[HPforGrownups] Re: Ending the series (was Dept. of Mysteries, "Love" room.)

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 130347

>>Juli now: Sure killing Harry would be a HUGE shock for all of us,
>>specially since the books are called "Harry Potter", I mean when 
>>does the main character dies? only in lame movies, in good movies
>>the star gets to live, even if he/she's all alone in the world. 
>>And I believe this whole series are "good". 

>Alisha:
>
>I have to disagree with you here, Juli.  The most popular movies are
>the ones where the star lives, but I don't think the best ones are.
>People like to be told that good always wins unequivically, but people need
to be told that sometimes good people die and we can only hope that they
take down some evil along the way.  That's what makes the difference between
fiction and literature.  One tells people what they want to hear and the
other tells people what they need to hear. 

Sherry now:

i totally disagree with that.  Literature can have either or ending.
However, life, real life, is full of enough circumstances without happy
endings.  I dislike books or movies with no hope.  In fact, though my very
favorite book in the world of my whole life, has a mixed ending, happy and
sad, the overall feeling of hope is what makes it work for me.  Otherwise, I
don't like to read things that are supposedly good literature but filled
with misery and hopelessness.  My real life has been hard enough for me to
know about hard times already.  The daily news is full of unhappy endings.
I read fiction to enjoy myself.  I read nonfiction to educate myself, even
about difficult things.  To me, Harry dying would be an act of total
hopelessness and futility.  If I was a child reading them, it would have
filled me with despair and a sense that it wasn't worth trying to be brave
and good, because you were still going to get kicked down anyway.  JKR may
very well end the series with the death of Harry, but many of us will be
very unhappy with that, and many children will feel betrayed.  As for happy
endings meaning a book isn't good literature, what about Jane Austen?  I'd
rather read her any day than say Dickens.  I just don't think Harry dying,
even if it's by self sacrifice would make a satisfying ending in any way.
But thankfully, we don't have to worry about that quite yet!  Whew.

Sherry