Open "Harry Potter" thread

Oh, darn. You would bring this topic up just as I'm trying to shut my computer down for the weekend.

So, just a snap-shot of what I thought of the last book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." I think Rowling had to write her way through some challenges in this book, and she did a pretty good, but my no means perfect, job.

The first challenge was there was no way for Harry, Ron and Hermoine to go back to Hogwarts for their final year, because Harry would have been killed by Voldemort if they did. Yet every other Harry Potter novel was subtitled, "The First Year at Hogwarts," "The Second Year," etc. This break in the consistency of the series created some difficulties, and I don't think the book really came to life until Harry, Ron, and Hermoine got back to Hogwarts.

I also felt that J.K. Rowling sort of lost interest in Ron and Hermoine this year, which is unfortunate, since it made their characters lose some of the dimension they acquired during the earlier years. I felt the Hogwarts setting was what gave the series much of its originality, whereas this year it was a lot more reminiscent of similar quest fantasy novels, not just "Lord of the Rings" but also Lloyd Alexander's Pyrdian series, and others.

The set-ups and payoffs of a book like "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which I regard as the high point of the series in some ways, just weren't there in this book.

On the other hand, Snape loved Lily. Snape loved Lily!!! I knew it, once I read the "Snape's worst memory" chapter in Book 5. I've always been a big Snape fan -- I loved that he gave Harry a hard time, and I would have lost my faith in J.K. Rowling if Snape had turned out to be evil. I think it was wonderful of her to show that a person can be a rather unpleasant, troubled character, and still choose to do the right thing. Yeah, Snape!

I felt the Hogwarts setting was what gave the series much of its originality,

Perhaps, if you view the series primarily as a fantasy quest series. On the other hand, the Hogwarts scenes are pretty standard "boarding school novel" stuff.

I guess it depends on whether you regard the series as mainly fantasy that happens to be set at a boarding school; or primarily a boarding school *Bildungsroman* that happens to involve magic. I'm not sure I have an answer.

I agree that by keeping Harry & Co. away from Hogwarts for so much of the book, she lost some steam. Like many other readers, I always found the Hogwarts stuff to be the most interesting part of the books.

BTW, why don't they also have to study stuff like English and math at Hogwarts? Or can they just use magic to clean up their grammar, add up their expenses, etc.? What about foreign languages? Surely not every magic book worth reading is written in contemporary English.

(I taught for a few semesters at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (where I shared an office with Camille Paglia for a semester, though it was before anyone knew who she was, before she published *Sexual Personae*). The students mainly took courses in their artistic field, but they also had some general requirements in English, math, Western Culture (what I taught), etc.)

I think that in many ways the series ended pretty much the way it had to. She tied up most of the loose ends, and I think just about any other ending would have been very unsatisfying. I liked the way that characters from previous books were brought back, even if only for brief cameos or mentions (such as Dolores Umbridge and Prof. Slughorn).

I also liked the epilogue at the end. For one thing, it shows that she is pretty much finished writing about these characters. For another, it might help head off some of the inevitable fan fiction. Though I'm sure many will rise to the challenge. ;-)

But I wonder what Harry ended up doing with his life. I had though that he might end up teaching at Hogwarts -- but clearly he isn't, if he's seeing his own kids off on the Hogwarts Express. I wonder whether he, Ron, and Hermione were allowed to return to Hogwarts to finish their final year? Or whether they were awarded diplomas *honoris causa* because, after all, they'd proven that they had pretty well mastered all the magic stuff. I think the series has indicated pretty clearly that if you want to get some kind of magical job -- working for the Ministry, being an Auror, or whatever -- you need to have that diploma from Hogwarts. Apparently the magical world is as credential-driven as our own. But then, Harry now has friends in high places, and he has that vault full of money at Gringotts, so many he isn't hurting for money, and won't have trouble getting some kind of job.

I guess I was a bit surprised about Snape and Lily, but then again, that was back in their school days, just a by-gone thing. I was pleased that he made such a good double-agent type and was actually working on the side of good. He sure did a good job convincing me, Harry and others in the book he was up to no good. I'm pleased that J. K put Harry with Ginny, and Hermione with Ron, I hope that will take the heart out of what has been IMO some really dreadful fanfiction shipping found all over the net on web pages and in rpgs. Most of all, Baldingwarts - uh, I mean, Voldemort was brought down! Hurrah!!!

One can hope that the "Harry Potter is anti-Christian because there is magic" silliness will finally die. Harry's response to Voldemort's challenge/threat is as close to the story of Christ as C.S. Lewis's Aslan. Harry's voluntary acceptance of death allows him to win, and Voldemort's utter fear of death (which is what motivates him through the series) causes his defeat.

There was a reviewer on NPR who objected to the story on just those grounds. "Obvious religious symbolism," I think he called it. Oh well. I've also seen catalogues listing the Narnia books suggesting that parents can gloss over the religious themes while allowing the kids to enjoy the story.

BTW, I haven't seen a lot of interviews with JKR, and I don't know anything about her religious convictions. Her familiarity with, and affinity for, the Gospel may be the result of an obviously thorough education in Western Civilization and its foundations (including religious traditions, legends and myths). I don't know if the British education is still as good (or if JKR was just lucky -- maybe it never was generally that good).

I hoped at the end that she'd left us with a new set of characters for further adventures in the wizarding world when she introduced the children of the Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione families.

I hoped that Snape was still a good guy and what a reward it was to see that he was! I almost cried when I read that Harry and Ginny included his name in one of their children's names.

Joey, I woke up this morning and found myself, half-asleep, thinking, "Well, Dumbledore was going to die anyway so maybe it's not so bad..." I'm just reminding myself that it's a work of fiction set in an imaginary world and will probably ask my kids what they think about D's decision to kill himself for the greater good. Now that I'm fully awake, I think I'd better quit mulling this over and mop my living room floor.

Jolesley: You're bang on--Deathly Hallows takes place in 1997-'98 and the epilogue takes place in 2016/17 (depending on whether it's nineteen years from '97 or '98--I'm not quite sure).

I think my favourite parts were that sort of dream sequence (pages 705 - 723) and when Harry was telling Voldemort all the stuff he didn't want to hear (pages 737 - 743--I think everyone should read that part even if they're not really into the series).

I was also really surprised at how Voldy was finished off (page 743) and that Hermione and Ron got married--and they bickered all through Hogwarts!!!

Oh, and that Harry was the final Horcrux, which was probably the most shocking of all.