Sorting

“There is no Them.  There are only facets of Us.”

-John Green

I’m reading this book right now.  It’s called Divergent and it’s by Veronica Roth.  It’s about a Dystopian society, which is pretty much my favorite kind book.  Going into it, I had a pretty clear expectation of what it would be.  Dystopian society usually means bad government, oblivious community members, and eventual revolution.  I’m about three hundred pages into the book and so far all of these expectations have been met with the exception of revolution.  I expect that will come in the sequel.  It’s pretty typical as far as Dystopian novels go, but it has got me thinking about something.

It’s got me thinking about Sorting.

In the world of Divergent, at the age of sixteen its residents are allowed to choose between five Factions: Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Amity, and Dauntless.  These five factions split people based on what virtue they value most.  The narrator, Tris, decides to transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless. But because she is “Divergent” unlike most members of her society, Tris (according to her aptitude tests) could supposedly function well in several of the Factions, not just one.  It’s pretty similar to the idea of Houses in Harry Potter.  Except, in Harry Potter all of the Houses seem pretty cool and in Divergent all the Factions seem pretty sucky.  For instance, the Dauntless are like Gryffindor.  They value bravery and courage and they play host to our main protagonist.  Only, unlike Gryffindor, I don’t root for the Dauntless at all.  They’re twisted and cruel and they have a sick idea of what it means to be brave.  I’ve often scoffed at Gryffindor for their sense of entitlement, but at least they understand what bravery is.  Bravery isn’t taking out your strongest opponents while they sleep to ensure your own place on top.  Bravery is Neville Longbottom standing up to his friends because he doesn’t want the rest of his House to get in trouble.  Another issue I have with the Divergent Factions is that Veronica Roth has gone out of her way to make the Erudite seem like bad guys so far.  The Erudite value intelligence.  They’re the Faction that I would probably choose if I had to.  So it irks me that she’s chosen to mark them as the evil strategists.  Hopefully, that will change eventually, but right now it’s pretty damn annoying.

So Factions aren’t fun like Houses are.  But to be honest, that’s kind of a good thing.  Because it shows that dividing ourselves into groups is stupid.

“Sorting” people always causes problems.  It pits the good guys against each other.  While Gryffindor and Slytherin are busy fighting each other, they’re too distracted to see the bigger picture about the chaos in the Wizarding world.  While Erudite and Abnegation argue over petty differences they fail to recognize it is their corrupt government system that instills this meaningless hatred.  And in Game of Thrones while the Starks and Lannisters are out for power and revenge, they remain oblivious to the threat of their entire species that lurks beyond the Wall. 

 You get my drift, Sorting is bad.  The authors of these books obviously realize that.  That’s the whole point that they’re trying to make.  But at the same time they’re still hypocritical.  Because it is simply in human nature to want to split into “Factions” and “Houses.”  Dumbledore, the wisest character in all of Harry Potter, realizes that sorting is stupid– yet at the end of Deathly Hallows in “The Prince’s Tale,” we hear him say to Snape, “You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon…”  So he STILL believes in the system.  He still believes that Snape is really some kind of Gryffindor in disguise.  He’s still trying to categorize him.  I’ve always hated that part.  Because I think that it’s rather insulting to Snape’s character.  Snape is so much more than just brave.  He’s also bitter and cruel and self-serving.  He has Gryffindor traits, but so does everyone.  Luna Lovegood is brave enough to remain true to herself despite the adversity she faces because of it.  Ernie McMillan shuns the idea of leaving for the safe haven of Hogsmeade when he could be fighting Voldemort side by side with his friends.  Narcissa Malfoy proclaims Harry dead at the risk of being caught to ensure her son’s safety.  Deep down, everyone’s got some Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw in them.  J.K. Rowling knows that.  In book five she has the Sorting Hat sing a freaking song about it:

“And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

Because that is what I’m for,

But this year I’ll go further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it’s wrong”

And then she STILL has Dumbledore say that thing about Sorting to Snape in Deathly Hallows.  Because she still for no reason at all believes in the system.

Hell, even I believe in the system.  Like the others I see that’s it’s flawed.  I see that it’s bullshit.  But that doesn’t matter.  I still check Pottermore every day to see if it’s finally out of its goddamn Beta stage so I can find out what House I’m in according to Rowling’s standards.  I still want to know if I’m a Hufflepuff like all the other tests tell me and figure out how I really feel about that.  Because I want to feel like I’m a part of something special.  I want that sense of community, even if it is only in this weird abstract fictional way.  That’s probably why I love Nerdfighteria so much actually.  It gives me a sense of belonging and it splits me from the typical college student.  And I want someone else to tell me who I am.  I want someone else to label me so I don’t have to delve any further into myself.  Everyone wants this.  They’ll all deny it.  But secretly it’s what we all want.  We don’t want to imagine people complexly.  We want to be able to summarize them with one word: Gay, Straight, Black, White, Old, Young, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Lannister, Stark, Decepticon, Nerdfighter.  But truthfully no one falls into just one category.  Truthfully, everyone is Divergent.  We all want the same things and we all want different things.  We’re paradoxical.  We’re all human– that’s the one thing that should matter most.  It’s the one thing that should bind us.  But it never will.  In the human brain, equality is subjective.  It means something different to everyone, even though it shouldn't.  So we’ll keep trying to define ourselves and keep splitting into groups.  Because as much as we all advocate for equality, we’re still advocating for the rights of certain groups.  We’re still Sorting ourselves.  And we’re still not imagining each other complexly.  At this rate, we never will.