Yes More Harry Potter
24 June 2003-4:21 p.m.
I know, I know by now you are all sick to death of hearing about Harry Potter, but it's been a big thing in my life lately. (yes I am a nerd and I am proud of it) I think that I've managed to come to terms with Harry Potter. For those of you who still haven't read it here comes the
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I was a bit upset the last time I posted. I'm better now. It took a few days and a lot of reading other people's posts about it to get my feelings in order. Now I can say I loved this book. Not in an "it's so fluffy and lovely" but still I loved it. What JKR did with her characters was amazing. I haven't had that strong of a reaction to a book in a long time.
There's actually very little of Voldemort. This is a book about the Ministry. How dangerous and evil denial can be. Umbridge is one of the vilest and loathsome characters I have ever read. But she's not evil in any way that makes sense. She truly thinks she's doing what's best. And she is evil because she can be. She is a wonderful example of how power corrupts and to me she was scarier than Voldemort ever was. You don't run into to many evil overlords but middle level corrupt bureacrats you see all the time. Can anyone say Homeland security?
Neville! Oh how I loved Neville. I have had in the back of my mind a story floating about that played on Neville getting to grow up and his character development made me so happy.
Sirius. Broke my heart. I have always loved Sirius. To see him made useless and then to see him petty and mean and then to watch him die. Oh it tore me apart. To rip away Harry's last little bit of family. It hurts. As Emily Grace pointed out Harry looses his father figures. Sirius is taken from him. He looses his image of his father. And Dumbledore is shown to not be infallible. But I think it's more than that. He doesn't just loose his father figures. He's at the point in his life where he is learning that adults don't know everything. There was a lot of complaining about lack of Ron and Hermione but it's not about them. It's a book about the adults in Harry's world. They become much more human. No longer are they just disciplinary figures, they start having personalities. It was wonderful.
As for shipping. Well I don't think Harry/Ginny is dead as everyone else seems to be claiming. So Ginny's got a boyfriend? So what? She had to become an actual person and that would of course involve likeing people besides Harry. And Hermione/Ron, also don't agree that it's dead. That was always subtle. It's actually less sublte in this book. Harry/Draco? Oh like there was soooo much canon for that anyway.*rolls eyes* Sirius/Remus...well that was a favorite of mine and that one seems pretty dead. (no pun intended) I can't bear to ship Remus with anyone else. So sad. But really the people who want to ship certain characters will find ways to continue to ship them. That's what so great about fanfic. The ability to take only what we want.
I'm sad that the wonderful simple world that I grew to love is gone. My innocent Harry won't be around anymore. Cassie said it very well. Harry's childhood died in this book. I think she may be right, that Hary could very well become someone who could use the Crucio curse and mean it. He's rebellious and angry. It appears that the side of good is somewhat disorganized. I think there will be temptation for Harry. I think the idea of learning and using dark magic will be very inviting, not because he wants to be dark, but because it seems the best option. I think we'll see a much more bitter and perhaps vengeful Harry. While I know that everyone has to grow up, it's still upsetting to see.
This is still more disjointed than I would like. But I'm at work and time is somewhat limited. Cyg said things in a much more intelligent way. and Alyjack said things I feel in a much more elegant way. So for now I'll link to them and merely say...”yeah what they said."