HP and the DH sort-of-review part 2
More Deathly Hallows' spoilers... *edit* Hmm, this was supposed to be short, but I went back to clarify one thing and it GREW into an essay of sorts. So much for informal review thingy.
One thing that caught my attention early on in the book was the degree to which Voldemort might believe the pureblood propoganda that he uses to manipulate the wizarding world. While it would be in character for him to just use the thing about muggle-borns stealing magic from purebloods to manipulate everbody else, I can also completely see him believing that tripe, as otherwise perfectly intelligent people both past and present have believed prejudices that just do not make sense. Voldemort is, after all, a perfect example of how someone who is an absolute genius in some ways can be completely stupid in others.
I also find it interesting how ignorant he is about some aspects of pureblood wizarding culture considering his stance on purity; it's not his (or any other "impure" magic user's) fault that he wasn't raised listening to "the tales of beetle the bard", of course, but it's just interesting that someone who is actually leading the movement for the cultural and blood purity of the wizarding world not only is a half-blood, but one who is ignorant of wizarding traditions in a way that purebloods who join his cause fear the most. Granted, as Dumbledore says, he thinks himself above learning about children's tales, but he is actually ignorant enough about the culture that he is trying to represent that he doesn't know the true value of his ancestor's heirloom and turns it into a perversion of what it was-- a horcrux.
The fact that Slytherin possessed the resurrection stone is an interesting point, as well. The Slytherin house is on a whole portrayed as evil if you don't look closely enough, and some Slytherins definitely are evil *cough tombellatrix cough* , but on a whole, as JKR demonstrated in both the Malfoys and the Blacks, they are more concerned with the survival of their families and culture than the well-being of others who aren't priviledged enough to be considered important according to their narrow, limited worldview. This racism can, of course, be considered evil (especially considering that some of them murder people who disagree with them), but they can also capable of good, extremely selfless actions too when those they consider family are threatened (for instance, Regulus' actions when he learned what Voldemort did to Kreacher and learned about his horcruxes).
I believe that the original intent of the Slytherin house was much like that of the resurrection stone: to reach an impossible goal, the assurance that those you love and everything you believe in will never die. Voldemort was the true heir of Slytherin not just because Slytherin was his ancestor, but because he was the product of such arrogance, a perversion of the original intent of the prejudice that drove Slytherin's stance: flight from the inevitable death that befalls both cultures and people. Voldemort's campaign is probably a perversion of Slytherin's because Voldemort has no use for a family or investment in the survival of the parts of pureblood culture that don't suit him; he is not concerned about anyone's survival but his own. He has opportunities to do things for other people throughout book 7, such as when Snape asks him to spare Lily, but in the end he is unable to consider the priorities of even people loyal to him important enough to waist much effort on. By turning the resurrection stone into a horcrux, Voldemort takes human ignorance and selfishness to a new level, but Slytherin's prejudices gave rise to Voldemort's belief that he should "prune the undesirable parts of (his) family" instead of try to resurrect them.