Are we being too critical? (was: Epilogue (was Re: Ron and Parseltongue))

[Lee Kaiwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 183407

Lynda:
On the DH plotline, I simply choose to accept it as part of the overall 
story. Without the DH plotline, the horcruxes would not have been found, 
as Rowling wrote the story. I would have liked to see some things done 
drfferently ... but considering what we got, I have very few complaints.

CJ:
I'd like to hear you elaborate on your point about the horcruxes not 
being found without the DHs, as I'm of a different opinion, namely that 
the DHs contributed almost nothing of value to the horcrux hunt; 
certainly nothing to justify the plot line's page-weight.

Lynda:
I don't mean to be unfairly judgmental, but I do think that some of the 
people on this list have been expecting something from JKR that 
practically no writer can deliver. A perfect book.

However, I understand your "perfect" as hyperbole, not a literal attempt 
to attribute unreasonable positions to those of us who have some 
critical things to say about the series. You're simply trying to say, 
"Just let the story be the story it is, rather than the story you wish 
it were." I can understand the frustration of those who really enjoyed 
the full series at the seemingly endless critiques and nit-pickings.

I don't disagree with you, though I don't entirely agree either. There's 
always a balance to be struck. It certainly would be unreasonable to 
call JKR a bad writer, or DH a bad book, simply because we wish Tonks 
had lived, or Snape had turned out less creepy. And, while the people 
here have done their fair share of expressing disappointment over -- 
*and* satisfaction with -- many of those points, I don't think anyone 
has presumed to render judgment on JKR or the books based on them.

But there are many other levels of discussion going on here as well, 
many of a more literary nature -- asking not how well the story worked 
for me, but how well we thought it worked *as a story*. I think my own 
criticism of the DH plot line falls into that category. I am expressing 
my opinion as to how well DH fulfilled not my personal desires but 
expectations that HBP went to a great deal of effort to set up. And 
ultimately I found the DH plot line a major distraction and believe DH 
would have been a technically better story (*not* a more personally 
satisfying one) without it.

I think we need to understand two things: first, there are really only 
two workable solutions. Either you disallow *all* negative comments -- 
and then police the group literally to death -- or you permit all 
opinions, positive and negative. The only other option involves setting 
someone up as judge and jury over just which negative opinions are to be 
allowed, and since none of us would ever be able to agree on that, the 
group would quickly disintegrate anyway.

Second, I think it's an undeniable fact that the negative criticisms and 
opinions have reached an all-time high in HPFG. But a large part of that 
is understandable. While the series was still in progress, it was 
impossible to have many of the discussions we've been having in the past 
year, as the series wasn't complete. Now that it is, it's possible to 
sit back and evaluate the series as a whole not only in fulfilling some 
of the promises of the early books, but in some of JKR's own stated 
goals for the series. To take but one example, the whole "Slytherins are 
bad" discussion couldn't possibly have happened before DH, since no one 
had any idea how things would turn out. At most, two or three years ago, 
one might have expressed hope that JKR would find a way to redeem 
Slytherin (after all, she herself had said in interviews that redemption 
was one of the major themes of the series). Only with the publication of 
DH has it become possible to discuss whether she succeeded.

--CJ