[the_old_crowd] OOP: Disappointing (also posted on HPfGU)

[Monika Huebner]

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 19:52:45 -0000, "Phyllis"
<erisedstraeh2002 at ...> wrote:


>2. The Thestrals: When we first learn that the only people who 
>can see thestrals are those that can see death, I immediately started 
>to wonder why Harry can only see them after Cedric's death when he 
>saw his Mum die as a baby.

I disagree. I actually bought the explanation Rowling gave at the
Royal Albert Hall, particularly because I never believed he saw his
Mum die as a baby. Granted, he heard her screaming and pleading with
Voldemort when he came near the Dementors in PoA, but this doesn't
mean he actually saw him murder her. The green light he sees in his
dreams is IMHO the green light of the failed AK curse Voldemort used
on Harry himself, the one that rebounded. He should have a memory of
that, but not necessarily of seeing Voldemort murder James and/or
Lily.

>3. Sirius' Death: Several things bothered me here. The first 
>was the way he died  taunting his cousin. How arrogant is that? 
>Couldn't he have died a more noble death  in the midst of a proper 
>duel, perhaps? 

Well, I still think it *was* a proper duel, no matter what, but maybe
I read a different book. ;-) As for taunting his cousin, well... it
was in character. Maybe not something a saintly man might have done,
but try to put yourself at his place. Ever since my first read of PoA
three years ago I have been trying to get into his head, because I
thought (and still think) he is one of Rowling's most interesting and
most complex characters. What we learned about him in OoP just
confirmed me in this opinion. The Sirius we saw in OoP was in many
ways very similar to the one we saw (or better *not* saw because he
was only present as a shadow in the background) in PoA. Depressed and
mentally unstable, prone to violent and ill-considered reactions. She
did it so obviously in this book. She put him into another prison by
locking him up in the nightmare of his childhood and youth; I didn't
like it too much she was torturing him again, but since she chose to
do so, I was glad she went along with the repercussions that would
have on him. I had a very bad feeling about it all while reading,
because it looked too much as if she was setting up his demise (and
she actually did). He had a bit of a reprieve in GoF, and I am sad to
say that living in that cave must have been a better life for him than
living in his parents' house, at least he had a bit of freedom there,
even if he was hunted and starving. At Grimmauld Place, depression
prevented him from even recovering physically, at least it was my
impression that he didn't look any better when he died than he had a
year before.

>The second was that I didn't feel as if we had enough 
>character development on Sirius to warrant Harry's feeling of grief. 

Well, there was enough character development to warrant *my* feeling
of grief, so I think there must have been enough for Harry, too. As
for the bond between those two, I totally agree with what Penny has
already said. I would add that Harry *wanted* to love Sirius, he was
desperate for a parent figure, so it was enough for him that Sirius
was his parents' best friend. Understandable from a 13 year old who
grew up without love like Harry did, and however flawed Sirius was, it
didn't prevent him from bonding with him and truly love him.

>6. Harry's Temper: This really took me by surprise. Harry 
>starts the book by taunting Dudley and it just escalates from there. 
>This is so unlike the Harry of the first four books  the Harry that 
>says nothing when Lucius Malfoy tells him in CoS that he'll meet the 
>same sticky end as his parents. Granted, Harry's getting older, but 
>I thought his temperament change was a bit too abrupt to be 
>believable.

This was actually one thing I loved about OoP. It was time for Harry
to become angry at last. Then there's the fact that he's now 15, he's
a teenager and no longer a child. It's hormones, the realization that
his life has been so miserable until now, the shock about what
happened at the end of GoF, and at the end of OoP the shock about the
death of the most important person in his life (yes, I think Sirius
actually was more important to him than Ron and Hermione, being the
only "parent" he ever knew). I certainly had no problem with him
trying to curse Bellatrix or wrecking Dumbledore's office. He would
have been a saint if he hadn't felt anger, grief and a desire for
revenge. He's no longer the subdued child he once was, and I think
it's a very good thing.

Monika
who just had to defend Sirius (and Harry) a bit