Ending the series (was Dept. of Mysteries, "Love" room.)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 130372

Sherry:

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.  

<SNIP>
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.
 
 
> Alisha:
Wow, that really got my defenses up, so I'll try to keep calm about 
this.  I never said that happy endings made the difference between 
fiction and literature.  I said that literature tells us what we 
need to hear as opposed to what we want to hear.  
<SNIP>
However, a happy ending does not necessarily make a good ending.  
Harry Potter's story is a distinctly moral story (not religious, not 
allegorical, just moral).  Therefore it is necessary that Good 
triumph over Evil in the end.  It is not, however, necessary that 
Harry lives and Voldemort dies.  <SNIP>
I do think, however, that even if Harry lives, it won't be the happy 
ending most children are expecting.  If JKR is to make this story 
believable and real, then Harry will never be the same again.  We 
won't ever see that happy, healthy boy we met on the train to 
Hogwart's.  To bring in a similar story, he'd have to be like Frodo, 
broken by his 
experience.  


Alla:

I am pretty much in agreement with Sherry, so I hope my post won't 
bring your defenses up. :-)

We are all just describe what kind of ending we hope for, right?

No, happy ending does not necessarily make good literature, just as 
vice versa is true. You think that sacrifice may be necessary for the 
good ending, right?

I sort of agree, I just don't think that this sacrifice should 
necessarily end up in Harry's dying. He may go into last battle 
thinking that he would die and ready to die, but survive eventually.

There are plenty of sacrifices in series so far and I am pretty sure 
there will be more. I just don't think that Harry's sacrifice would 
be death. It could be the loose of the majority of his powers, I 
guess.

I also think that Harry will be changed by his experiences, may be 
even hurt by them badly, but I absolutely don't think that for the 
good ending he should be broken forever as Frodo.

I think that the openness for healing and Harry having loved ones 
around him could be done as great ending too.

One of my favourite books of all time is "Crime and punishment" by 
Dostoevsky and even though the genre is very different and main 
character is much darker than Harry, he DOES gets to live at the end 
and gets redeemed because of love.

And this book is considered to be classic literature not only in 
Russia,as far as I know.

All that I am saying that IMO happy or semi happy ending for Harry 
will not diminish the quality of the series in general. 


Just my opinion,

Alla.