A sandwich

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 178644

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Annemehr" <annemehr at ...> wrote:

Geoff:
> > Hell's bells! Do we have to seek a subversive and questionable 
> meaning 
> > in every sentence of the books? 

Annemehr:
 
> Why, yes.  Well, one doesn't insist on "subversive" and certainly 
> not "questionable," but, yes, every sentence *should* be there for a 
> purpose, and you know we are going to seek it. That's how finely 
> crafted literature is written.  And if a story is not so finely 
> crafted, then each sentence will be thoroughly critiqued, you can be 
> sure.

Geoff:
Perhaps I am just naïve and thick.

I didn't read LOTR or Narnia or the HP books to thoroughly critique each 
sentence and I bet that even someone as meticulous as JRRT didn't debate 
why every sentence was there. That would be pedantry gone mad.... 
Personally - shock, horror - I actually read them to enjoy them.

One of the things which has put me off reading many of the current 
threads is that the friendliness and sociability of the group has declined 
ever since the appearance of HBP. There are some members of the group 
who have set out their own views - which is their right - but have dragged 
threads on and on because other contributors have dared to disagree with
them and the exchange of ideas has sometimes ceased to be amicable and 
become belligerent and confrontational.

At the moment, we seem to have a wave of anti-JKR sentiments. Nothing 
she has written seems to please certain people and DH is written off as a 
disaster.

Having read the last book three times, I am reasonably happy with it. There 
are certain scenes and topics about which I am not over the moon, but I 
didn't expect that my expectations would coincide absolutely with the 
author's thoughts. I am still glad to have entered the Potterverse and feel 
that I can identify with Harry in his teen years.
 
> Geoff:
> 
> > Sometimes a cigar is just a... cigar.
> >
> 
> Annemehr:
> 
> The line in question is badly placed if it's "just a cigar."  But, I 
> don't agree that it is.  It's an affirmation that Harry's new 
> relationship with Kreacher, begun when hiding out at 12 Grimmauld 
> Place, was not just wartime pragmatism, but rather the way it's going 
> to be.  Its prominence comes not only from its location in the final 
> book, but by sitting atop a whole mountain of canon given in GoF, 
> OoP, and DH.  It's fairly impossible to ignore.

Geoff:
Again, being just a simple retired Maths and Computing teacher not 
skilled in seeking deep esoteric meaning in each word, I did ignore it.

To me, it was just an indicator of the fact that, after having hated Kreacher 
through OOTP and HBP, Harry was reminding himself that he had crafted 
a new relationship with Kreacher, which had given the latter something 
of a new lease of life.

Katie:
> Besides, I thought we all had fun discussing the books, good and bad,
> and this, IMO, is not a shining moment. I think it's worth
> discussion. Just my .02, Katie"

Geoff:
As I implied earlier in this thread, there was a time when we had fun 
discussing the books, but I fear the "good" seems to have been lost in 
the present atmosphere of JKR-bashing.

Maybe it's not a shining moment, but it just seems to me to adequately 
sum up Harry's unspoken wish for a little peace and normality after all he's 
been through in the last seven and more years. He's tired and drained and 
trying to grab a llittle quality time away from the celebrations; let's give him 
a little leeway.