Resolutions/Ron's Cloak/Slytherins are Bad

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183491

> Lynda:
> And what I was sensing from some people
> (perhaps incorrectly) was more of a personal "I don't like the way
> this was
> done" than a critical "it would have been better done if. . ." that
> has a
> less personal level of criticism about it. It may be the way I was
> trained
> that taught me to take nearly all personality out of critical works.
> (On
> pain of receiving low or no marks--I saw people have work returned to
> them
> ungraded with a note to redo it),
> 
> Magpie:
> I don't exactly see the difference between the two. What's wrong
> with "I don't like the way this was done?" My instict is even to have
> more problem with "It would have been better done if..." That to me
> sounds even more like bringing one's own personality into it. 
> 
> I mean, liking a story more than somebody else doesn't necessarily
> mean you're being less personal. I was taught the same thing and need 
> to try to do that in my job because the point is to figure out what 
> the writer is trying to say and help them say it, no matter what I 
> would prefer they say. Or else looking at a story and figuring out 
> the best way to tell a story for whatever I'm writing for, even if 
> I'd prefer to tell it a different way.
> 
> In reading a book on my own I think I try to do both. If I have a
> strong personal reaction, I try to figure out what bothered me about
> it and say so--that will usually mean looking at what the story
> itself seems to be doing. I can't completely take my own personality
> out of it. Nobody can. If we're talking about JKR's personality, the
> only part of it that matters imo is what she wrote on the page. Her
> personality is going to come into the story everywhere, but as
> readers we can't necessarily say how. Two people can both analyze the 
> story the same way but have two different reactions to it.

Montavilla47:
I think there are at least two ways of being "disapppointed" (my word
of the day) in a book.  You can be upset that the author's purpose was 
different than you thought.  

You can be also be disappointed that the author didn't fully deliver on 
her purpose.  

As an example, let's take the House Elves.  Because she ends the series 
with her hero perfectly happy owning a slave, I tend to  think JKR confused 
her "slavery is bad" message, and that the real message ended up being, 
"slavery is only bad if you abuse your authority as a slave owner."

Now, it's possible that she was headed toward the second message all
along.  It's certainly a valid (if rather repugnant) idea. In that case,
I was mistaken about where she was going with the slaves story arc.

Or it's possible that she thought she'd done enough conveying the horrors
of slavery and didn't realize that having her hero keep a slave would
undermine her larger message.

Either way, I didn't like how it all shook out.  But even I'm not entirely
sure if I'm more unhappy about the message or the confusion of the
message.

But, if I rag on the slaves story, it's mainly because it's the easiest to
explain.  It's not like I'm sitting here weeping over the House Elves.

What disturbs me most is that I thought the story was headed toward
a realization that--what was it that Anne Frank said?  That people are 
basically *good.*  

That the Power of Love is that it blesses those it touches.  That it can
redeem the sinner and forgive the unforgivable.  That people, if not
*good,* are at least usually better than you think they are.

But, I don't think JKR was headed there at all.  And, instead of getting
better, almost all the characters got considerably worse.  James, Sirius,
Lily, and Lupin all became less impressive by the end of the book.   
Dumbledore went from being beloved mentor to looking as manipulative
and arrogant as Voldemort.

Snape may have risen in the eyes of many fans.  Since I was firmly 
in the Good!Snape camp, he rose in my eyes only because I found out
how much harder and lonelier his road was than I thought.  At the
same time, I was disappointed at the overt reading that his actions 
due *only* to his love for Lily--and that he basically never grew beyond 
that.  It made him very weak as a character, and the one thing Snape
had never been before DH was weak.

Now, to end on a positive note, there was one character who did
grow stronger in this book--and it was a complete success on JKR's
part.  I'm talking about Neville Longbottom.  His growth into a true
hero was both surprising and logical, given everything he did
throughout the series.

I'm not saying that everyone needed to be Neville Longbottom for
me to be satisfied with the book.  I just didn't want to end up
disliking as many characters as I did.

Montavilla47
Who, incidentally, is female.