Saturday, August 27, 2005

Harry Potter

A zillion bloggers have blogged about Harry Potter. I hope what I have to say is at least somewhat original since I was struck by the way motherhood was portrayed in this book. The rest of my remarks are in the comments to avoid spoilers for the few who still haven't read Harry Potter.

2 comments:

Thida said...

I thought it was interesting that Voldemort and Harry had similar childhoods being both effectively orphans raised by horrible humans. They also both make a big splash at Hogwarts and gather faithful followers albeit with much different styles. However the main difference that was emphasized in this book was that Harry's mother died to save him while Voldemort's mother couldn't be bothered to stay alive even for her son. It's the ultimate mothering determines your character.

After the fourth chapter, I thought that Lord Voldemort had ordered Draco to kill
Dumbledore. He would fail and Snape would kill Dumbledore. It followed too closely
the pattern of the last book where Harry gets close to an adult and they are killed. I've thought things before but I've always been wrong. But I had a sinking feeling this time, so I rushed ahead to the end of the book. I was very disappointed to find out I was right. I thought the ending made no sense. Then I read the book from beginning to end and it still made no sense.

Like most people I still think Snape is a good guy. I think the reason Snape hates Harry so much is that he hated Harry's father and was in love with Harry's mother and Harry's a visible reminder of her death. Because of Lily's memory, he has always ensured Harry's survival. Even in one of the last scenes of the book, he doesn't harm Harry and is instructing him on how to better defend himself. So swearing an oath to kill one of the most powerful wizards makes no sense. He's a clever guy and the Malfoys are not very bright, so he could have found some other way to gain their trust. I think his rage was at the silly plot device JK Rowling used. Okay, I mean that his rage was that he was forced to kill Dumbledore or die himself. Perhaps Rowling will have some good explanation in the seventh book. Maybe Dumbledore's death was faked. I actually think Sirius is still alive.

I enjoyed the way the romances were portrayed in this book. They seemed as silly and
tortuous as I remember things being at that age. Except when Harry dumped Ginny,
there was no mention of Dumbledore's distinction that Harry knew how to love. The guy just died, so Harry might at least consider what he said.

I think that Harry's scar is one of the Horcux that Voldemort created when he killed
Harry's mother. Harry's scar hurt when Voldemort was in pain. It's said it's when he was hurting others, but then it should hurt more now. Now Voldemort is
stronger and not in pain, it doesn't hurt anymore. I also think RAB is some relative of Sirius Black.

Anonymous said...

I think RAB is Sirius' "dead" brother and that Dumbledore isn't dead..it's a setup to take the attention off of Dumbledore so he can find the other pieces of the soul and to give Harry the anger needed to strengthen his powers.

Those are just my thoughts though ;)