Good Writing & Death

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 110753

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "p_implies_q" <p_implies_q at y...>
wrote:

> 
> Delwynmarch:
> > And that's only *one* example of the kind of things that seemed 
> > *logical* to do and yet Harry didn't do them, and we are *not* 
> > given a good reason of why he didn't think of them.
 
 
> Alice:
> The only thing that leaps out at me as a really dazzling feat of 
> stupidity -- illogic, to be consistent with your terms -- is not
> even thinking of Snape.  ...*Harry* never thinking of Snape seems 
> realistic to me; Harry and Ron both overlooking it, even -- but 
> Harry, Ron, and *Hermione* all three . . . well, that makes me 
> wonder whether Hermione really didn't think of him.  But no need 
> to break out the conspiracy theories here.  ;)
> 
> ... since this is a story, and moreover a story built around a 
> prophesy, many more events like Sirius's death would make the series
> lose coherence and conviction.  And that, now we've had our 
> explosion of chaos, things are going to have to start converging.
> . . .  I hope so, 
> anyway.
> 
> Cheers,
> Alice


B_Boymn:

Just three quick (Ha!) points.

1.) The significant thing about Umbridge's fireplace is that it is NOT
being monitored by the Floo Network. That allows Umbridge to have
private conversations without fear of being overheard.

However, I think her fireplace is constrained by the same restictions
as all fireplaces at Hogwarts. Certainly, if the fireplaces were
completely open to travel, students would be traveling from House to
House making mischief, as well as students sneaking out of the castle
all the time. 

2.) All three of Harry, Ron, and Hermione forgetting about that Snape
was a member of the Order. I don't have a problem with this, Snape is
not someone that any of them would consider a friend, ally, or someone
to turn to in time of trouble. 

In fact, in nearly any circumstance, I could see Snape as being the
LAST person they would think of. 'Help' and 'Snape' are two words,
that in their minds, just never go together. And I say that with full
knowledge that Snape 'helped' fight Harry's broom jinx in PS/SS. 

If nothing else, their perspectives are too colored by the
Student/Teacher, Adult/child, Us/Them, enemy+advesary relationship
they have with Snape. Restated, their intellectual minds may know that
Snape is an Ally, but to their student/child minds, Snape is the enemy.

3.) Sirius's death. Death is rarely satisfying; it rarely comes with
resolution. You're driving down the road one day, satisfied and
content with the world, when some idiot eating a sandwich while
yakking on the cell phone crosses the centerline and snuffs your life
out. No tearful goodbyes, no chance to resolve old issues, no chance
to say 'I love you' or 'I'm sorry'; just gone.

In addition, I think JKR meant Sirius's death to be a hollow,
pointless, and unsatisfying death. Hargrid tries to make it
'satisfying' by saying that Sirius died in battle, and that how he
would have liked to go, but, of course, Harry points out that Sirius
wouldn't have like to go to his death by any means. 

I remember before the book came out, we were all speculating about who
would die. In one thread, I pointed out that it would absolutely be
the background character who was moved to the foreground and presented
in an endearing and/or sympathetic way (I was voting for the Creevy
brothers). But I ignored my own advice, and in another thread said,
that of all the people it could be, the one person it could NOT be was
Sirius. Sirius was just too important to Harry, Harry needed him too
much for Sirius to leave the story. If I had had my head screwed on
straight, I would have realized that this sense of 'need him too much'
was the guaranteed death blow to Sirius.

I also think that JKR thought we would understand the Veiled Archway
more. "Beyond the veil" is a common euphemism for death. I search the
net for [ "Beyond the veil" ] (including the quote marks) and found
over 40,000 matches. I changed it to [ "Beyond the veil" Death ] and
got nearly 19,000 matches. Then when she added the reference after the
battle in the Atrium to the room with the veiled archway being called
the Chamber of Death, I think she rightfully assumed we would get it. 

But even after combining a common euphemism with the 'Chamber of
Death' we still, as readers, wanted satisfaction, meaning,
justification, explanation, hope, and our beloved Sirius back, so we
did what we do, and that is, come up with alternate explanation and
conspiracy theories to supposed the idea that he was not really dead,
or that he would return by some magical means. 

Harry does the same thing; he hope Sirius will come back through the
mirror, or at least, he will be able to communicate. When that fails,
he looks for Nick in the hope that Sirius will come back as a ghost.
He, like us, is searching for an 'out', an alternate possibility. But
in the end, he, like us, will have to come to grips with the fact that
someone near and dear to us (whether you loved him, or loved to hate
him) is gone.

As a side note, just to keep the theorists fueled, many of the
searched 'Beyond the Veil' links are about /near/ death experiences.
'Beyond the Veil' still does mean or imply into the land of the dead,
but most people who go 'beyond the veil' and return, are people who
don't make it all the way. They enter the 'tunnel of light' and are
met there by a friend, beloved relative, or an angel who tells them it
is not their time and that they must return. Theoretically, if you
make it beyond the 'tunnel of light', there is no turning back. This
is typically true in near death experience, but not always so in
Mythological advantures. There are some theories in which Harry, for
whatever reason, goes beyond the veil into the tunnel where he meets
various people and does various things, then he is told he must
return. This could be either an independant adventure or in the final
battle with Big-V.


Just a few thoughts.

Steve/B_Boymn