Enjoy the read!
- V. B.
Percy doesn’t go through middle adolescence (separating himself from his family) until after graduating Hogwarts; his rebellion comes through as treachery to his family.
Older adults who are not your parents are a very important part of growing up.
The Hogwarts students don't expect Dumbledore to play Quidditch, but it is very important for him to be there just the same.
Slughorn
Slughorn is an expert potion master, and he whips up
the most difficult concoctions, but at the same time, he’s not very good in a tight
situation, and he’s not good on his feet. When Ron was choking on the poisoned mead, Slughorn
was frozen solid with shock, unable to do anything to help Ron. He lacks backbone and will power.
Slughorn isn’t a man of action. However, he knows his trade inside and out, and he knows what’s of value to potions. When it comes to value, he’s absolutely entranced with all that Hagrid has strewn around his hut.
When Slughorn sees all that Hagrid has acquired as groundskeeper, he sees galleons. Hagrid, on the other hand, sees tools for helping his creatures.
Slughorn’s value system is very mercantile/materialistic; what is it worth in terms of translating it into goods for himself? How much oak-matured mead or crystalized pineapple will this get him. (In 18th century English architecture, pineapple boasted that the owner was a hospitable person. The fruit wasn’t native to England, so it was very expensive, very exotic, and very hard to import.) Slughorn isn’t satisfied with mere chocolate. Crystalized fruit is the most expensive sort of candy you can have, and it’s only the best for old Sluggy.
Hagrid sees things in terms of its use, which contrasts Hagrid’s and Slughorn’s value system.
We start to see the parts of Slughorn’s character that are his flaws. We know he has a strong intellect, but we also know he has a failure of will (he is smart enough to act, but he just can’t).
Slughorn is driven by emotions more than anything else. His driving motives are fear and lust, but his fear is what controls him most. We often see certain emotions as the dominant aspect of who a certain person is. For example, for Hermione, her defining point is intellect, and with Harry, it’s his will power that defines him. He doesn’t have time to worry about what he’s feeling, he acts and then thinks about it later.
But these traits in Hermione, Harry, and the rest of the cast of characters aren't always good. Sin happens in the heart, in the human spirit. Jesus said the problem is what’s inside a person, not outside a person; we see this going on with different characters. We can now go back and think through the different characters and see sin operating uniquely through them all and how it effects them, and the story.
Lust is Slughorn’s modus operandi when it comes to the small things. He lusts after recognition, which is a self-esteem issue dealt with in early adolescence. If Percy didn’t get through middle adolescence, then Slughorn hasn’t gotten through early adolescence. One of the major differences between Percy and Slughorn though is that Slughorn does not desire power at all, he just wants recognition.
Slughorn is almost childish. He’s not innocent, yet he still deals with self-esteem issues. Hagrid is child-like (but he is not without sin) which gives him an air of innocence, but he deals with a great many hardships throughout the series (loosing creatures he cares about, caring for his brother, recruiting the giants, etc) and yet he takes responsibility for his actions and behaves like a man. Slughorn on the other hand runs from danger, gives into fear, and has no desire to deal with consequences. This is the difference between being child–like and child–ish.
The crowning moment for Slughorn happens in the seventh book when he puts his fear aside and decides to battle the forces of evil alongside the rest of Hogwarts. Professor McGonogall confronts him, and he feels ashamed. He sort of disappears with the Slytherins, but his great moment is when he comes back to fight with the others. The apostle Peter failed, but also he came back; like Slughorn, he slinks away, but most importantly, they both return.
Slughorn isn’t a man of action. However, he knows his trade inside and out, and he knows what’s of value to potions. When it comes to value, he’s absolutely entranced with all that Hagrid has strewn around his hut.
When Slughorn sees all that Hagrid has acquired as groundskeeper, he sees galleons. Hagrid, on the other hand, sees tools for helping his creatures.
Slughorn’s value system is very mercantile/materialistic; what is it worth in terms of translating it into goods for himself? How much oak-matured mead or crystalized pineapple will this get him. (In 18th century English architecture, pineapple boasted that the owner was a hospitable person. The fruit wasn’t native to England, so it was very expensive, very exotic, and very hard to import.) Slughorn isn’t satisfied with mere chocolate. Crystalized fruit is the most expensive sort of candy you can have, and it’s only the best for old Sluggy.
Hagrid sees things in terms of its use, which contrasts Hagrid’s and Slughorn’s value system.
We start to see the parts of Slughorn’s character that are his flaws. We know he has a strong intellect, but we also know he has a failure of will (he is smart enough to act, but he just can’t).
Slughorn is driven by emotions more than anything else. His driving motives are fear and lust, but his fear is what controls him most. We often see certain emotions as the dominant aspect of who a certain person is. For example, for Hermione, her defining point is intellect, and with Harry, it’s his will power that defines him. He doesn’t have time to worry about what he’s feeling, he acts and then thinks about it later.
But these traits in Hermione, Harry, and the rest of the cast of characters aren't always good. Sin happens in the heart, in the human spirit. Jesus said the problem is what’s inside a person, not outside a person; we see this going on with different characters. We can now go back and think through the different characters and see sin operating uniquely through them all and how it effects them, and the story.
Lust is Slughorn’s modus operandi when it comes to the small things. He lusts after recognition, which is a self-esteem issue dealt with in early adolescence. If Percy didn’t get through middle adolescence, then Slughorn hasn’t gotten through early adolescence. One of the major differences between Percy and Slughorn though is that Slughorn does not desire power at all, he just wants recognition.
Slughorn is almost childish. He’s not innocent, yet he still deals with self-esteem issues. Hagrid is child-like (but he is not without sin) which gives him an air of innocence, but he deals with a great many hardships throughout the series (loosing creatures he cares about, caring for his brother, recruiting the giants, etc) and yet he takes responsibility for his actions and behaves like a man. Slughorn on the other hand runs from danger, gives into fear, and has no desire to deal with consequences. This is the difference between being child–like and child–ish.
The crowning moment for Slughorn happens in the seventh book when he puts his fear aside and decides to battle the forces of evil alongside the rest of Hogwarts. Professor McGonogall confronts him, and he feels ashamed. He sort of disappears with the Slytherins, but his great moment is when he comes back to fight with the others. The apostle Peter failed, but also he came back; like Slughorn, he slinks away, but most importantly, they both return.
Harry's Thoughts on Slughorn
After Harry and Dumbledore come to recruit Slughorn into teaching at Hogwarts, Dumbledore asks what Harry’s impression of Slughorn was. Both Harry's thoughts and feelings are important.
Harry has a building impression of Slughorn throughout the book, but his initial impression was important.
Slughorn offends Harry in the way in which he talks about muggle borns; Harry is quick to defend them by example with Hermione’s superior intelligence.
Slughorn also collects people, which puts Harry off. He hasn’t quite recognized it or thought through it yet, but Harry has a feeling about Slughorn and then gains reasons for his dislike later. Sometimes we have feelings about people but we can’t always trust our feelings because “the heart is deceitful above all things.” Thus, we might have the wrong feels about a certain person just like Harry had a feeling about Snape too, but he was wrong in the end. You receive immediate conclusions from your feelings, and then your intellect needs to analyze these thoughts.
Harry doesn’t want to get too close to Slughorn, but he will do so at Dumbledore’s request.
Potions
One of the intriguing parts of book six are some of the potions that Slughorn whips up.
- Felix Felicis "Liquid Luck" - This is the grandest potion mentioned in Half-blood Prince, and it was very important to Harry and Dumbledore. Slughorn can make the Felix Felicis potion, one of the most complicated of all potions, yet he has only taken it twice in his life. Up to this point, we’ve seen his flaws (ruled by his belly, lustfulness, etc.) yet he has a set of pretty high values when it comes to the uses Felix. He tells the class you can’t use the
potion in sports competitions.
- Love Potion - This potion plays a very important role
at different points throughout this book. This potion has different fragrances
unique to the smeller. Hermione smells fresh parchment and
freshly mown grass. Harry smells flowers and broom handles. These sorts of scents are smells you
can’t put your finger on, but they invoke the loveliest of emotions. We smell
the pleasantest fragrances that we associate with the one we’re in love with.
To Harry and Hermione, this is a barometer for their feelings. It gives them information, but they’re the ones who have to interpret it. They realize they love whoever it is that they love; in this case, it’s Ginny and Ron.
The Problem of Beauty
We have these love potions in our culture as well. Perfumes and cosmetics have a scent; what
is this fragrance deal all about? Fragrance is the experience of the
beautiful through our nostrils.
The problem of beauty, the very presence
of beauty in the world – why is it there? Why do we experience it? It’s a
driving thing for us; beauty is also one of the things that’s going on with
Slughorn and his diet. We are the only living things on this planet that have such a
wide-ranging diet. Humans, as a general rule, have this huge range of things we
all eat. It has to taste good, which is a way of experiencing beauty. Sometimes
the way food looks will determine whether or not we choose to eat it. Likewise,
sometimes the way food smells either makes or breaks it for us.
We experience beauty in a wide variety of
ways, sound included. Harry thought Nick’s deathday music was
ghastly, while I’m sure the ghosts enjoyed it. Some sounds are quite beautiful to us.
The human body, with all its senses and
different ways of discovering things, is just as complex as the spirit. Our
spirit is constantly interpreting things through our different senses, and
we’re constantly experiencing the beautiful. We can’t have the experience of the ugly
unless we also have the one of the beautiful to compare it to; without that
comparison, the experience is just meaningless.
Humans all have a preference of beauty,
yet there’s also the individual experience of the beautiful. This sometimes depends on culture. We started wearing blue jeans to be different; so,
naturally, now everyone is wearing blue jeans. The universal experience of what is
beautiful occurs even while we are infants. We as individuals have preferences of what is
good to us that are not dictated by our particular culture.
The Matter Of Shame
He feels incredibly guilty having told
young Tom Riddle about the horcruxes; he feels terrible and ashamed.
What causes people to feel shamed? It's simple, it is the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us, when the Holy Spirit
comes, He will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Slughorn is morbidly ashamed of what he
told Tom Riddle, and that is a good thing; imagine if he hadn’t been ashamed.
This is one of the arguments to the moral existence of God. You see, where does
shame come from if not from God? Shame is not a universal trait of human nature. Bellatrix is not ashamed. Voldemort isn’t ashamed. Shame can't be chalked up to humans being naturally "good people". Any brief overview of history, or even a quick glance around your neighborhood will bare that out. There has to be something else going on in order to make people
feel a sense of guilt.
Slughorn's Racism
Slughorn is
really most of us. Most of us are nice people, and therefore, we think of racism
as something only the KKK, the Nazis, or the Death Eaters do. Since we’re all
these good people, we never deal with things like racism in our culture. The
truth of the matter is that we are all racists, but we must recognize it first.
Until then, it’s only something “bad people” do; we stereotype racism into what
only bad people do.
Slughorn doesn’t feel like he’s a
prejudiced man.
- I’m sophisticated, I collect muggleborns and purebloods, but I’ll have to qualify that it’s surprising to me that a muggleborn like you is the best in your year; you’re not like us, so it is surprising, but you’ve achieved something and you can earn your way into my group . . . but you’re still a muggleborn, just in case you forgot.
Madam Maxime is ashamed of what she is,
and she’s responding to her culture; she wants a different identity. On the
other hand, Hagrid is more mature, and he accepts himself for what he is. In
every area that matters, the areas of eternal significance, Hagrid is the one
you want to be. Madame Maxime is still struggling in a world that isn’t hers.
She’s buying into a value system that is not of the Lord’s creation, the value
system that every culture develops.
Dumbledore is coming out of racism, but he’s
still in remission; he’s like an alcoholic that hasn’t had a drink in a long
time, but is still an alcoholic; he’s a recovering racist. To recognize that
we’re racists is an extremely important part in self-awareness.
And now for a closing quote from Dr. Poe:
“If you fry it, of course it’s good! I’d eat fried saw dust.
Especially if you put some good BBQ sauce on it!”
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