Which way?

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 101750

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" <susiequsie23 at s...> 
wrote:
> > Kneasy:
> > See? The  possibilities are many, these are just a sample, lots 
> > more where they came from, but only a few endings get serious 
> > consideration. 
> > And that's just  one facet of the story. Expectation and perception 
> > again. *We* limit the possibilities we see, we're the ones in 
> > blinkers.  We have defined our own boundaries. 
> 
>   
> SSSusan:
> It's interesting, isn't it?  Are these other possibilities ignored 
> because we're oddsmakers at heart?  Because of the gut reaction 
> factor?  Because of the "I don't WANT that to happen" aspect of it?  
> 
> 
Kneasy:
Most likely it's a combination of a  number of influences, for most
anyway.
Tradition is probably high on most lists. "This  is the way this type
of story ends; always has, and  so should this one."
Yes, "Don't want it to end that way" has also figured in some posts,
though  it may be a variant of the "Tradition" factor. What's familiar 
is comfortable and comforting. Lots of fans have classified the HP
series in their minds as a certain type of fiction; if it turned out not
to fit neatly into that category, well, it might cause puzzlement, even
consternation. But JKR never said it would fit any particular category.
Expectation and perception, yet again.

> 
> SSSusan:
> When you wrote, above, about how our perceptions & expectations have 
> changed over the course of reading the first five books, I have to 
> admit that I began to wonder how *disappointed* some would be if the 
> ending *is* a simple one.  Then as I read further, it seemed that 
> there's a bit of a warning from you to those that might be looking 
> for the simple ending, since JKR *has* made her story inreasingly 
> complex and dark.
> 
Kneasy:
Not so much a warning - more of 'the story arc can be interpreted
as going this way. I wonder why? What does it mean?' It's an observation 
combined with a bit of wishful thinking of my own. 

Some will be disappointed by a not so much simple, let's say instead
simplistic, ending. ( For example a death would be a simple ending - 
whose death could flip the ending from simplistic to complex - in the 
minds of the readers, anyway.) A simplistic ending would be a let-down
for some. They've grown accustomed to JKR's twists and turns and want
more; more! more, I tell you!
For others anything other than the traditional would be a disaster.

> SSSusan:
> But how interesting that I was only thinking of those TWO 
> possibilities:  too simplistic & sweet for one group; too dark & 
> unhappy for another.  Interesting because, myself, I've been holding 
> out for "elegantly simple" from JKR.  Not sugary sweet, but lovely in 
> the way JKR can make things lovely, even if they're bittersweet & 
> hold tragedy.  Something *brilliant* in its simplicity and yet still 
> so unique or unexpected that we didn't see it coming.  I suspect you 
> wouldn't use the same phrase I do, but I think you're offering out 
> hope for something similar--a complex but not necessary negative 
> ending, something nice and meaty. 
>
Kneasy:
Meaty, yes; brilliant would be good too. Mostly I want to be surprised, 
intrigued, thoughtful, challenged and involved. Not much to ask, is  it?
It needn't be particularly complex in the way it's written or presented
to be able to do that - there have been times in the past when the very
last line of a tale has forced me to re-think the whole, though admittedly
that tends to happen more often in short stories than in major works.

Certainly the lead-up has been complex; unless there is an inordinate
amount of tidying up in book 6 it's it's difficult to imagine a straight-
forward resolution - but I'm not the author.

> SSSusan:  
> Sheesh--have I contradicted myself here in saying that I think you're 
> hoping for something similar, when you want challenging & meaty (& 
> complex?) and I'm calling it "elegantly simple"?  It seems I am, yet 
> they feel the same somehow....  Maybe I need a nap.
> 

Kneasy:
Could it be that we both want more but can't define the 'more of what'?
Expectations not of the story but of the author?