[HPforGrownups] Re: End of Harry Potter Series

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 44756

bohcoo wrote about the possibility that JKR will end the HP series with 
Harry waking up at the Dursley's after having a dream about Hogwarts.

Katey replied:

>I'm not much of a writer, but my english teacher last year told us
>that ending a story with the character waking up and everything
>having been a dream is the ultimate cop-out.  I don't think she'll do
>that.  She's too good a writer and has read enough stories to know
>what makes a good one, and the ending having the character waking up
>is not one of them.  and remember, Rowling said the last chapter will
>basically be an epilogue, saying what happens to the survivers.

Then Qaztroc added:

><snip> one must not
>forget that Book 1 starts with a prologue of sorts, and this prologue
>is not consistent with the it-was-all-a-dream narrative structure.
><snip>The grand
>structure of the series would be too awkward, and we all know how
>JKR's stories are amazingly well structured.

I agree with both Katey and Qaztoc, both of whom provide excellent reasons 
for view that the series will not end with Harry waking up from dream.  I, 
for one, would be more than disappointed in the series.  I would be livid 
and my estimation of JKR's talent would take a nose dive.  After having 
read bohcoo's thoughts about the series being the telling of a dream, I 
started thinking about the fact that as Harry gets older, the stories get 
darker and stylistically more "mature."  People have commented on this 
before, saying that JKR does this to reflect Harry's maturity as the series 
continues.  I started thinking that if the series were the telling of a 
dream, it would make sense that the style would become more mature and the 
tales darker.  I'm quite pleased to see the great reasons Katey and Qaztroc 
provided to prove the dream theory unlikely.  Also, JKR said in an 
interview that while she won't write an eight story about Harry's 
adventures, she might write an eighth book that will tie up all the loose 
ends.  She said it would be a great way to use up all the things she knows 
about Hogwarts and the WW.  It wouldn't be a novel, but it would answer 
many questions that people still have about the WW.   That has to make me 
think that she has no intention of making the WW a dream world.


Carol Bainbridge
(kaityf at jorsm.com)

http://www.lcag.org