Happy endings? A good thing?

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 46204

I want to combine these two posts, because they cover the same topic
really.

Megalynn wrote:
>I mean geez, I would really be bummed out about the whole series if
>most characters did not finally get some happiness in the ending. I
>am not saying I don't think there will be some sad death's, BUT I
>don't think there is gonna be some blood bath like a lot of the
>posts have projected lately.

-and-

fun_n_games:
>Further, these books are still in the heroic venture genre.  The
>heroes don't die--they win over evil, even though great loss may have
>been suffered.  **snip**  In short, I don't think JKR is really going
>to reach down and rip out kids' hearts.


Yes, these are children's books.  BUT, Rowling has made perfectly
clear that she intend to write evil for what it is...pure evil.  She
has never wanted to pussyfoot around and shield young eyes from the
harsh reality of decision-making.  If there is a point that parents'
feel their child should be kept from reading the series until the day
they are ready, then Rowling will still write for that day.

I think of Shakespeare.  He twisted his plots to not be typical.  I
mean gracious, just about everyone died in Hamlet, and the two main
"heroes" of Romeo and Juliet not only die but brought down the world
with it.  Yes, these two are labeled tragedies...now.  What the
playhouse labeled them to bring in the initial customers probably was
completely different.

I don't see the virtue of "protecting" a character just because the
reader likes them.  It creates a false pretense to be wrongly
paralleled to reality.  Besides, sometimes the hero wins in death.
There is more to a hero than just surviving.  A martyr is a hero.
Valiant, brave, idealistic.  While, yes, you want them to live,
quietly you know that this ending is somehow resonating deeper with
such accord that it was truly the only way.

Somehow, no matter who dies in the end, I have a feeling Rowling will
manage to create that ending, and we all will be in awe.


Melody