Slughorn didn't have to be aware of the times since his retirement in 1981. He had a comfortable life with comfortable old friends and former students, which is what he'd had all along. I can't imagine that he met many new people, particularily kids, who would have challenged his notions. Whoever was brought along, for instance, an up-and-coming Ministry employee named Weasley, for a joking example, would probably not want to rock Sluggy's boat and get the middleman, the actual Ministry mentor, angry at them. I wouldn't be surprised if it was during this time of his life, when he was once-removed from the constant influx of new WW students, that he began to develop his more colonial aspects: 'Yes, yes, Muggleborns, ingenious folk... Much like you and I... Must teach them civilization, yes, quite!'
No, I doubt if Slughorn's going to change. He's comfortably lazy. But, I do think he can see where the world is going. His own 'cunning and ambition' will lead him as he tries, in his own quaint way, to be less of a boulder, and more of a ripple, in the stream.
I also said, I think it was there, that Slughorn was the quintessential ideal of Slytherin House at the time he was appointed its head. He embodied the values and the concerns of Slytherin as interpreted at that time. Very different from his successor, who was much more radical. Yet, if there's hope for *Snape* (as the late essence of Slytherin) to have a change of heart, I think there's hope for Slytherin to be integrated into Hogwarts as a fully-functioning, contributing part of the whole. Maybe Slughorn reclaiming his old post is a visual step in that direction?
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Date: 2005-12-04 01:35 am (UTC)No, I doubt if Slughorn's going to change. He's comfortably lazy. But, I do think he can see where the world is going. His own 'cunning and ambition' will lead him as he tries, in his own quaint way, to be less of a boulder, and more of a ripple, in the stream.
I also said, I think it was there, that Slughorn was the quintessential ideal of Slytherin House at the time he was appointed its head. He embodied the values and the concerns of Slytherin as interpreted at that time. Very different from his successor, who was much more radical. Yet, if there's hope for *Snape* (as the late essence of Slytherin) to have a change of heart, I think there's hope for Slytherin to be integrated into Hogwarts as a fully-functioning, contributing part of the whole. Maybe Slughorn reclaiming his old post is a visual step in that direction?