JKR's Characterization

[kmcbears1]

No: HPFGUIDX 114918


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Matt" <hpfanmatt at g...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scoutmom21113"
> <navarro198 at h...> wrote:
> > 
> > Having read a number of very strong posts from Snape/Sirius
> > –philes/–phobes, I would like to ask one question – has
> > anyone else noticed that many of the characters are really 
> > caricatures?  
> > 
> > The Dursleys made Harry sleep in a closet; they send him a 
> > tissue for Christmas; a teacher is repeatedly "sadistic" 
> > toward particular students without comment from school 
> > authorities; Gilderoy Lockhart (need I say more?).  These 
> > are just a few examples, but IMO the characterizations are 
> > a little over-the-top. 
> ...............
> > The magic of JKR's storytelling is that we have all come to love 
> > these characters (good and bad) and think of them as real.  
>
Matt writes: 
> Somewhere in the depths of Yahoo!, there's a post of mine suggesting
> that Rowling's most impressive gift is the ability to bring life to
> these impossibly caricatured stereotypes, and to turn them into
> characters who read as "real."  

kmc adds:
I recently picked up a book (on travel so I cannot give the reference
until I return home) containing short stories about Wizards and Magic.
 In the forward, there is a comment about the wizards living among us
being the people who deal in "mage, images and imagination".  It goes
on to say that writers and artist are real wizards because they
stretch the reader's imagination.

JKR is one of the great wizards of our time for she has created a
world that stretches our imaginations.  Her works provide us with
canon to support both sides of the many discussions in this forum.  
(Elves - this is probably off topic but I could not resist praising
JKR, I will go now and properly punish myself by "ironing my hands".
-kmc