Gosh, I think this is one of your first posts that I've responded to directly. Where to start, where to start...
Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to... *shuts off little voice in head that sounds suspiciously like Julie Andrews*
PS/SS, though, is probably the easiest place to begin. What we have before the sorting ceremony is, in the most basic narrative terms, just enough back story to determine that Harry's home life (the story's representative of the Muggle world) is worse than most, Professor Dumbledore sends guardians who are usually truthful in addition to being infinately preferable to the company of the Dursleys, Harry's parents were in fact not killed in a car crash, Draco Malfoy (the first Slytherin or Slytherinesque character Harry encounters) is a spoiled brat, and the Weasleys are nice because their mother, a former Gryffindor, is still alive and she helped Harry get onto platform 9 3/4.
What we don't see until later is that Dumbledore is in effect engineering a Gryffindor. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly colors the situation. What would happen if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were a bit nicer? What would happen if Harry had discovered his letters' content on his own? What would happen if Draco wasn't quite such a brat? Or if Harry's guardian had been brusque Prof. McGonogal, cold Prof. Snape, diminuative Prof. Flitwick, or kindly Prof. Sprout? Or Madame Hooch? Or Prof Vector or one of the other professors we rarely (if ever) see? What if the only place for Harry to sit had been with a group of students destined for one of the other houses?
No... Harry the Gryffindor was made, not born. Change one of the variables mentioned above, and Harry would seem to have a different personality. Change two, and he could very well have chosen to be in Slytherin.
That's probably why he's actually scary, most times. He embodies the best of Gryffindor in many ways, but the worst of Slytherin in many others. Looking at him without Gryffindor goggles, we can see his elitist attitude and his self-centeredness most easily.
His snobbery, though not related to bloodline, tends to exclude any non-Gryffindors who aren't Quidditch players, many Quidditch players who are non-Gryffindors, the Creevys, Percy Weasley... basically, anyone who isn't a Gryffindor he likes. Professors are exempt from this because he doesn't have to like them to respect them, or respect them to like them. (How many times has he gone against what Hagrid suggested, even though the half-giant seems to be his favorite adult on campus?)
Also, we've seen him operating on his own desires more than once: personal curiosity in PS/SS, wanting to clear his own name in CoS, selfish anger when he blew Aunt Marge up in PoA, school pride, among other things, in GoF, and the selfish desire to save his godfather in OotP. For these desires, he risks his friends' lives and reputations. For these desires, he risks exposing magic to the Muggle world. Sometimes, like at the end of GoF, things are out of his control, but when he could stop the process (like when Hermione brewed the Polyjuice Potion), he didn't really want to stop. In fact, it seems like the only time he even questions his own actions is when he's feeling guilty. Sounds pretty Slytherin to me.
What makes this dangerous, like you said, is the fact that Harry seems to justify all this by saying to himself "I'm not in Slytherin. If I were truly Slytherin, regardless of my desires, it would have put me there. Therefore, in this society, I'm better than Slytherin," or something along those lines. He recognizes he makes mistakes, but he doesn't take responsibility for them. It's like that Dashboard Confessional song: Vindicated I am selfish I am wrong I am right I swear I'm right Swear I knew it all along
Harry knows what he does is wrong, but he doesn't care, either because he can justify his motives to himself, or because he has acted to avenge a wrong he's seen done to him. It seems, though, that sometimes he picks the smallest issues to get righteous about, and fails to see his own shortcomings or mental (as well as physical) myopia.
no subject
Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to...
*shuts off little voice in head that sounds suspiciously like Julie Andrews*
PS/SS, though, is probably the easiest place to begin. What we have before the sorting ceremony is, in the most basic narrative terms, just enough back story to determine that Harry's home life (the story's representative of the Muggle world) is worse than most, Professor Dumbledore sends guardians who are usually truthful in addition to being infinately preferable to the company of the Dursleys, Harry's parents were in fact not killed in a car crash, Draco Malfoy (the first Slytherin or Slytherinesque character Harry encounters) is a spoiled brat, and the Weasleys are nice because their mother, a former Gryffindor, is still alive and she helped Harry get onto platform 9 3/4.
What we don't see until later is that Dumbledore is in effect engineering a Gryffindor. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly colors the situation. What would happen if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were a bit nicer? What would happen if Harry had discovered his letters' content on his own? What would happen if Draco wasn't quite such a brat? Or if Harry's guardian had been brusque Prof. McGonogal, cold Prof. Snape, diminuative Prof. Flitwick, or kindly Prof. Sprout? Or Madame Hooch? Or Prof Vector or one of the other professors we rarely (if ever) see? What if the only place for Harry to sit had been with a group of students destined for one of the other houses?
No... Harry the Gryffindor was made, not born. Change one of the variables mentioned above, and Harry would seem to have a different personality. Change two, and he could very well have chosen to be in Slytherin.
That's probably why he's actually scary, most times. He embodies the best of Gryffindor in many ways, but the worst of Slytherin in many others. Looking at him without Gryffindor goggles, we can see his elitist attitude and his self-centeredness most easily.
His snobbery, though not related to bloodline, tends to exclude any non-Gryffindors who aren't Quidditch players, many Quidditch players who are non-Gryffindors, the Creevys, Percy Weasley... basically, anyone who isn't a Gryffindor he likes. Professors are exempt from this because he doesn't have to like them to respect them, or respect them to like them. (How many times has he gone against what Hagrid suggested, even though the half-giant seems to be his favorite adult on campus?)
Also, we've seen him operating on his own desires more than once: personal curiosity in PS/SS, wanting to clear his own name in CoS, selfish anger when he blew Aunt Marge up in PoA, school pride, among other things, in GoF, and the selfish desire to save his godfather in OotP. For these desires, he risks his friends' lives and reputations. For these desires, he risks exposing magic to the Muggle world. Sometimes, like at the end of GoF, things are out of his control, but when he could stop the process (like when Hermione brewed the Polyjuice Potion), he didn't really want to stop. In fact, it seems like the only time he even questions his own actions is when he's feeling guilty. Sounds pretty Slytherin to me.
What makes this dangerous, like you said, is the fact that Harry seems to justify all this by saying to himself "I'm not in Slytherin. If I were truly Slytherin, regardless of my desires, it would have put me there. Therefore, in this society, I'm better than Slytherin," or something along those lines. He recognizes he makes mistakes, but he doesn't take responsibility for them. It's like that Dashboard Confessional song:
Vindicated
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
Harry knows what he does is wrong, but he doesn't care, either because he can justify his motives to himself, or because he has acted to avenge a wrong he's seen done to him. It seems, though, that sometimes he picks the smallest issues to get righteous about, and fails to see his own shortcomings or mental (as well as physical) myopia.