I may say more about this once I can think again (it's been quite a weekend), but I just wanted to note that, from the little we see, Slytherins show an impressive amount of solidarity, especially for teenagers. This is primarily a side effect of being the enemy house for all three others, but it can give stability not usually found in most teens' social interactions. OTOH, the house isolation means that when there *are* in-group problems, the students have nowhere else to go, but that's the fault of the isolation of their house, not the students within it. Also, I can see it as motivation to solve those problems more quickly or avoid them in the first place.
I think you're right that their emphasis on family purity and such gives them a respect for history and culture completely lacking in most Gryffindors -- see, for instance, the ancient relics stocking 12 Grimmauld Place before the Order all but razes the place (can you tell I'm a history fan?). Finally, I could potentially see that snobbery going toward more meritocratic scales, such as Snape's complete disgust with students lousy at potions. This isn't really a *good* thing, and we don't see much of it, but it seems to fall in line with house values, and it does help tease apart the snobbery from the blood-based prejudices.
In other words, JKR shows us so little of most Slytherins that it's hard to find their good sides, but I think we can get enough from them to find a balance, such as we're already given for Gryffindor, without wandering into pure fanon. Of course, it would be really nice if we ever actually saw a Slytherin who was genuinely *ambitious* like the hat says they are, and hasn't merely pulled the power-hungry part of it.
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I may say more about this once I can think again (it's been quite a weekend), but I just wanted to note that, from the little we see, Slytherins show an impressive amount of solidarity, especially for teenagers. This is primarily a side effect of being the enemy house for all three others, but it can give stability not usually found in most teens' social interactions. OTOH, the house isolation means that when there *are* in-group problems, the students have nowhere else to go, but that's the fault of the isolation of their house, not the students within it. Also, I can see it as motivation to solve those problems more quickly or avoid them in the first place.
I think you're right that their emphasis on family purity and such gives them a respect for history and culture completely lacking in most Gryffindors -- see, for instance, the ancient relics stocking 12 Grimmauld Place before the Order all but razes the place (can you tell I'm a history fan?). Finally, I could potentially see that snobbery going toward more meritocratic scales, such as Snape's complete disgust with students lousy at potions. This isn't really a *good* thing, and we don't see much of it, but it seems to fall in line with house values, and it does help tease apart the snobbery from the blood-based prejudices.
In other words, JKR shows us so little of most Slytherins that it's hard to find their good sides, but I think we can get enough from them to find a balance, such as we're already given for Gryffindor, without wandering into pure fanon. Of course, it would be really nice if we ever actually saw a Slytherin who was genuinely *ambitious* like the hat says they are, and hasn't merely pulled the power-hungry part of it.