Randomness

[mamadeb]

Signs of boredom.

My husband is at the Edah conference. I could have gone, but I hve this Pa-Kua. I spent last night trying to write the report - it's amazing what you forget in two weeks, no? *Sigh*.

So. I've been here since this morning, except for watching Sandra Lee ruin "French" food. I swear, it takes real talent to do what she does. The woman made potato pancakes out of frozen hash browns, and tried to justify why they're better than fresh potatoes. She also made a souffle without any eggs. Or air. I think she thinks it means contains canned sweet potatoes because her last "souffle" also had sweet potatoes, mashed and covered with a layer of marshmallow fluff. This one had them mixed with fresh (!) pears and covered with a streusel topping. I don't know.

And then I ate a potpie because my husband isn't home and so I can eat bad food - just not that bad.

I have an hour before I need to think about leaving. I can do some writing, I suppose.

Or read more Jane Eyre. Who really would be a good Slytherin, and that's not to put down either the House or the character. She's highly adaptable, which I would think would be a good trait for the ambitious, and she's rather independent and driven, even if only in her own sphere. I would think, if her blood was right, she'd fit in just fine.

And Lowood really is the anti-Hogwarts, isn't it?

On the other hand, I'm beginning to think I'm just too old for fanficrants. I don't get many of the references, either for the fandoms or just for the posts. (Is Draco a prep or a goth? Discuss. *sigh*).

As for that - Slytherin isn't goth. Isn't preppie. Isn't *American*. And just because we know *one* Slytherin is wealthy doesn't mean that the others are. Which is why I don't think Jane's personal poverty (as far as she knew) would be a handicap. Her Muggle rearing might be, but I'll bet her Slytherin Housemates would take care of that quickly.

Comments

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't get a lot of the fandoms. Mostly because I don't watch television. (I don't have something against regular TV, but anime is my thing and I seldom break out of it.)

The "prep" idea was around when I was in school. While I agree that Draco is neither, I actually enjoyed that post. Because I think the idea that Slytherin is subversive and anti-establishment really isn't true.

But mostly I stay on many LJs because I have way too much time on my hands.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

If anything, Slytherins *are* the Establishment.

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

It seems to me. having grown up in the South, that they're the former and resentful Establishment--though we really don't know what houses Fudge, Umbridge (in my mind the classical Evil Hufflepuff), Bones, et al were in.

[azurelunatic]

I really can't see Draco as anything resembling the Goth stereotype in American schools. This is mostly because I can't imagine Draco doing anything so vulgar as exposing skin in a context other than a) in bed, or reasonable facsimilie thereof, b) in proper context in the locker-rooms/sporting, c) in a truly violent fight where both parties must be shirtless because it's gone down to muscle, not hexes.

Wear lots of black, of course. That's not Goth, that's Style. I also can't imagine Draco brooding about enough to be Goth; he strikes me as more of an action person who will brood and sulk but can be cannily distracted from that by sport or by Plotting. (I suspect that Crabbe and Goyle have brief duels to see who gets to/has to be the one to distract Malfoy this time when he's gotten himself all hung up on that Potter again.)

I also associate Prep with a certain "poser" attitude. Malfoy has no need to work to surround himself with the trappings of wealth and power; he does not need to double-check or flaunt brand names. In fact, I'd lay good odds that if a tailoring establishment were in the habit of putting their name on clothing, then either they would not be patronized by the Malfoys, or certain sums would be exchanged, and their name would not appear on the actual clothing -- though it would be quietly known that yes, the Malfoys patronize X shop. I can further imagine Draco having to wheedle and tease to actually be allowed to purchase school robes at a place where someone as common as Potter might be shopping. (Draco would have known that someone with school robes that were "different" would be given a terrible time of it ... or perhaps Lord Malfoy knew and Draco would have pitched a bitchfit about it until certain realities were explained to him.) A Malfoy would never dream of being a Prep. It would be below them.

[azurelunatic]

As far as I know, Tom Riddle was poor as dirt. And look what he did!

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yep.

And look at Snape - there's every indication he came from a less than rich background. The only truly rich families we know for sure about are the Blacks, the Malfoys (and one wonders how much of *that* is Black money) and the Potters. Oh, and the Riddles, but they weren't wizards.

[azurelunatic]

The thing that I think fits the Slytherins is "It isn't who you start out knowing: it's who you end up knowing." I can't see anyone in that House coming out of it without having squabbled and scrabbled or maneuvered to get the most advantageous position and connections they possibly could. Some people may not be born well, but they can rise. Or some people may find that getting along in the cracks suits them best. Or perhaps some of them fall short of their ambitions and remain bitter to the end of their days.

[jetis.livejournal.com]

Fanficrants bores me these days. It has been reduced to a lot of people (read: teenagers) complaining about things that they could easily skip over or that are nothing to really get upset about in the first place. (If people want to call eyes odd spherical things, then who am I to tell them they can't?)

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

Tom Riddle was certainly a Slytherin, and he grew up in an orphanage.

As long as she wasn't Muggleborn, Jane could be a Slytherin--a lot of fanfic writers (including one of the old players in LW before I took over as mod goddess) like to forget this, but while Slytherin accepts halfbloods they don't take Muggleborns.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I've been plotting this out. Say, oh, that Jane is actually a pureblood. Her uncle Reed was a Squib who was well-provided for by his parents, as the only son. He never told his wife anything about his family (the price for being well-provided for.) His sister married a pureblood wizard, but a poor one and maybe not quite of the Reed class.

They did die leaving a baby girl, and she was brought up by her aunt, and weird things did happen, but no one blamed her because no one knew she was a witch. And then Mr Lloyd, the apothecary, figured it out (maybe he was even a wizard himself, making a living by selling to the Muggles as well.) Mr Brocklehurst was just an act to make Mrs Reed more willing to allow her neice to go to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts, of course, would be Hogwarts - boys and girls together, a Headmistress, of course, plenty of food - heaven. And without a Voldemort in the background and since she wouldn't have a prophecy or fame hanging over her head, *true* heaven. After Hogwarts, she'd still work as a "governness" to Mr. Rochester - a private pre-Hogwarts teacher for Adele, who is still not his daughter, but an abandoned baby witch he has taken in. Or something. (Perhaps she wants to be a teacher at Hogwarts but there are no openings yet.) And we can still have the mad Muggle wife and the rest of the story, including Jane refusing to marry a married man.

Huh.

hmm.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

That has definite possibilities.....

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

I don't believe it is a resolved issue whether Adele is Mr. Rochester's daughter or not. He doesn't believe she is, but although he has good reason to believe that she may not be his, he doesn't seem to have any evidence that she isn't, other than that she's pretty and he's ugly, which is hardly definitive.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Jane doesn't believe it, for sure - not because Adele's pretty and Rochester is ugly, given that Jane doesn't believe Rochester is ugly. But she looked at the girl very closely and couldn't see any resemblence at all.

Which doesn't preclude wishful thinking, but Jane is rather clear-sighted, and even in love isn't blind to faults. Also, not every child resembles a parent.

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

Sadly, if we have a copy of Jane Eyre in the house other than the German one (don't ask), I can't find it, so I'm not in a position to dispute your points.

However, I don't think wishful thinking enters into it. If anything, Jane would rather believe that Adele is Rochester's daughter -- or at least, she would rather that Rochester believed it.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I got the feeling Jane didn't care one way or the other - after all, whether the girl was his or not,it was clear he'd behaved immorally with her mother. That he took her in anyway speaks more about his character.

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

while Slytherin accepts halfbloods they don't take Muggleborns.

Just out of idle curiousty, why do you think this?

As far as I know, the reasons to think that Slytherin doesn't take Muggleborns are

a) We've never seen evidence that it does, and

b) Salazar Slytherin didn't accept Muggleborns into his House, and the Sorting Hat is partially made up of Salazar Slytherin.

To my mind, this is suggestive enough that I wouldn't write a Muggleborn Slytherin (assuming that I were currently writing fanfic), but not conclusive enough that I'd feel comfortable saying that people who do write Muggleborn Slytherins are getting it wrong.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Salazar didn't think the school should teach Muggleborns. That's the cause of the eventual split. The Hat sorts the students according to the Founder's desires - brave, brilliant, ambitious (and nonMuggleborn) and everyone else (I love Helga.)

The Hat itself was Gryffindor's.