Interview w/ JKR [Sirius]

[ellejir]

No: HPFGUIDX 72431

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, > 
 
 > ereturtle18 wrote:
 >  I also remember JKR tellling us that
 > she had run into her kitchen crying, telling her 
 husband, " I killed ******!" Is there anyone here 
 who didn't cry when they read about his death?
 > >> Just thought I'd put my two cents in.
 > >> 
 > >> ereturtle18    Why did he die?!?

 
ME:  Actually, I did *not* cry when I read about Sirius's death, and 
reading this list makes me wonder why not, since it seems that just 
about everyone else *did*.  I think that perhaps the whole "someone-
important-is-going-to-die-in-Book 5" pre-release propaganda took the 
surprise out of the death, so that I read along thinking "Oh, it's 
*Sirius* who is going to die.  Whew! At least it is not Hermione! (or 
Ron, or Lupin etc.)"  I confess that I never really bonded to Sirius 
like so many on the list did, although I did like him.  
I think that JKR killed him in order to emphasize the pain and loss 
that Harry is having to go through at this point in the series.  He 
is so *isolated* at the end of OoP (by Sirius's death and the burden 
of the prophecy).  I found that part to be sadder than Sirius's 
actual death scene.  To me, it is the senselessness of death, the 
loss of potential and the guilt and sadness of the living that give a 
death (in literature) resonance.  I'm not sure what part of that was 
lacking for me in this case.  
Elle (who cried buckets when Ruth May died in the "Poisonwood Bible")