(I apologize in advance for the slightly lengthy post, but I needed a way to unwind after taking a ConLaw practice)
The debate was sparked after Torts class, and it was not an unfamiliar one. The esteemed Mr. Yellin made the claim that the Sections at GULC are much like the houses in Harry Potter. I have no problem with this claim, and it's one that got made many times in my tenure at UoC. And yes, Section III is most certainly Hufflepuff. However, then Mr. Yellin made the damning comment that sparked a need for this post:
"...and Section II is Gryffindor."
Oh, how I hate when people say that. It's like when the issue of who women were in a past life, and 70% of them say Joan of Arc. You can't ALL have been Joan of Arc, although this might explain the voices she was hearing. Every group that compares themselves to a Harry Potter house inevitably finds that they would be Gryffindor. I now feel the need to both respond to Mr. Yellin, and make a claim of my own.
Mr. Yellin's major arguments, or at least the ones he told me, were that Section II is both very smart, and very diverse. I agree with both of these points, but I do not necessarily believe they are dispositive here. On his first point, I agree that Section II is full of very smart people, but that does not necessarily make them Gryffindor. Actually, if we are the smartest section, which is possible, that would make us more Ravenclaw than Gryffindor. So the intelligence thing doesn't prove his point.
As to his second point, about our diversity, I agree that this is a Gryffindor characteristic. However, this is not necessarily solely a Gryffindor characteristic. In fact, I would argue that the most important minority character in the book is Cho, a Ravenclaw. Further, the readers do not necessarily know a great deal about the diversity in other houses, so diversity cannot be a dispositive characteristic.
My claim is based off of the professor that most defines our section, which (as much as I know everyone loves Prof. Goldberg) can only be Charles Abernathy. He's the one we're gonna remember in our nightmares, and the one we're going to ask future Section II's about. Mr. Yellin made the claim that Prof. Abernathy is akin to Prof. McGonagall, both tough and fair. This is a fir comparison, but I think that Prof. Abernathy is more like Prof. Snape.
Reasons:
1. He might be tough and fair, but there is no way that McGonagall would ever tell people that they didn't belong. Snape, on the other hand, would tell you that, if you weren't prepared to make your potions, you should go to Durmstrang; you don't belong here.
2. Mr. Yellin himself admitted to both fearing Abernathy's double classes, and referring to it as Double Potions. What could be scarier, or more Snape-like than double class?
This is not to say that I believe we are Slytherin, but more that we aren't necessarily Gryffindor.
Finally, I believe that Mr. Yellin would like the Gryffindor label because he has dark, somewhat unkept hair, and glasses, which would make him Harry Potter. Unfortunately, sir, you are no Harry Potter.
May all your hits be crits,
B
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2 comments:
You know, although my first instinct was Gryffindor (of course), I think I'm going to have to side with you on the Slytherin argument. As the Hogwarts Wikipedia article puts it: "However, Slytherin itself is not evil; it is just that having ambition as a core quality results in a disproportionate amount of self-important, competitive students." Hm...
I mean, we're not Hufflepuff, as that is clearly § 3. And, I don't think we're Ravenclaw. Though we're smart, I don't think our intelligence defines us. Performing well during a cold-call is not about mere knowledge, but rather about not embarrassing yourself in front of the class, which is very Slytherin. If we were Gryffindors, it would be about the valiant effort made to answer the question, regardless of the correctness of the response.
Well, I'd better get back to work, lest I get all "T's" on my exams!
So if section 3 is Hufflepuff, and section 2 is Slytherin, then section 4 must be Gryffindor because we are most certainly not the smartest section, and I've heard that section 1 are all the really booky people, so they would have to be Ravenclaw. Ha, I win!
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