Final thoughts on Harry surviving....

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 171588

Sadly, JKR did not synchronise her calendar with Bloomsbury and 
myself with the result that I shall find myself returning by steamer 
from the Isles of Scilly on 21st July. Unfortunately, the 28 miles or 
so which separate the Isles from the very south-western tip of 
England will render me incommunicado in terms of the net and 
there isn't a half decent newsagents to carry DH – even if they were 
offloaded from the steamer in time. Hence I shall not be able to dip 
into my DH copy until at least the afternoon of the 22nd.

So, from tomorrow (Thursday), I shall be surgically amputated from 
the group. I shall miss the mounting frenzy as members try to 
predict what will happen and increasingly wild and wacky theories 
begin to appear on the board: Harry is a Horcrux; oh no, he isn't; 
Voldemort drinks Carling Black Label; is Margaret Thatcher a closet 
DE? and so on
.. :-)

Seriously, I want to express my views probably for the last time 
before all our questions are answered – they will be won't they? :-) - 
on my belief and hope that Harry will survive, admittedly a topic on 
which I have previously expounded.

I  believe that if JKR kills Harry, it will send the wrong messages to 
many of the younger readers of the books. In the UK at least, one 
result of the books has been an explosion in the number of boys 
reading; they had been notoriously unwilling to sit with a book 
until PS and its successors appeared. As a result, many boys look 
to Harry as a role model, particularly those who had a low self-esteem. 
You see, Harry did not fit the requirements for a role model or poster 
boy at the beginning. He is described as "small and skinny with 
brilliant green eyes
.. He wore round glasses
" (COS "The Worst 
Birthday" p.9 UK edition). Hardly Superman material.

I have always felt that I can identify with him because I was similar 
in my teens: wimpy, geeky, not very athletic or physically well-developed. 
But as his fame has grown and we have seen him take on the various 
challenges in the books, boys like that have felt that they can imagine 
finding fame and overcoming  obstacles. It doesn't matter if they wear 
glasses. It doesn't matter if they're not strong or fast runners. They 
now have a poster boy. So, what happens if Harry dies? To all these 
fans, their dreams and fantasies are blown away in a moment and 
they are back in the unforgiving real world.

This also aligns itself with the fact that Harry is young. One or two 
contributors recently have drawn parallels with Frodo in LOTR. But 
the comparisons are not overwhelming. I believe that a number of 
people who say that are really seeing Elijah Wood and not Frodo. 
When he set out on the quest of the Ring, Frodo was 50 years old. 
He had experienced a pleasant life, had had adventures with this 
friends and had generally nothing to really to complain about. Also, 
after his return from Mordor, despite his continuing bouts of ill-health, 
he remained in Hobbiton for almost two years before going to the Grey 
Havens.

There are too many true stories of young men who went off – in the 
First World War for example – and lost their lives. In the UK, something 
like fifteen teenagers have been stabbed or shot this year and have 
been lost pointlessly to their families. Harry has not had the length 
of life of Frodo. His time has been turbulent; he has been physically 
ill-treated, pursued by those who desire his death, misunderstood by 
the wizarding world because of press campaigns. He deserves more 
then the First World War young soldier or the youngster killed in street 
violence because he is the hero of a story. Being the creation of his 
author, she has the power to grant him a happy resolution of his 
problems – what Tolkien termed the "eucatastrophe". I hope she will. 

If my views prove to be wrong and Harry does not live, I shall feel 
greatly disappointed and saddened because my "willing suspension 
of disbelief" has been wrecked. I shall not however follow the example 
of one of our members and despatch my books to the shredder. I shall 
read them again but I also shall seek out and read some decent fan 
fiction where my wishes are granted!

See you after the closure.