three thoughts on the Sorting Hat, feedback, and Ylva Eggehorn
An odd thought came to me last night, and I realized I had to seek enlightenment through LJ:
Is the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter books working from a perspective that's individual or proportional? That is to say, is it theoretically possible that all students end up in the same house, or must the houses be roughly equal in size?
I don't know why the thought has never occurred to me before, considering my opinions on houses altogether ("let's put all the mean children in one house and tell them to compete with the others!"), but now that I have thought of it, I find it highly unsettling.
Judging from the books, the houses seem to be more or less equal in size. This doesn't prove that the Sorting Hat is working to make them so, of course, but it certainly doesn't disprove it either. Certainly, quite a few people in the books would fit just as well into other houses.
And if the houses are meant to be roughly the same size, that's rather creepy. For one thing, it means that children from early in the alphabet are more likely to be treated fairly than the ones later on. ("York. Hmmm... You're really a Ravenclaw, but there are so many of those and hardly enough Slytherins to fill a Quidditch team. Do you think you could be a bit more devious?")
What would happen a year when nearly all the kids were little angels? Would the Slytherins be populated with the semi-nasty ones, even if they never did anything more ruthless than lie to their mommies once? And vice versa - if all the kids were back-stabbing little brutes one year, would they spill over to the other houses?
The question is important not only because it would be utterly unfair to be sorted through some quota (even more unfair than grades working by the same principle, which we used to have), but because I believe the houses largely influence the students' behaviour. If you keep being told that you're smart, ambitious, brave or stupid, you'll end up believing it. And if you're being told this despite the fact that there are people from other years in the rival houses that are more brave/stupid/smart/ambitious than you are, you'll effectively being duped into believing in a fate that wouldn't have to be yours.
Of course, I'm fairly sure that JKR never intended this question to even arise. That in her mind, kids *always* come in four roughly equal groups, spread fairly over the alphabet, and so the problem isn' t a problem, and the Sorting Hat is fair by default.
Still. Just thinking it makes me shiver.
***
I've come to the conclusion that there's something severely wrong with me feedback-wise. I love being flamed, it gives me a chance to snark. And I love critique, because it means people read my stories very closely indeed. About the only thing I don't like about negative feedback is when it's posted in such a way (anonymous, on recs sites) that I can't thank the reader for a good point or tell them off when they're simply being stupid.
OTOH, I can get really annoyed at positive feedback. Yesterday I got a note calling "My Gift from God" a "quite enjoyable little story", and I felt like flipping the person, because dude, what's "little" about it? I ended up not replying to the note, which is highly unusual for me. And when I found out I was on fanfic_love, it pleased me a lot less than it would to be on fanfic_hate. Two instances in just a few days when I wanted to scold people who were just being nice to me.
It seems I am a sore winner, which is a very odd position indeed.
***
I won't be talking much about my birthday, but I must talk about the CD "Döp mig med din längtan", with Sara Lindvall Nyberg singing songs with lyrics by Ylva Eggehorn. For those of you who don't know of Ylva Eggehorn (i.e. everyone who's not Swedish or roseveare, whom I forced one of her songs upon), she's an author/poet/hymn writer and absolutely kicks ass. The tunes were fabulous too, and the first time I listened to the songs, I wept like a little sprinkler system.
So in honor of these people, I will post the lyrics to one of the songs, with a rough translation by me. I chose a non-rhymed one to make it easy to translate, but it really is one of my favourites. The beginning of the tune can be found at the singer's site. (It's a tango, which is funny.)
RYKTET (Eggehorn/Lindvall Nyberg)
Det går ett rykte om hud
i den nedlagda staden.
Det sägs att man kan stryka handen över det
och att det kallas smekning.
Det finns de som talar om läppar
och att man kan utforska världen med dem
utan ord.
Somliga hävdar att de har följt
en linje i en handflata med fingertopparna
och hamnat i ett delta som leder till havet.
The Rumour (Eggehorn/Lindvall Nyberg)
There is a rumour of skin
in the closed down city.
They say that you can run your hand across it
and that this is called caress.
There are those who speak of lips
and how with them you can explore the world
without words.
Some people claim that they have followed
a line in the palm of a hand with their fingertips
and ended up in a delta that leads to the ocean.
Is the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter books working from a perspective that's individual or proportional? That is to say, is it theoretically possible that all students end up in the same house, or must the houses be roughly equal in size?
I don't know why the thought has never occurred to me before, considering my opinions on houses altogether ("let's put all the mean children in one house and tell them to compete with the others!"), but now that I have thought of it, I find it highly unsettling.
Judging from the books, the houses seem to be more or less equal in size. This doesn't prove that the Sorting Hat is working to make them so, of course, but it certainly doesn't disprove it either. Certainly, quite a few people in the books would fit just as well into other houses.
And if the houses are meant to be roughly the same size, that's rather creepy. For one thing, it means that children from early in the alphabet are more likely to be treated fairly than the ones later on. ("York. Hmmm... You're really a Ravenclaw, but there are so many of those and hardly enough Slytherins to fill a Quidditch team. Do you think you could be a bit more devious?")
What would happen a year when nearly all the kids were little angels? Would the Slytherins be populated with the semi-nasty ones, even if they never did anything more ruthless than lie to their mommies once? And vice versa - if all the kids were back-stabbing little brutes one year, would they spill over to the other houses?
The question is important not only because it would be utterly unfair to be sorted through some quota (even more unfair than grades working by the same principle, which we used to have), but because I believe the houses largely influence the students' behaviour. If you keep being told that you're smart, ambitious, brave or stupid, you'll end up believing it. And if you're being told this despite the fact that there are people from other years in the rival houses that are more brave/stupid/smart/ambitious than you are, you'll effectively being duped into believing in a fate that wouldn't have to be yours.
Of course, I'm fairly sure that JKR never intended this question to even arise. That in her mind, kids *always* come in four roughly equal groups, spread fairly over the alphabet, and so the problem isn' t a problem, and the Sorting Hat is fair by default.
Still. Just thinking it makes me shiver.
***
I've come to the conclusion that there's something severely wrong with me feedback-wise. I love being flamed, it gives me a chance to snark. And I love critique, because it means people read my stories very closely indeed. About the only thing I don't like about negative feedback is when it's posted in such a way (anonymous, on recs sites) that I can't thank the reader for a good point or tell them off when they're simply being stupid.
OTOH, I can get really annoyed at positive feedback. Yesterday I got a note calling "My Gift from God" a "quite enjoyable little story", and I felt like flipping the person, because dude, what's "little" about it? I ended up not replying to the note, which is highly unusual for me. And when I found out I was on fanfic_love, it pleased me a lot less than it would to be on fanfic_hate. Two instances in just a few days when I wanted to scold people who were just being nice to me.
It seems I am a sore winner, which is a very odd position indeed.
***
I won't be talking much about my birthday, but I must talk about the CD "Döp mig med din längtan", with Sara Lindvall Nyberg singing songs with lyrics by Ylva Eggehorn. For those of you who don't know of Ylva Eggehorn (i.e. everyone who's not Swedish or roseveare, whom I forced one of her songs upon), she's an author/poet/hymn writer and absolutely kicks ass. The tunes were fabulous too, and the first time I listened to the songs, I wept like a little sprinkler system.
So in honor of these people, I will post the lyrics to one of the songs, with a rough translation by me. I chose a non-rhymed one to make it easy to translate, but it really is one of my favourites. The beginning of the tune can be found at the singer's site. (It's a tango, which is funny.)
RYKTET (Eggehorn/Lindvall Nyberg)
Det går ett rykte om hud
i den nedlagda staden.
Det sägs att man kan stryka handen över det
och att det kallas smekning.
Det finns de som talar om läppar
och att man kan utforska världen med dem
utan ord.
Somliga hävdar att de har följt
en linje i en handflata med fingertopparna
och hamnat i ett delta som leder till havet.
The Rumour (Eggehorn/Lindvall Nyberg)
There is a rumour of skin
in the closed down city.
They say that you can run your hand across it
and that this is called caress.
There are those who speak of lips
and how with them you can explore the world
without words.
Some people claim that they have followed
a line in the palm of a hand with their fingertips
and ended up in a delta that leads to the ocean.