Authorial Intent (was You're reading the wrong book)

[The Kirk <pat_mahony@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51070

Pickle Jimmy wrote:
> I just finished reading the "Snape and Respect" thread and 
couldn't 
> believe there are readers out there that thought Snape or 
Slytherin 
> were hard done by in the whole - Dumbledore point awarding 
affair at 
> the end of book one.
> 
> I totally agree with bboy_mn who wrote (in part):
> --
> No, I think Dumbledore greatly restrained himself. 200 or 500 
points
> each would have been more like it when you consider the 
magnitude of
> what three 11 year olds were able to accomplish. Along side 
this, what
> did any of the other houses accomplish? He gave them the 
bare minimum
> points to equal a tie for the cup, then gave poor Neville who 
had
> never so much as won a single point, the decisive points to 
assure an
> EXTEMELY MODEST victory. One that was well earned in view 
of their
> nearly impossible achievement.
> Sorry, but you will never convince me that evil Dumbledore 
snatch an
> undeserved victory from the hands of the poor hard working 
deserving
> Slytherins and gave it to Gryffindor. They deserves three times 
the
> point that he awarded them, but he chose to be very modest 
about it.
 

Let me begin by stating that I agree with you- Dumbledore was 
completely justified in awarding those points to Gryffindor, and 
that I am by no means a Slytherin-sympathiser, and I don't find 
Snape particularly appealing.

> JK is writing a book in which we are *meant* to -
> 
> -Hate Malfoy and Love Harry
> -Cheer for Gryffindor and Boo Slytherin
> -Love Lupin, hate Snape, think Trelawney is an old crackpot 
and 
> cringe at Hermione's Lockhart crush
> -See a struggle of good over evil in which good will eventually 
> triumph
> -And understand that it is our choices above anything else that 
makes 
> us who we are.
> 
> So, if you Love Snape and think he was mis-treated, if you 
cheer when 
> Slytherin win, if Malfoy the bouncing ferret brought a tear to your 
> eye (and not from laughing - like mine was), if you're hoping 
that 
> Lupin/Black/Dumbledore/McGonagall/etc turn out to be Evil, 
then *you 
> are reading the wrong book*

However, I strongly disagree with your assertion here. While it is 
true that JKR is strongly positiong the reader to accept the points 
you outlined (and others), that is not to say that other 
interpretations are valid.  Each individual forms their own 
opinions based on a variety of influences- cultural, social and 
historical context, personal experience, desire to be different, etc 
and if their interpretation doesn't comply with JKR's intention, it 
doesn't mean they are reading the *wrong* book, just that they 
perceive the book in a different way.
As readers, we shouldn't let our interpretation and appreciation 
of the HP series be limited by only a few factors- and authorial 
intent is one of them. 
So even though I don't agree with Slytherin sympathisers, I do 
respect their right to maintain their own interpretation, and the 
right of any of the other wacky theories that exist on this list to be 
maintained.

Okie doke, that's enough for now
Roo