Khác biệt giữa bản sửa đổi của “Harry Potter dành cho Muggle/Truyện/Hòn Đá Phù Thủy/Chương 7”

The Sorting ceremony is arguably the most important school rite that Hogwarts students participate in. It not only determines in which House they will spend their entire seven years at Hogwarts, but it reflects much about who they are and generally indicates what direction their lives may take. These affiliations also build life-long alliances, as well as create rivalries among the Houses, though these are generally friendly; it will be seen, however, that there is a particular competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, two Houses that come to symbolize themes of good and evil in the series, and which path, light or dark, the characters choose to follow. The four Houses are distinct and represent the individual school founders: [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Helga Hufflepuff|Helga Hufflepuff]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Salazar Slytherin|Salazar Slytherin]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Rowena Ravenclaw|Rowena Ravenclaw]], and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Godric Gryffindor|Godric Gryffindor]]. All had varying talents and differing views, and students with similar characteristics to the founders are usually sorted into the House that best reflects those traits. The Hat sees abilities in Harry, cleverness, determination, and ambition, that are suitable to Slytherin and could lead him to greatness, something no one has ever told Harry or that he considered about himself. Some students, like Harry, do appear to have traits suitable to more than one House, and the Sorting Hat mulls over where it should put him. Already dismayed by his connection to [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Lord Voldemort|Voldemort]], Harry immediately resists Slytherin, a House he knows is associated with Dark Wizards and unpleasant students. Though the Hat apparently favors putting him in that House, Harry is, of course, also well suited to Gryffindor, which is noted for nobility and bravery, and, in many ways, seemingly opposite to Slytherin. Also, Harry's parents were both Gryffindors. Harry has already demonstrated much courage in his young life, first by standing up to the Dursleys, then by entering a strange, unknown world, and now he challenges the Sorting Hat. Rather than passively waiting for it to make its selection, he specifically requests not to be sorted into Slytherin. Most students probably never question which House they are assigned, and though the Hat senses Harry's talents are well suited to Slytherin, it never forces a choice on him. Instead, it entices Harry by wondering where to place him. Harry's request shows his growing ability to consider all options and make his own decisions based on that. Even if fate has decreed that he is to one day challenge Voldemort, Harry possesses the power to affect that fate by his own design. This trait is re-emphasized in the next book and throughout the series. After some negotiating, the Hat places him in Gryffindor. It should be noted that Harry never actually requested to be in Gryffindor or the other Houses, rather he chose not to be sorted into Slytherin, a House that, to him, represents a dark path.

 

 

Ideas are also presented on how the Wizarding realm differs from the Muggle world in which Harry had been trapped until now. Understanding how Wizard society operates here is not only appropriate to Harry's age (11), but also the details are at a level that is comprehensible to someone that age who is suddenly thrust into the magical world. For instance, when the banquet food appears on the plates, Harry never considers who prepared it or how it got placed there. That curiosity and the resultant understanding comes in about another three years.

The byplay between Harry and the Sorting Hat becomes more germane in the second book, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets|''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'']], and later in illustrating the differences between Harry and Voldemort. While the Hat recognizes qualities in Harry that were unknowingly bestowed on him by a connection between him and Voldemort, it is ultimately Harry exercising his independent choice and free will that leads to him being assigned to Gryffindor. It is interesting to consider whether or not the Sorting Hat would still have considered Slytherin for Harry if this connection between him and Voldemort did not exist.

 

 

It is learned later in the series that Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, was also sorted into Gryffindor, even though his family is primarily sorted into Slytherin House and some are or were affiliated with Lord Voldemort. We do not know whether Sirius, who rejected his family's pure-blood beliefs and eventually became estranged from them, chose not to be placed in Slytherin, though we will learn that he stated a preference for Gryffindor before his own Sorting. It is possible that he, like Harry, refused the Sorting Hat's initial placement, but equally it is possible that the Hat placed him in Gryffindor of its own accord.