Reactions (was Re: Did you LIKE Snape?

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183213

zanooda wrote:
<snip>
> Dumbledore - I was in total shock (and cried). I don't know much 
about literature, so I had no idea that HP was some kind of 
Bidungsroman (did I spell it right, Carol? :-)), where the hero's 
mentor is supposed to die so that the hero could continue on his 
journey alone. The possibility that DD could die never even crossed my
mind. I found out about Bildungsroman (?) only later, after I joined
this group.

Carol responds:
You've spelled it correctly (only German nouns are always
capitalized), but I think you have Bildungsroman, essentially, a story
of growing up, confused with the hero's journey as described by Joseph
Campbell (who believes that all stories are essentially the same, with
only a few variations). "David Copperfield" is probably the best
example of a Bildungsroman that's familiar to most readers; LOTR
exemplifies the hero's journey. (there are lots of other examples, of
course.)

See http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/hader1.html
and
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/hero_journey/hero_journey.htm

I'm pretty sure that JKR was thinking of Campbell when she said that
the hero had to lose his mentor in the genre she was working in.

BTW, my reaction was similar to yours but mixed with anger at JKR for
"betraying" me by making Snape evil after all. It took me a little
while to reread the last chapters, see those hints in the duel with
Snape that all might not be as it seemed, but thank goodness for this
group or I would have thought it was all my own efforts to delude
myself that Snape was good! (I *did* mourn Dumbledore, but my concern
was all for Snape.)

zanooda:
> Fred - it was very unexpected to me. I mean, I was afraid that one 
(or both) of the twins could die, but, when George lost his ear, I
somehow decided that JKR was done with the twins and they would stay
alive. Then, when I was sure it wouldn't be any of them, she killed
Fred just like that :-)!

Carol responds:
I was particularly affected by the irony of his death. He had just
been reconciled with Percy and it was Percy, not George, who was with
him when he died (with laughter on his lips), Percy who didn't want to
leave him. How sad for Percy--and for George, who probably would have
wanted to die, too. BTW, I didn't react with anything more than shock
the first time through because I was fearful for Snape (with good
reason, as it turns out), but the second time around, I cried for Fred
and Percy and George, the dead brother and the bereaved survivors.
<snip>

zanooda: 
> That's all that comes to mind right now ...

Carol:
What, not Severus?

Carol, who has gone from car trouble to computer trouble to allergies
and is wondering what next!!!