[HPforGrownups] Re: CoS irrelevant?------ Is PoA irrelevant?

[srsiriusblack at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48892

In a message dated 27/12/2002 21:30:23 Eastern Standard Time, 
spi00000000 at yahoo.com writes:


> I find my self pondering PoA's 
> relevance. The only important thing I can figure is that it gives us 
> a history lesson. We learn about the Potters/ Snape- MWPP back in the 
> day at Hogwarts. But in this book, Harry doesn't defeat Voldie in any 
> way, and he never relly battles anyone as in the previous books. So 
> what is PoA's relevance?
> 
Where to begin?

PoA is my personal favourite...

In PoA Harry is introduced to deeper aspects of his parents'  luves and 
deaths. He discovers Sirius's innocence and that he has a gaurdian that is 
NOT the Durselys. Harry is faced with decisions that display what kind of 
wizard he is and gives us a little bit of what kind of wizard he will become. 
He chooses to allow his enemies to live when given an option to kill them. 
The relationships between the trio, HHR, strengthen through peril. The 
characters grow more and more complex. The plot thickens even more for Harry, 
the past, and the future. 

PoA also introduces us to more of the Wizarding World. It has great relevence 
in showing the reader more of what there is to Wizarding Britain. The 
characters other than the Marauders whom you meet in the book are pretty darn 
important in Goblet of Fire, too- people who on first reading and without 
reading GoF may not seem that important, become so...

Another point of interest in PoA is Harry's Patronus. His father is with him 
always. Harry, who has been struggling with the loss of his parents, but only 
since his around his 11th birthday, struggling with the way they died and who 
killed them, needs to learn these kinds of lessons. They are extremely 
important in the development of Harry as a whole character. Also, he learns 
more about the night of his parents' deaths. The Dementors aid in that, of 
course, but through the experiences with them, Harry learns that his real 
fear is just that, fear.

There is a theme of that in the book, as well.. 

There is so much more... my suggestion would be to finish PS/.SS, read CoS if 
you haven't, and definitely read GoF- if you didn't read CoS and only saw the 
film, you missed out on a lot of great reading, not to mention some points in 
the story glossed over in the film. When you read GoF, you will understand 
more why PoA has great importance.

-Snuffles
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty 
recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the 
dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with 
open eyes, to make it possible. This I did."  T.E. Lawrence- Seven Pillars of 
Wisdom


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