Note: The following contains explicit spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
I finished the latest and final Harry Potter book at precisely 8:10 this morning. What I call self-sanctity (although a more honest term would be identity pride) compels me to clear up at the onset that although I received the book at one of the many hype-ridden Release Parties (a topic for another post, where my apologies are in order) this was due mainly to the fact that I’m currently sharing my copy with my sister, and this has restricted my reading time to late nights and early mornings. But that is not the subject of this post. Right now I want to talk about the effects of the book on me.
For quite a while I couldn’t think what I found so distasteful; after all there was much in the book I heartily applauded and found immensely satisfying: Snape’s innocence, Draco, Ron and Hermione’s kiss…I even approved of the losses, intimate to heighten the cost of the struggle but not enough to mutilate its worth. And then…after worrying it and worrying it I realized that my problem was on an academic level and rather generic: I disapproved of Harry’s isolation.
This may confuse someone who would want to know what I’m referring to – after all Harry ends up the furthest thing from alone at the end of the story. But I’m not talking about the absence of friends or personal fulfilment…I'm talking about a crude articulation of the paradox of fantasy, a line that has been crossed where Harry's story inhabits a realm between adventure and myth, upsettingly, towards the latter. I am not saying that fantasy must not play it's inherited mythic role, but not to the extent where the protagonist is elevated above the reach of psychological identification, which is what adventure enables in its qualties of earthiness and the immediate extraordinary.
Now nothing I should have enjoyed is free of a certain mythic glow; Harry’s children and even Ron’s jokes are bathed in it. Where before Harry's story was a journey to be taken, for the pleasure of his life and the purpose of navigating our own labyrinthine psyches, now it is a relic on a wall. Something to be treasured, dusted, worshiped, but not touched. Not experienced, because in isolating Harry, his character has been elevated, depressingly I found, from hero-as-me to hero-as-sign.
6 comments:
I also have to share a copy with my brother and it took me longer to finish with a function at my house.
I did enjoy the book, in the sense she tied up a lot of the loose ends, I'm not totally sure I am with you on the isolation thing, if you mean him as the sole hero, the burden on his shoulders to overcome Voldemort, thereby emphasising him as the hero of the story or whereas all the previous Harry Potter books made him so character relatable you felt yourself going through emotions (well me anyway) which this book didnt have. If it were these points then I agree. The only thing that bugged me was the incredibly corny epilogue, it could have been plucked straight out of fan-fiction, worst piece of writing Ive seen from JK, encompassing all the books.
Sorry for the long comment, I guees wanted to share my opinions with someone who read it as well
ARRRRGGGH I was SOOOOO disappointed by it. Because it was kinda predictable, but there were also things which just weren't tied up and a whole lotta loose ends which didn't make sense.
I am disappointed JK.(and with myself too for thinking about the storyline and pretty much ruining it for myself by predicting a lot of the stuff in it)
But I felt kinda distraught at the fact that she applied fantasy theory so strongly that it killed it. It was tangible the whole comatatus(sp?) etc thing. Not to mention the love triangle or the happily ever after middle class dream finish.And then she goes and WILLINGLY defeats the ends of the "changed" hero who cannot be integrated back because of the vast weight of his experiences. Didn't set him apart at all from other characters.
I think I found Snape's innocence to be satisfying because of the implicit "trust Dumbledore" theme throughout the series. lol, didn't I tell you(or was it the twins?) a while back that Dumbledore planned his own death with Snape and that it was like a euthanasia thing?And you looked at me and said don't be so morbid. Hmmmph. :)
As for the Ron and Hermione kiss, at that moment effggh, overly dramatic and uber Bollywood like. I mean for God's sake, the world as you know it is under attack but you wanna get it on NOW?! jeez...
I think that I would've preferred Harry to die in his pursuit for the purposes of fulfilling the idea that the hero is willing to sacrifice for the greater good and sometimes not even the fantastic allows for leeway when it comes to death. The culmination of the Quest, pay the ultimate sacrifice. The fact that Draco still exists and that the form of Voldemort's being/presence which Harry sees in his limbo thing was quite appealing. Hearkens back to the idea of evil never being truly gone, merely dormant.He can rise again, perhaps in another form.
I thought this one was poorly written and penned in a rush.
And to think we stood with sugar-rushing children for over 4 hours waiting for it.
Bleh, hope it becomes a collector's edition someday.
Hmmm, I should write a follow-up on this because I've had more time to think about it and have changed some of my ideas.
Queen_Lestat and Waseem: You guys tie in on the point that Rowling has definate cheese tendencies...the Bollywood kiss...the fanfic epilogue. She has demonstrated this before now (note the whole Dawson's Creek interim in Half-Blood Prince), but to a certain extent you guys should realize that the books have these qualities, and they are part of the hippie/Romance quirkiness that gets redeemed as so only because of her command of mythic mystique. Without apologies I would admit they are sometimes downright embarrassing, but at others she delivers on the level of cheap soap-opera in a good way; people in their earthy goodness sometimes bring truth to the cliche. So I will enjoy both the kiss and the epilogue at the level it's delivered and not squint too hard.
Ditto on the idea that there is something rushed about this book; I felt her descriptions in particular wanted for much.
Waseem: You got my point succintly without my waffle; Harry seemed to be unnecessarily taken out of our hands (minds) and also seemed simultaneously flatter. To say it in a nutshell, he was overstuffed with narrative function.
Oh and I loved Snape's story: it was beautiful and painful. He's the real hero for me, actually.
Wow I thought my comment was long, you guys should start a blog or something ;)
I also re-evaluated the book as the initial euphoria of the finished book dissipated, and I sat and lambasted the book with a few friends. One extreme to the other, but I see your point of the seeing the book in its context. But QL is right about it being poorly written, lots of loopholes and fan pleasing. JK sorta sold out.
How would you have ended the series if you were in JK's shoes? I probably would have killed of Ginny, made Harry angry young man, making his 'sacrifice' less pure, but then I'm not sure if the sacrifice would have been accepted on those terms, so not sure about that.
I disagree that Ootp is a filler in the Voldemort arc, it demonstrated the connection between Harry and Voldemort, alluding to Harry himself being a horcrux.
Btw, thanks for visiting my blog
Waseem: I agree that Ootp is relevant to the Voldemort arc in that it worked on the Harry/Voldemort connection. I just meant that in theme it is more evocative of the feelings found in PoA. Sorry I meant that comment in a very generalizing way; not as something to squint too hard at.
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