Once again, I have about 12 really truly important things I should be doing, but I'm still deeply tired, and so I spent the last hour reading JK Rowlings’s website. I finished HP6 a while ago, composed a blog post on it in my mind that never made it out my finger tips, and now I am on to thinking about other things. Let me see if I can remember what I wanted to say....
· Something about the supreme power of friendship above all things, above romantic love and even one's highest purpose. Ron and Hermione will help Harry kill Voldemort -- their friendship with him and resulting dedication to his mission is more important than their paths as individuals.
· Love can wait, especially between young people, until certain critical things are taken care of. This is obviously the case with Harry and Ginny but perhaps also the case between Ron and Hermione (they know they like each other, but don't seem to be doing anything about it just yet).
· Trusting your intuition: I like to believe the best about everyone. Even after Snape took the Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco and the mission given to him by Voldemort, I thought perhaps it was part of his act of pretending to be on their side. Silly me. Dumbledore was fooled by Snape’s act, but Harry never was. I put too much faith in Dumbledore's judgement bc he is a figure of authority.
· HP6 is really Harry's coming of age book. In 4 and 5, Voldemort totally manipulates Harry, in 4 into the Tournament and in 5 to the Ministry of Magic, but in 6, Harry dictates the course of the story, even to the point of disagreeing with Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. In 6, finally, Harry is right, and he tries to protect the others instead of them trying to protect him. This indicates his maturity.
That might be it. In the meantime, here are some ideas from JK Rowling's web site. (I went there to check what her plans were post-HP. She has none, No prequel, no new series, no idea. And she hasn't started HP7 yet.)
On Destiny:
"…I was making what I felt was a significant point about Harry and Voldemort, and about prophecies themselves, in showing Neville as the also-ran. If neither boy was 'pre-ordained' before Voldemort's attack to become his possible vanquisher, then the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made. Harry is propelled into a terrifying position he might never have sought, while Neville remains the tantalising 'might-have-been'. Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences." http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=84
"Do you believe in fate?"
"No, I believe in hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second." http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=71
On growing up:
"Sirius is brave, loyal, reckless, embittered and slightly unbalanced by his long stay in Azkaban. He has never really had the chance to grow up; he was around twenty-two when he was sent off to Azkaban, and has had very little normal adult life. Lupin, who is the same age, seems much older and more mature. Sirius's great redeeming quality is how much affection he is capable of feeling. He loved James like a brother and he went on to transfer that attachment to Harry." http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=61
Are people who didn't "get a chance" to grow up capable of it later in life? I'm inclined to think that the brain can only imprint that kind of thing during certain stages of development, and if, for whatever reason, that is missed, they remain... low-functioning in that way. But I would like to believe that I'm wrong. As Rowling points out, a person can have redeeming qualities, like the profound capacity to love.
On courage:
"What Hogwarts house would you be in?"
"Gryffindor, I hope. I value courage beyond almost anything." http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=9
What are the other possibilities? In Hogwarts’s houses, breeding, smarts and accepting all? I'm a big fan of intelligence, as you know, but courage probably provides greater benefits to all. I'm an even bigger fan of originality of thought and emotional honesty, and maybe they're the same as courage.
On the characters:
"Who is your favourite character?"
"I love: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Ginny, Fred, George and Lupin. I love writing (though would not necessarily want to meet) Snape. My favourite new character is Luna Lovegood." http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=8
I like those characters too. But in all honesty, right now, Ginny is my favorite character. She makes me think of the line "snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little girls are made of." I really like the Weasleys and their whole family thing they've got going. I also love Hagrid for his profound capacity for empathy. Which are your favorites?
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"Silly me. Dumbledore was fooled by Snape’s act, but Harry never was."
I'm not convinced Dumbledore was fooled. I mean, it certainly seems like he's caught off guard when Sanpe shows up on the Astronomy Tower at the end, but in a general sense he knew it was possible that he could blunder. At Harry's first private lesson Dumbledore explains that,
"From this point forth, we shall be leving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork. From here on in, Harry I may be as woefully wrong as Humphrey Belcher, who believed the time was ripe for a cheese cauldron."
"But you think you're right?" said Harry.
"Naturally I do, but as I have already proven to you, I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger." (HBP, US hardback ed., page 197)
I've listened to the audiobook of 6 about 3 times now, and every time I finish I have a different feeling about Snape. Sometimes I think he's a traitor, and sometimes I think there was a plan between him and Dumbledore. I just finished it again today, and I'm back to thinking that there was a plan, because of something Hagrid said after Ron was poisoned. He said he heard Snape and Dumbledore arguing.
"I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted an' maybe he - Snape - didn' wan' ter do it anymore -"
"Do what?"
"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, tha's all - anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'dagreed ter do it an' that wasl all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape meaking' investigations in his House, in Slytherin." (page 407-408)
Harry and the others later take this to mean Dumbledore is mad Snape hasn't made headway on the investigation, but really it's not explicit that reminding Snape about an agreement is related to the investigation in Slytherin. They could be separate things. After all, Dumbledore made Harry promise he'd do anything he commanded before they set out for the horcrux, even if it meant abandoning Dumbledore.
Hermione is my favorite character, I think. I think she's grown the most. In particular I'm thinking about Order of the Phoenix when Harry had the vision of Sirius being tortured and Hermione agreed to help him. It says a lot about how she values Harry's friendship that she helped him sneak into Umbridge's office. Back in book one she looked like she had more in common with Percy than any of the others, but she is fenced in my rules and ambition like he is.
JKR has mentioned a refernence book for charity after the series is done. She's already done "Quidditch through the Ages" and "Magical Beasts and where to find them" which I own, by the way if you want to borrow them.
The interview:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#static:tlcinterviews
And as far as spending oodles of time online reading about Harry Potter and JKR, Wikipedia has a lot of very well organized crap to enjoy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_potter
- Joanne
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