Progression of Endings

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 70037

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Mhochberg at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 7/13/2003 1:57:19 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
> annemehr at y... writes:
> 
> > OoP:  Tragedy:  This is pure and simple.  Harry and Sirius were 
left 
> > without support.  Dumbledore made a huge mistake and left Harry 
> > without help or guidance with consequences throughout the entire 
> > book culminating in the death of Sirius. [On a personal note, I 
was 
> > *furious* with Dumbledore and elated to see his office being 
trashed 
> > by Harry, but I do forgive him.  This time.]
> > 
> 
>     I (Mary) disagree with calling then end of OoP a tragedy. On 
the 
> contrary, I found it the most optimistic ending of any of the 
books. Yes, Sirius died 
> and that was a tragedy, especially since it was preventable. It was 
caused by 
> the mistakes of both Harry, Dumbledore and others. The characters 
in the books 
> are human beings, not perfect angels. 
> 
>     Nonetheless, Sirius died in a way that he would have approved 
of--in 
> battle, protecting Harry, AND against a despised Black family 
member. 
> 
>     Where in the first four books, the battle was strictly between 
Voldemort 
> and Harry, now Harry has both the Order of the Phoenix AND the 
Ministry of 
> Magic fighting Voldemort. The eve of battle is not a good place to 
be, yet it is 
> better than the where Harry was at the end of SS. He didn't even 
had Sirius 
> then. Note group meeting the Dursley's at the train station. Harry 
has more 
> people supporting him than ever before. 

I agree with you in the sense that more people are making their 
presences felt. Or, at least, threatening the Dursleys with their 
imminent arrival should they get the sense that Harry is in trouble.  
But, all of this struck me as more of a tactical strategy to protect 
a valuable commodity.  Nowhere after Harry and Dumbledore had their 
talk did I get the impression that any adult was making any sort of 
attempt to try to reach Harry on a personal level, if for no other 
reason than to acknowledge his grief.  Harry may very well not want 
to talk to an adult - it's fairly typical Harry behavior, and he 
probably needs his own time to start working through this.  But, it 
bothered me that we didn't see any adult say, "Harry, I know you're 
going through a bad time. I'm sorry. Owl me if you need me."

 
>     At the end of OoP, Harry is closer to Dumbledore than ever, 
especially 
> compared to CS or even PoA. 

I think the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore has reached one 
of those junctures that seem to come up between people.  I don't know 
that I'd buy that they're closer.  Again, I think Harry needs time to 
deal with Sirius' death, recognize the part he himself played in it, 
acknowledge that it wasn't Snape's fault, etc.  How he deals with the 
information Dumbledore gave him is still unsettled. 


>     As for the rest of the series, I would not be surprised to find 
Voldemort 
> vanquished at the beginning of book 7, with much of rest of the 
book devoted 
> to wrapping things up.
> 
>     IMO, OoP had a far more happy ending than did GoF.
> 
> ---Mary

We'll have to agree to disagree on this, but I felt the ending of OoP 
was painful.  Harry was at least interacting with his peers, but I 
was left with the same uncomfortable feeling I had in the very first 
chapter - and that was a sense of isolation surrounding Harry.  It 
bothered me.

Marianne