[HPforGrownups] Re: A Sense of Betrayal / Unforgiveables

[Kamil]

No: HPFGUIDX 174318

<Katie>
All I can say is that I see it differently and that Hermione, to me,
is one of the most brave and most loyal characters in the books. I
>know a lot of people have problems with the whole Marietta thing. I
don't. I don't have a problem with her sending birds flying at Ron's
face when she was jealous and angry, either, though I know some do.
I like Hermione, and I think she was trying to protect her parents
from harm, and I just don't have a problem with it.

<snip>

I like the good guys, and I don't really care too much what happens
to the bad guys. If that makes me morally bereft...so be it. Katie

<Irene>

Katie, I don't think it makes you morally bereft. You just read the
books the way JKR probably intended them to be read: with the "bad
guys" being cardboards who we shouldn't care much about. There are
good books written this way, good children books too - Roald Dahl is
the first that comes to mind.

I don't mind that kind of book, generally speaking. I can read about
James Bond killing a hundred "black hat" guys to get to the main
villain - it's OK, he is *our* spy. I can enjoy it.

But what I mind about Deathly Hallows being that sort of book is the
fact that I was misled. I didn't expect it. The first six books were
misleading. DH didn't do what it said on the tin for me. Rowling
didn't keep her villains and her background Slytherins cardboard
enough, she made me care for some of them. And in the end she laughed
at me: "gotcha!"

So, nothing wrong with your morals, you are lucky to stick to the
original authorial intent and not to be led astray by red herrings of
complexity that just was never there.

<Kamil>
I have to say I'm with Katie here. I never ever saw the fascination
with the Slytherins, or Draco, or especially Snape; to me they were
all extremely typical "bad guys" who were quite obviously being set up
to be knocked down at a later date.

Snape, granted, was a bit different, his motives were in question
right up until the end. I dearly wanted him to be ESE, simply so he'd
be a bit more interesting, but, alas, no interesting story for Snape,
merely typical, typical, and even more typical reformed bad guy with a
very bad attitude, right up until the very end. Oh well.

I think that's why I'm not as dissatisfied with the books as a whole
as others seem to be. To me it finished exactly like it started and
sold exactly the product advertised all along. Harry and the
Gryffindors are good, the Slytherins and Voldemort are bad (with one
or two exceptions, to be named later), and the former shall vanquish
the latter at their earliest convenience. The end.

I am amazed by the number of people who apparently were reading
another series altogether though. That was the big surprise of the
books for me.

Kamil