All a dream (was End of Harry Potter Series)

[marephraim]

No: HPFGUIDX 44797

Melody write: 

>When this came up before, I made the comparison to the possible 
dream ending interpretation in Frankenstein. It was wisely pointed 
out [I'm sorry, but I do not remember by who.] afterwards that 
Frankenstein (as also with the movie Wizard of Oz) is written in a 
fashion that provides the *real* possibility of the dream 
interpretation. Both the book and the movie have a box in box 
construction that allows for a reality before and after. <

MarEphraim rejoins:

Where the possibility of Frankenstein as a 'dream' enters I don't 
know. As pointed out by somebody earlier, the book IS a 'frame 
story' however a casual read of the last two pages will reveal that 
the Baron's story is not to be interpreted as a dream. (And W/Oz was 
only a dream to Louis B Meyer).

Those considering the possibility of the HP series being revealed at 
the end to be a dream should reflect that this possibility would 
only work for the fans one of two ways. 

The first possibility would have to be something along the lines of 
Harry coming out of a coma from which he had suffered for a long 
time (from the car crash?). I mean, a dream is a dream, but 7 
volumes worth of dreaming is a long dream! For reader satisfaction, 
this would require that James and Lily are there at the ending alive 
and well, furtively waiting for their son to awaken ("OH Auntie 
Em!"). A driving theme throughout the books is Harry's desire for a 
loving family (see various posts about Weasley's as surrogate 
family, Hermione and Ron as surrogate family, etc.) and any dream 
ending that left Harry in the home of the Dursleys would be patently 
unacceptable. Now if JKR has the genius to pull off such an ending 
(and I think we all consider that if anyone could she might) perhaps 
it could work, but I doubt it.

As an aside: I don't believe Dumbledore will die at the end either. 
This idea seems to rest on the consideration that Harry alone will 
be left to challenge You Know Who. Pish posh! A convincing argument 
has been made in various threads that what will defeat He Who Must 
Not Be Named does lie in magic but strength of character. Harry will 
be able to do that without the sacrifice of Dumbledore. Also, the 
only possible benefit to the major plot of a departed Albus would be 
that Harry succeed him has Head Master. Let's be clear, Harry needs 
to work on his grades then. Too much time chasing adventures, not 
enough time in the library with Hermione!

The only other possibility for a dream sequence ending would be if 
Harry awoke to find that the Dursleys have actually always been nice 
people and that he truly had been to the school for incurably 
criminal boys. This would require a major leap to some sort of 
Jungian personality integration (which would mean Harry and You Know 
Who were flip sides of the same coin -- consider Tom Riddle's 
appearance, etc., etc., etc.). Under this scenario the series would 
be a psychological reflection on the fantasy life of a criminally 
dysfunctional personality as it struggles towards a more moral and 
law abiding focus. 

Now to my mind, only the second possibility could actually work. 
Think of the bars on the windows in CoS, PoA with Sirius as the 
caseworker who is finally breaking through to the misanthropically 
disturbed Harry. 

The question is: would any of us truthfully consider that this would 
be the direction JKR is taking? Oh sure, we'd all read it once, but 
would we ever again? And would we let our children read it?

No, I don't believe canon supports the dream-ending thesis.

MarEprhaim