Looking Back Question...

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 182031

"Beatrice23" wrote:
>
> Beatrice:  Looking back at the Harry Potter series, what important 
> message(s) or themes do you think are the most important in the 
> novels?  And along those lines which messages and themes do you 
hope 
„« that readers take away from the series?

Potioncat:
I'm taken by the wording of this question, which no one else seems to 
have reacted to. My first reaction was, "I'm not Jo. Why would I want 
anyone to take anything from the series? And who am I to impose such 
a hope?"

That is, I can tell you what I got from reading the books, but I'm 
not so sure I have hopes that others have the some response. But 
since I wasn't able to fire off a pithy reply, I had some time to 
think. What if I were recommending the books now to someone. What 
would I expect to happen? What would the person get out of it? For 
one thing, if someone started reading now, they wouldn't have the 
long waits between books. They wouldn't have to dig deep and ponder---
unless they chose to---and certainly, there wouldn't be a huge group 
of fellow fanatics to discuss the possibilities with. That in itself 
will change the experience. 

So, on a somewhat superficial level---I'd like to see the great 
enjoyment of the written word. The sudden "Ah ha" at the puns and 
plays on words. It was a glorious fun series to read! That's what I 
would hope someone would get out of it. A great time.  Because it was 
a great time---even if not all of it was fun.

I've read the responses to the question. Very good and thoughtful 
ones.  I know that as a group we've disagreed on messages--intended 
and accidental, on satisfaction with the ending, on just about 
everything.

Several have mentioned friendship. Certainly JKR values friendship 
and loyalty---or I should say courage and friendship/loyalty. There's 
a sentence or two toward the end of DH, from a chapter we've hashed 
over a few times. The Slytherin table is empty, the Ravenclaw has 
only a few members left. There are more Hufflepuffs and most of the 
Gryffindors chose to stay. There it is, lined up for us. In JKR's 
world ambition and wit do not compare to courage and loyalty.

I think it was Geoff who recalled the DD quote about choices. Another 
DD quote that frequently comes to my mind is the one about doing what 
is right, not what is easy.  That's the sort of courage that JKR 
seems to value above others. And sometimes that quote comes to mind 
when I am facing a decision. Sometimes it can be darned hard to 
determine what is right and whether something is just easy.

So, while I've formed these ideas, and I see others have different, 
or similar ones, my best hope would be that a new reader would have 
as much fun as I've had. 

Potioncat, looking forward to joining in on the other replies to this 
question.