[HPforGrownups] Re: Dept of Mysteries Veil Room

[Kelsey Dangelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 114117


Carol:
While a number of people on this list think that Harry will go through
the veil and return (like Odysseus or Orpheus from Hades), I'm hoping
that JKR won't inflict such an often-used device on us. 

<snip>


Kelsey:

Interesting points. But I have to disagree with the decent into the underworld.

First, I don't think that Harry's descent into the literal underworld/Hades/Death would be an "often-used device". For mythology, a resounding yes. But for more modern literature, I'm not so quick to agree.

Second, JKR "inflicted" the often-used device of the prophesy on us. I love these books as much as the next guy, but I have to admit that when I read the end of OOP and discovered that the answer to the BIG question (Why did Voldemort want to kill Harry?) was because of a prophesy--I groaned. I felt it was a bit of a cop out. I can now accept it because it's part of that classical, mythological formula/theme/tradition, which I love.

And when JKR uses these traditional themes and formulas, she puts a spin on them. Look at her version of the labyrinth (solving the puzzle didn't solve the problem), and even the prophesy is different (it doesn't say who will win the conflict). I cannot even imagine how she would do the decent into the underworld. Considering Voldemort's obsession with avoiding death, I think it might be significant.

Because JKR treats death differently than most paralleled writer/storytellers (in that people don't come back in her world like they do in Tolkien's or Homer's), who knows how she'll do it.

On the point of the room itself and the veil, because so little of it is explained in OOP, I wonder if it was a teaser or an introduction because of its future importance.

I'm really sorry if this has been argued to death or if I'm going off the point.

Kelsey


		
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