Emotional Impact of CoS

[jonathandupont at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27511

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., MMMfanfic at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce <pennylin at s...> wrote:
> > Hmmm ... I think some of the more poignant phrases come in the 
> > Dumbledore/Harry conversation at the end of CoS.
> > 
> > "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled *that* out of the hat."
> > 
> > AND, my favorite:
> > 
> > "...nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."
> > 

>For example, if you look at all the Harry/Dumbledore 
> conversations at the end of the books -- they are all excellent-- 
but 
> some are more excellent than the others.  IMO, the one in CoS is 
the 
> weakest in terms of emotional resonance.

I would disagree - I personally found the one at the end of GOF 
probably the worst - but like you mentioned, ranking is rather silly 
really.
After reading all the messages on the subject I've begun to rethink 
my own feelings on COS and while some of my primary dislikes remain - 
namely Dobby and Myrtle (I just can't stand them) - I think I 
probably prefer it to PS. Certainly I prefer the plot of the Chamber 
of Secrets to the actual plot in PS (after he's got to school, and 
the whole mystery starts, I mean). I didn't see the Tom Riddle thing 
coming (then again it was about 2 AM in the morning) and I did enjoy 
the last climatic scene a lot. Really showed me Harry and Ron's 
heroic side, in a better way to me than PS did. As well as containing 
probably my favourite image (Fred and George's "Make way for the Heir 
of Slytherin" bit never fails to bring me a smile) and I actually 
highly enjoyed Lockheart's character. 

> Strangely enough, I have no problem with either the plot or the 
> characters in CoS.  In fact, I think it has a clever plot twist 
and  
> wonderful characters, Dobby in particular.  The only other problem 
I 
> have with it is Snape's relatively minor involvement.

Neither do I - I also actually liked the way the boys were saved from 
Aragog - and as we are going to see the spider again, there's a 
chance that they'll have to escape this time on their own.

To be honest, the book I have the biggest problem plotwise is 
Prisoner. 

(Well, I suppose it does slightly annoy me that GOF doesn't really 
have a plot - it rambles and then it suddenly and illogically jolts 
to an end. But that's another arguement).

I don't care if it was revealed cleverly through Hermione or not - 
using time travel to solve all the big problems at the end has to be 
the biggest let down and cheat ever. It completely undermines a lot 
of events in the books - and Dumbledore's excuse for why it can't be 
used (and even more so that they let Hermione use it despite that) is 
just ridiculous.

Just IMO of course,
Jon