Okay, so everyone knows by now that I hate this book, so
this blog response should not come as a surprise.
This series is, pathetically, one of my favorite things
on the planet. I love the entire culture
of Harry Potter fandom. I am the type of
person that finds connections to the Wizarding World in my everyday life. However, The
Deathly Hallows is not the ending of the series I love; I am still and will
forever be waiting for the REAL ending to the Harry Potter series.
There is something about the writing of the series that
seems to be very different from the rest of the series, and the majority of the
plot is rushed. The trifecta’s journey
to find the Horcruxes goes smoothly – way too smoothly. So, the Ministry of Magic has no security
measures to detect Polyjuice Potion?! I would think the Ministry, with posters
of Undesirable Number One nearly everywhere, would take security measures as
severe as Gringotts. Speaking of
Gringotts, I really doubt a dragon would be kept in the area of the high
security vaults, and could be released as easily as with a spell a seventeen
year old knows. But it is okay, because
these teenagers can easily jump on its back and ride it out of Gringotts as
whole humans.
Ron faking Parseltongue is another huge issue in the
book. As we said in class, being a
Parselmouth is not like being Spanish, it is more like being Freddie Mercury:
born with a natural talent. One of
Dumbledore’s theories was that his ability to speak Parseltongue was actually a
part of Voldemort that was put into Harry while becoming a Horcrux. Either way, it is clearly not just something one
can do, or act like they are doing.
This book made me dislike Dumbledore because of all the
secrets and theories he kept to himself.
Any theories about Horcruxes are of utmost importance to Harry, Ron, and
Hermione, yet Dumbledore did not feel the need to share them with Harry? Seems
confusing to me.
Snape, however, became a bit of a loser in my eyes. Lily got married, so he should have moved
on. Mourning can last an entire
lifetime, granted, but there is a point to start living again. Snape knows that Harry is an important
component of the life he is fighting for, yet he chooses to see James Potter in
him and hate an eleven-year-old kid.
Rather than telling Harry about his mother as a student, Snape chooses
to treat Harry as James treated himself.
My opinions of Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not really
change because they carried on how they mostly always have been. Hermione really broke her personality of
being a stuck-up academic stiff in the first book, setting the stage for her
character in the remainder of the series.
Ron becomes even more loveable and humorous. And Harry stays clean of murder, having only
reflected a spell in order to end Voldemort – which I also find disappointing,
that Harry survived.
The end of this series was really a huge deal. Books and websites were written full of
theories of what would happen in the seventh book. I remember even the huge deal about the
announcement of the title of the book, and the suspicions of what the Hallows
were. The book release was a huge deal,
but the release of the second part of the last movie was possibly even a bigger
deal. The last movie really was the end
of a cultural obsession. Thank god for Pottermore!
I think you bring up some interesting arguments particularly in regard to the neatness of the series end. I think, overall, your argument just comes back to the getting-cliche question, "Who matters more: the author or the reader?" When you say you're "waiting for the REAL ending", it suggests to me that you believe the readers/fandom should have more power.
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