Reflection on DH

[Dana]

No: HPFGUIDX 173352

Now that I have calmed down a bit after the initial major feeling of 
disappointment that had struck me like a bolt of lighting, I think 
I'm able to give some direction to why I had such a negative response 
to the book. 

My initial reason to want to read book 7 was not specifically because 
I am a fan of the series (ya, who guest, after debating so much on 
this list), I simply love PoA and it is today actually still the only 
book that I really love as a whole, even if I like parts of other 
books. Although I like GoF, to an extend, it does not do much for me 
as a whole and pretty much fell out of love with the series 
completely after OotP. That is not to say that the story had not 
grabbed hold of me without letting go or that it did not leave me 
with an obsessive urge for more information. Wanting to know more, 
needing to know more but not particularly loving the story as a 
whole. Yes, and as we all know obsessions aren't pretty and almost 
never turn out satisfactory so neither did this one. 

Although I shall not bore everyone with my obsession for one 
particular character, me falling out of love with the series after 
OotP says enough, I will try to address my problem with the book(s). 

When in OotP Sirius falls through the veil, it is not so much that he 
died (well it is but that is another point entirely ;o) but the way 
the aftermath of his death was handled. To me it was for one not 
totally clear from reading the text that yes he died (No explanation 
about the veil or even that falling through is indeed deathly) and 
secondly I found DD's aftermath speech tasteless. 

Besides being in total denial that I actually had just red a major 
character die (which of course now after DH can no longer be done), I 
do not understand how it can be acceptable to talk about who is to 
blame after someone just died. If someone comes to your door to tell 
you that your loved one has just died in a car accident, do you 
really want to hear that it was his own fault because he was looking 
for something in the glove compartment and never saw the truck 
coming? I do not think so. 

Although I clang onto my denial as if my life depended up on it, I do 
have to admit that I was immediately frustrated, after finishing 
OotP, with the author for not making it absolutely clear that she 
killed the character off, with no intent to ever retrieve him from 
the dead. The death scene is absolutely ambiguous with the colour of 
the second yet not being mentioned and neither is the purpose of the 
veil or that you indeed die by falling through it. 
I had discussions with people about the conversations with DD or 
Nearly Headless Nick but these too have to some extend some ambiguity 
to them. Sure in the aftermath of DH there is no doubt left but 
finishing OotP left many unanswered questions that I feel I should 
not have needed to have, after finishing the book, if the death in 
this book had been addressed properly and with slightly more taste. 

Fast forward to DH, well of course this book gave me a reality check 
in regards to my denial and obsession which surely was the biggest 
major blow I had to deal with after finishing. Now that I have calmed 
down a bit from this initial shock and disappointment, I realised 
what my real problem is with OotP and ultimately this book. It is 
lack of reflection on the dead, lack of closure on the reader's end 
of the spectrum for the characters that we have attached ourselves 
to. Death is a tricky subject and when dealt with in a good way, it 
can be satisfying even if emotional but I have to admit I feel that 
the Harry Potter series is lacking this aspect. To be honest I feel a 
little cheated in this department because the author clearly is 
capable of writing closure, reflection and a fictional funeral to say 
her goodbyes to the character(s) most important to her. 

Although it is absolutely her story to tell, I do think that any 
author publishing a book should understand that different characters 
have different meaning to different people. So even though I am not 
delusional about why the author invented specific characters and 
their purposes in the story or even that the author will not keep a 
character alive on my behalf, I do feel that it would not have been a 
waist of time to actually think about the effects a character's death 
has on the readers of the books you are writing. And with this I do 
not mean the shockwave of the death itself, although I have to admit 
that the amount of deaths in DH seem slightly overkill to me and some 
of them are absolutely tastelessly done in my opinion. Remus and 
Tonks deserved more then just one line to show us they are death. If 
you have blinked while reading you would have missed it. 

It is actually not the deaths in themselves that I'm complaining 
about but a major issue for me is the lack of closure and reflection 
on the dead. Death in war might be senseless but they are never 
meaningless and people in the aftermath do reflect on their dead. 
Instead of showing through Harry kid's names that he respected the 
dead, I would rather have had some type of memorial service in honour 
of those that had lost their lives to give him and others a chance to 
build their lives in piece and happiness. That is what we do after 
war, the living remember the dead and cherish their memory and 
sacrifices, so we can live in a free world that they helped create. 
This would have given the readers a chance to say their goodbyes 
(even if fictional) through the main characters attending and would 
have given some closure and a more satisfying feeling about there 
beloved character being killed off. Seeing the characters being 
mourned gives the reader the feeling that they had meaning and 
therefore give their deaths in themselves meaning. 

In my personal case the lack of canon mourning over Sirius's death 
left me with a really unsatisfying feeling after OotP and it was not 
picked up in HBP while DD's death was turned into a major event. I am 
not trying to say that JKR should have written it in the same manor 
as she did for DD but Cedric's death in GoF was reflected up on with 
an appropriate speech, Dobby in DH got his funeral with a small 
gathering and even mad-eyes magical eye had a ritual burial. And now, 
after DH where many major characters were killed off, I seriously ask 
myself the question was it to much to ask of JKR, even if it is her 
story to tell, to imagine for a second that readers would have wanted 
a fictional reflection on the characters they had invested so much of 
themselves in and had grown to love. My answer is no. It would have 
given the entire story more debt and more emotion and above all would 
have given it more meaning. 

For me this has seriously crimpled the potential for me to love and 
respect the series as a whole because I do not ever want to read DH 
or OotP again as a book even if I am still capable of looking at 
parts of these books. I will never read them again from front to end. 
Dealing with death is indeed difficult for many people myself 
included but that doesn't mean that it should be stepped over so 
easily in a book that is said to be specifically about this topic. 

Dana