The late Harry Potter

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 130306

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Katherine Coble <k.coble at c...>
wrote:

> 
> K:  Children handle death well when it is the death of a pet or the 
> death of an older relation.  I don't expect that they will handle
> the death of their hero well. Yes, everyone dies. But there is no 
> structural story reason thus far that I can see for Harry to die.  
> Some people seem to be fond of the idea because it would be a "cool 
> twist" or something.  But other than that, no one can explain to me 
> why, story-wise, he _needs_ to die, or be reduced. Unless Voldemort 
> survives.  And that would be pointless.
> 
> As a final note, I'd like to mention that one character who died was 
> brought back to life by the author, when public outcry was so great.   
> My beloved Sherlock, who persists on living to this day.  People's 
> relationship to Harry seems much more akin to Sherlock than any of
> the above.
> 
> Katherine 

bboyminn:

Sometimes leaving the main character, the hero, alive at the end
serves the reader well, but it's not necessarily a good thing for the
hero. I just finished reading "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card,
which I highly recommend, and here we see a hero that like many hero's
is horribly damage by his experience. He is left with a crushing
weariness combine with an unyeliding weight of conscience, that while
it eases over his lifetime, never truly lifts. He is so damgage by his
experience that he can never be the person he had the potential to be
before his 'heroic experience'. There is a limit to how much misery,
stress, and trama, and how much weight a human can endure before he is
damaged in ways that can never truly be healed.

This is true of real life heroes as well, we welcome them back from
the war, we pat their back, we shake their hands, we throw them
parades, and give them metals, and we think that makes up for the
lifetime of damage and misery we leave them with. It's true, within a
certain perspective, there are fates worse than death.

I also want to point out another aspect of literature, the always
'happily ever after' ending is, to some extent, a Western culture
construct. There are certain cultures that really do love a good
tragedy, they like a sad story, or a bittersweet ending. They prefer
their entertainment to leave them with some emotion rather than being
2.5hrs of mind-numbing escape from reality.

I have speculated that it's possible for Harry's story to have a
bittersweet ending. That yes Harry lives, but not without deep abiding
 scars. Not without a terrible price paid to the hero's soul.

Part of that price could be to some extent an abandoning of the wizard
world. Right now, as an escape from the Dursley's, the wizard world is
the place where he finds peace. But how much piece will he have after
Voldemort's defeat. Look at how much Harry hates his hero's status
among the public now, and think how much attention and pressure he
will feel after defeating Voldmort. Politician will want to use him,
the public will never stop hounding him, never stop pounding him with
their adoration. It's possible that once this is over, Harry will be
so weary that all he wants to do is forget about it and live his life
in peace, but what peace will he find in the wizard world? What peace
would Frodo find if he return the the Hobbits? What peace would Ender
Wiggin have found if he had returned to earth? Sadly, sometimes the
pain of being a hero is so great, that you can never go home.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboymin

PS: I don't have words strong enough to tell you what a great, deep,
moving as well as charming story "Ender's Game" is. I bought it
recently in paperback at WalMart for $4.00, and if I have paid 10
times that much I would have still gotten more than my money's worth.
This is a gripping moving story that has tremedous heart and even more
soul. If you love literature, then you really need to add this to your
list of good books. If you doubt me, you can read excerpts and
independant reviews at Amazon.com. I've had it describe to me as the
greatest science fiction story ever written.