RE: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Harry's fate according to the bookies

[Sherry Gomes]

Eggplant:
I don't think JKR is the slightest bit interested in sending messages or in
strengthen the moral fiber of young people, she just wants to tell a good
story.


Sherry now:
I don't think that's exactly true.  She has made public comments several
times about things like teenage girls liking bad boys, teenagers and body
image, bullying.  I think she does care about her young readers and the
messages they might take away from the books.

Eggplant quoted Geoff and then responded:
> it would be like a family loss to me. 

Me too, and when a book can reach that visceral level it becomes a true work
of art.


Sherry:
I also disagree with this.  I have loved books that have reached that
painful level and books that have happy endings, and sometimes I have
considered them great art and sometimes not.  A book does not have to be a
tragedy to be art.  I don't read books to read art; I read books for
pleasure or for education.  I read light weight books and deep soul
wrenching books.  But if a book has a completely tragic ending, I consider
it a waste of time and energy and emotion.  If it has a mixed ending, both
happy and tragic, that often moves me far more than a straight tragic
ending.  For me, Harry dying would make the entire series too tragic and
hopeless.  I guess that's what I have to take away from any book, hope.  If
the book has a sad or partly sad ending, but it leaves the characters and
the reader with hope, that's good to me.  If it is hopeless then for me,
that's a really awful book, whether or not it's considered art, literature
or a classic by others.  Harry dying would leave the Potter series hopeless
for me.  I've loved this character for quite a few years now, and no matter
who else survived, losing Harry would ruin all that has gone before.

I think there's also the matter of future sales.  Most kids, I think, will
not be interested in reading a seven book series, if they know in advance
that the hero dies.  I somehow doubt that adults will find the fascination
with the series in the same ways we have, once the series is complete and
the furor has died down.  I don't mean that I think adults read it for that
reason.  I'd never heard of it when I read the first one the first time.
But people talk about it, debate it, and I think that will change over time,
so the core audience who will read these books in the future will be kids,
teenagers most likely.  There will always be some adults who read them--I
love some children's literature even now--but I doubt it will be in the
numbers of today.

Sherry