the deathly hallows
30 Jun 2007 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiSpent the last 15 minutes reading this long rant about Harry Potter. It's by an English professor too!
I don't agree with half the things she says, but I'm just being resentful because two of my favourite characters have died, and I really don't give a damn about Harry. Which is why I particularly disagree with this:
Nobody wants Harry to die. - I do!
We want to see him slay Voldemort and live happily ever after with Ginny Weasley. - I don't!
While I agree that the parallel between Harry and Voldemort is intentional...this:
Harry is different because affliction does not make him frightened. On the contrary: great loss teaches Harry love and loyalty and the enduring strength that those emotions have when they are borne out of suffering.
I don't think that's the main reason of why Harry's different. Harry has people who love him - many, many people who love him very, very dearly. Tom Riddle had few, and if he had any, he pushed them away. Harry has had the protection of his friends and of his parents' friends from birth, the love and adoration of these people the moment he stepped into Hogwarts.
He's.....special, the moment Voldemort stuck a wand in his face and said "Avada Kedavra". Tom Riddle was just a weird Slytherin kid who was too smart, too ambitious and too vindictive for his own good. He's special because of circumstances beyond his control, and he receives so much love and attention again.....because of circumstances beyond his control. If I were Voldemort, and supposed to be some parallel of Harry, I'd be pretty pissed off at the different treatment too.
What made Harry different was the people around him. Not because he himself did anything.
Again.
Which is why I want him to die.
And the statement: Voldemort's experience of suffering has made him aspire to immortality is a jump of about 5 steps in logic =/
I don't agree with half the things she says, but I'm just being resentful because two of my favourite characters have died, and I really don't give a damn about Harry. Which is why I particularly disagree with this:
Nobody wants Harry to die. - I do!
We want to see him slay Voldemort and live happily ever after with Ginny Weasley. - I don't!
While I agree that the parallel between Harry and Voldemort is intentional...this:
Harry is different because affliction does not make him frightened. On the contrary: great loss teaches Harry love and loyalty and the enduring strength that those emotions have when they are borne out of suffering.
I don't think that's the main reason of why Harry's different. Harry has people who love him - many, many people who love him very, very dearly. Tom Riddle had few, and if he had any, he pushed them away. Harry has had the protection of his friends and of his parents' friends from birth, the love and adoration of these people the moment he stepped into Hogwarts.
He's.....special, the moment Voldemort stuck a wand in his face and said "Avada Kedavra". Tom Riddle was just a weird Slytherin kid who was too smart, too ambitious and too vindictive for his own good. He's special because of circumstances beyond his control, and he receives so much love and attention again.....because of circumstances beyond his control. If I were Voldemort, and supposed to be some parallel of Harry, I'd be pretty pissed off at the different treatment too.
What made Harry different was the people around him. Not because he himself did anything.
Again.
Which is why I want him to die.
And the statement: Voldemort's experience of suffering has made him aspire to immortality is a jump of about 5 steps in logic =/
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 11:46 am (UTC)Sorry, don't mind me, like I said, not a fan.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 12:00 pm (UTC)But I bet it was because he wasn't particularly likeable or meek. Pfft.
To be fair, the writing in HP is pretty good, and for the first few books at least, she's very good at continuity, and leaving little clues that leads up to a pretty impressive reveal at the end. It's almost like a fantasy read as a crime-solving novel (except the puzzles aren't as complex or central).
But for the last 2 or 3, I'm just so sick of the teenage wangstage =___= And Harry's "wth! I did soooo much whine whine whine why is everyone not paying attention to me whine!" attitude really heckles me.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 12:04 pm (UTC)From what you describe, it seems like Harry is a little goody goody. It's usually the faults and defects in a character that make them likable.
Think I'll just continue to keep my distance from the whole thing.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 12:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, Harry's a goody-goody. Even when he starts being a total brat, he's still a good-goody. He's just so normal it gets really boring. I guess I'm just past the age where I want to relate to the main character.
Especially if he's going to save the world, which at no point can any one of us meagre readers possibly relate to, so let's not get pretentious and talk about how "easy to relate to" they are ~~;
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 08:57 am (UTC)