Okay, in my opinion this woman does not make any good points at all and was never that into the series. She was told by her editor to read them and write something agianst them.
The Article is here but do not read it if you have not read the last HP book or ever plan to read it.
Al, you had better leave me a comment. I will be disappointed if you don't. So if you could just do that, that'd be great. mmmk?
"... the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy..." Albus Dumbledore
3 comments:
I think the books are about Snape, as much as the original Star Wars Trilogy is about Darth Vader. He is an important side character that provides an interesting counterpoint to the main characters.
Harry does go through change in the story, but it sounds like this reviewer was looking for a more cookie cutter change or inner conflict. I guess she wanted him to be a self centered jerk before he decided to be a good guy. I think Harry's change was maturity. He learned patience and reason and started making difficult decisions in advance as opposed to rushing blindly into conflict, simply hoping things will just work out.
The choice Harry made was to pursue and destroy evil, even if that meant that he would die. In the bulk of the series, Voldemort or his plans/minions tended to seek out Harry and he was often forced to fight them, but mainly because they were already up in his business. Yeah, he went after the stone and he went into the Chamber of Secrets, but he had been essentially driven to those encounters by the evil forces. (In Order of the Phoenix he was essentially herded right into the department of ministries.) In this last book, Voldemort's minions are pursuing Harry, almost just out of habit, but V himself is off doing something else entirely. It is Harry who made the decision to actively pursue and destroy the Hoarcruxes and thus, Voldemort, even though he was fairly certain he would not survive the process.
He changed from "The Boy Who Lived" into "The Man Who Decided To Kick Voldemort's Ass" and that works for me just fine.
Tam,
Interesting article, and well said, Slothy with the point about Darth.
I agree with the gal that the choices that Harry would make always seemed obvious in the story, but that doesn't negate the fact he had to make them, especially from Order of the Phoenix onward. This was not a pure moral story by any means (certainly not like the Tale of the Three Brothers). There was a lot, and I mean a lot, or moral indifference. I mean, in the last book, Harry busts out the Crucio and Imperius curses like it's no big deal.
But as much as I want to ignore the cliche, this whole series was very much a coming of age story. It was about Snape like the gal says, in terms of one heck of a moral crux, but the story itself was most definitely about Harry's maturation process.
He by no means is a perfect hero. And perhaps that's what the gal takes issue with ultimately. You never question Frodo's goodness, because even in his dark moments, you just pass it off on the ring. Or he has Sam right there to buck him up. You never question Gandalf, because, he's Gandalf.
But Harry is jacked. Especially in Phoenix, Rowling goes into his inner psyche quite a bit. We see him wrestle with trust, his idea of good character, his decision of who's authority to follow. Have you ever seen SecondHand Lions? The boy eventually just chooses to trust his uncles' story and characters, regardless of the truthfulness of them, in the face of adversity.
Harry does the same thing. The difference is that we saw Harry work through it, thus putting him on our own level; he cannot be lifted up and exalted as a moral character because he's just as jacked up as we are. Heck, he screws up, saying the Taboo name and getting them caught, because his head was up his arse about the Hallow obsession.
As much as the gal wants this series to be about good and evil, good choices versus bad ones, it's not really that. To maybe get sappy, it is about love, as Dumbledore would say. That's the difference maker. Look at how love won over various characters in the book. Snape's love (whatever kind it was) of Lily. Harry's love for Dobby that impresses the goblin. Harry's learned love for Kreacher that totally changes him. Heck, even Harry's love of human life changes Draco (rescuing him from the fire in the RoR).
Moral stories are not as clear cut anymore. That much I will agree with. But I do think the gal missed most of the boat. Just because the characters aren't as clear cut anymore, doesn't mean that there is still not moral value to be learned from the main characters. People flock to Snape because you never see him process much. Only bits and glimpses. So he is mysterious and more clear cut, simply because we don't get bogged down by his humanity. You get front row seats for all of the inner turmoil Harry goes through. Moral stories now just take a lot more thinking to pick apart and process.
I appreciate what the gal in the article is trying to say, but it's like she tried to Disapparate, and most of her got spliced three feet away from the rest of her body. (How's that for a final image?)
Good enough comment, Tam? :-)
If you two could only see the smile on my face now. LOVE your comments. and agree with bits and pieces of both. I will come back later tonight (too much thought process to do at work and actually still be "working") and write my own thoughts down.
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