The perfect ending of my favorite book
Ricky & LeAnn
rkelley at blazingisp.net
Tue Jul 24 21:41:29 UTC 2007
No: HPFGUIDX 172312
Yep, I love, love, loved it! It was so fast-paced and exciting that I
couldn't put it down until I finished. I got a few predictions right - DD
wasn't always St. Dumbledore, but I really bombed a few, too - okay, so
Trevor the toad wasn't a transfigured human. (Although, it's still possible,
you know...)
I have a few nitpicking criticisms like most everyone else. IMO she left too
many dangling threads (What happened to Umbridge? Did the dementors get her,
or is she living on forever, creating havoc for all good wizards and their
children? What were James and Lily's occupations? Why is Peeves only
controllable by a ghost who committed murder/suicide? What kind of horn was
in the Lovegood house? Did Harry become an auror? Is Teddy a werewolf? Where
is George Weasley? Did Hagrid and Olympe make beautiful mini-giants
together?) The epilogue should have either been much richer in detail or
left to imagination completely.
We should have known one of the twins was toast - Monday morning
quarterbacking now tells me it was foreshadowed way back in book 4 with
"Kill the spare".
For me the best thing (since I'm a Christian) was the way I could see the
Christ story in the ending. In my thoughts, who else could Jo have been
thinking of when she gave us a hero who never killed, offered aid even to
his enemies, and willingly allowed himself to walk to certain death in order
to save the world by his sacrifice? And then when he returned, because of
that sacrifice those who followed him were protected - not from physical
pain and death, but from spiritual evil. This additional thought may bring
wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I even saw a touch of John the Baptist
baptizing Jesus when Harry dove into the lake and Ron brought him back up.
Maybe it's a stretch but I now equate Ron with John, and Potter with
carpenter, which was the vocation of Jesus, as well as reminding me of the
Christian saying, "He is the potter, we are the clay." My daughter tells me
I'm crazy and I'm just reading what I want to into the book, but it is what
it is to each of us. I know many of you will disagree with my belief, and
that's fine, but please accept this grandmother's right to her own views.
Know that it makes my heart sing to have what is, for me, the perfect
ending. May you all find joy and strength in these books as I have, whatever
they say to each of you personally.
Thanks, Jo, for letting me ride the Hogwarts Express with you. It was one
heck of a ride!
Anders
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