence. But of course they weren’t. Yes, what they did was bad, but they were only children. They didn’t know any better. That was a long time ago. They proved themselves later on in life, and, THEY WERE THE GOOG GUYS.
I love you for writing this!
Much of what you say is things I’ve disliked. For example, when I was on a camp as a child, my teachers did what Dumbledore did. We had a competition where you win by points. In the counting of these points, one team got many more than the rest and won. Then another team was given even more points and by that tipping the scale. Even though my team ended up winning, it just didn't feel right. Those kids were fooled into being happy only to lose because the leaders thought it funny. Just like that time, what Dumbledore did just wasn’t okay.
Another thing is that when a bad person does something bad, he’s a horrible person without any chance of forgiveness, but when a good person does something bad it’s understandable and forgiven. Just take Harry’s dad and his little team for one. I’ve talked with my friends who are real hardcore fans, that if Snape’s a bad person for the things he’s done, then surely they had to be bad too since they tormented his entire school existence. But of course they weren’t. Yes, what they did was bad, but they were only children. They didn’t know any better. That was a long time ago. They proved themselves later on in life, and, THEY WERE THE GOOG GUYS.