Second guessing JKR

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 75634

I sometimes wonder whether, here on the group, we get a little too 
involved in second guessing what Jo Rowling is intending us to read 
into her books. This thought came to mind when the writer of a recent 
message commented on whether there was any significance  that 
when "Moody" had been using the Imperius curse in GOF, Hermione was 
not in the list of those named. Was there a deep and significant 
reason which books 6 & 7 would reveal? On the other hand, did Moody 
use all the members of the class? Or did he use Hermione but this 
fact wasn't mentioned in the text?

I have cogitated for some time as to whether JKR spent a great deal 
of time putting together the words of the prophecy so that 
ambiguities would be perceived by those who like to dissect every 
paragraph of the book with a scalpel! By way of example, we have had 
deep treatises (and a good deal of fun) in trying to interpret what 
was meant by the use of "either" and to whom it referred. I wonder 
whether this was the case. Have readers ever written an email or a 
letter or said something to find that the reader or hearer has put a 
totally different slant on what was meant? Maybe JKR wrote down the 
words of the prophecy with her own specific line of thought in mind 
without stopping to consider how the readers might choose to see a 
different meaning – or did she consider every word thinking "Aha! 
This'll get `em going. He, he". This is perhaps a trap of critical 
analysis that we assume that the writer has paralleled our line of 
thought and has indeed inserted material which can be analysed in 
umpteen ways; or perhaps we are tripping ourselves up in our own 
eagerness to "unfog the future".

I shall await the arrival of books 6 & 7 with increasing impatience 
to see how accurate the outcomes of our musings are. One hope is that 
it is not a dream in the manner of Dallas or I shall be joining the 
lynch party! My only wish would be that HP does not die. He is a 
great survivor already; may it remain so.

Geoff Bannister