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

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 51091


Pickle Jimmy:
> 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*
Roo:
>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.


To which I would add that JKR is also possibly deliberately misdirecting us.
The way in which the house rivalries are played out and the way we seem 
consciously pushed into supporting Gryffindor and disparaging Slytherin *may* 
be simply part of a Good vs Evil theme, but if so it is very simplistic and 
sits very much at odds with the Choices theme. I hope that JKR is actually 
hoodwinking us into making some nice comfortable assumptions which she will 
in future overturn.

~Eloise