Thoughts on OOP (SPOILERS)

[tarisuprapto]

No: HPFGUIDX 67155

Having read a number of OOP-related posts after finishing OOP, 
thought I'd put my two cents/pence in. I'm puting in spoiler-space 
for those of you who haven't finished or haven't read it yet.  

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My first feeling from this book was WOW and a general feeling of 
tension.  There is a lot of angst and anger in this book, and it is 
carrying on the dark atmosphere established in the last part of GoF.  
I was amazed at Harry's anger and outbursts, but you know what?  He's 
not in "Kansas" anymore, so to speak.  He is obviously reeling from 
the trauma of LV's uprising, the obvious corruption or obtuseness of 
the MoM, and certainly the senseless murder of Cedric Diggory and his 
very close brush with death.  Certainly the last thing he wants is to 
stay with the Muggles and I can't blame him for being resentful at 
being left in the dark.  

I know what it's like to be a teenager and feeling left out and 
isolated.  I had a really bad temper and it took years to sort 
through it, and admittedly my temper led to a lot of poor decisions. 

What I do like about OOP after mulling over it and getting over the 
strong knee-jerk emotional reactions (Oh, Sirius - how I wish we had 
the chance to know you a bit better!), is that the Wizard World is 
getting a big infusion of humanity.  Harry is human as are his 
friends and mentors. Harry isn't the innocent, I'm-so-happy-to-be-a 
wizrd boy he was in Books 1-3.  Ron and Hermione are beyond sidekicks 
now -- this trio is growing up, and their bond to each other is 
evolving.  They can stand up to each other, argue, and so forth; what 
is important is that they don't grow apart.  Harry also made 
decisions that some would call "poor", and that reflect his human-
ness.  Certainly he has pride, he can act rashly, and he has that 
damn temper, and there will be consequences (as we have seen) to 
these character flaws.  It's uncomfortable, but it's realistic that 
Harry is not goody-goody or always right.  

Dumbledore is certainly human as well --as evidenced in the last 
pages of OOP.  Whether are not there are other plans at work, that 
remains to be seen; it's been a lot of fun reading other people's 
speculations and analyses.  Sirius is human - he has family issues 
and he has carrying the burden of feeling guilty for Harry's parents' 
death.  He is action-oriented and hence the restlessness he feels, 
and he probably is proud to a fault.  Mrs. Weasley is a case of one 
who loves her family with all her heart hence all the coddling, and 
her fiery temper that comes out when she wants to protect her 
family.  And Snape - constantly persecuted throughout his life, and 
even though he tries to do the right thing (teaching Occlumency), his 
pride and issues get in the way of completing his task.  I don't 
think Snape is evil, but both he and Harry need to join forces and 
call a truce.  and, it's about time Harry's parents were given more 
dimension; death doesn't mean sainthood.  

It is a tense and dark time for the WW, so no wonder that the 
characters are tense and JKR's talent is how she conveys, projects, 
and has us feel that tension.  That being said, I HATE UMBRIDGE!  Oh 
my goodness, that woman just brought out the worst in me, so that's 
probably her talent.  What cruelty.  

I'll end by saying that I am loving McGonagall more and more.  Her 
arguments with Umbridge were priceless and the subtle egging on of 
Peeves ("it unscrews the other way") is just too precious for words. 

Sorry for the ramble, but I love HP books and OOP is a great 
installment in the series. 

Tari