HP as escapist children's literature (was Harry's DADA skill)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182720

Julie wrote:
> <snip> The story JKR wanted to tell was the story of Harry the boy
hero and his two friends who save the world pretty much all by themselves.
> 
> Lynda:
> This is why I've been so flabbergasted at the disappointment so many
have exhibited on this list. The story Rowling told is exactly the one
I expected. About a boy named Harry Potter who was saved from death
when he was a baby, grew up, went to a school of magic and carried out
his destiny. To save the world. <snip> Of course, with seven books,
there's going to be a lot of extra stuff, but that's what it is. Extra
stuff! Not central to the story but peripheral.

Carol responds:

For many characters, that's true. But neither Snape nor Dumbledore is
peripheral. or there would be no need for the "Prince's Tale" and
"King's Cross" chapters. I generally prefer to cite canon rather than
interviews to prove my points, but, in this instance, JKR's opinion
matters:

"It was a complicated plotting process but by the time Philosopher's
Stone was finished, I definitely knew all the big things about Snape
and Dumbledore because in many ways they're the two most important
characters in the seventh book
 Well, other than the trio, Harry, Ron
and Hermione."

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/4/3/jkr-snape-and-dumbledore-two-of-the-most-important-characters-in-deathly-hallows

and

http://www.gazette-du-sorcier.com/J-K-Rowling-recoit-le-Prix-James,1037

There's more about Snape and DD in the interview, but this is the key
snippet. Whatever the case may be with other adult characters, say the
Order members in general or the DADA teachers other than Snape, or
staff members like Filch and Madam Pince, who are definitely
peripheral, Snape and Dumbledore are central to the main plot, second
in importance only to HRH. And you don't need to take my word for it.
JKR said so herself.

Which is not to say that readers who were expecting something more or
something different from these key characters (and other adult
characters, such as Lupin and various Weasleys, who are fully
developed characters and not caricatures like Filch) were not
disappointed. And given the hints in the various books (such as Bill's
skills as a Curse Breaker) that were not followed up on, we have every
right to be disappointed.

Carol, who sometimes thinks that JKR's skill at developing characters
exceeds the bounds of her plot outline, which ought, perhaps, to have
been more flexible