So I loved HP7 -- loved it. And I am going to write all about what I loved in this post, so don't click if you haven't read it and want to be surprised.
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A few weeks ago I read an article that left me convinced Harry would die. See the last page for the bit that made me say to myself, "UGH, that makes sense and UGH, I don't want it to be right." Somehow, oddly, it just never crossed my mind that a true Christ figure conquers death, which is pretty lame for a person who claims to have staked her hopes on the resurrection.
The crux of the story, a literal crux, is the trip Harry makes into the Forest believing he is going to die. Do you know, I bought it. I didn't know exactly what Rowling was going to do with the rest of the book, but I thought the game was up for Harry. And so the King's Cross chapter made me want to jump up and down and shout YES! -- because a life laid down willingly for the good of the many cannot truly be lost. I was surprised by the scriptural references that peppered the book, and surprised too by the line from John's gospel that kept running through my head: "I lay my life down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and authority to take it up again."
Mother love can change the world. "Foolish girl," Voldemort called Lily, but her folly was his undoing. Lily's sacrifice shielded Harry in his crib and in the confrontation with Quirrell, and when Voldemort tried to overcome it, he only ensured his eventual death. I love that. And the moment when Harry, facing his own death, asks his mother to stay close to him? I would tell you something articulate about how it makes me feel, except I'm too busy crying at the memory. I also loved the scene when Molly Weasley took out Bellatrix. Sometimes I feel a bit like Molly Weasley, bellowing at her kids as they go blithely ahead with what they were doing. But when the chips were down, it was her fierce love for her family that equipped her to defeat the apparently invincible Bellatrix.
Evil is repulsive. I liked this book because it showed so many Death Eater changes of heart. Bellatrix is clearly crazy, but others have second thoughts about serving Voldemort. (And how about that horrible Wormtail scene? and Voldemort's hidden meaning in Book 4, when he gave Wormtail the hand and said, "May your loyalty never waver again"?) Evil seems alluring, Rowling says, but don't be fooled or you'll regret it in the end.
Physical labor is good for your soul. It took me years after I stopped watching "Bewitched" to stop wishing I could twitch my nose and have folded laundry or a tidy room. It's probably easy for kids reading the HP books now to have similar thoughts -- wouldn't life be easier if you could just wave a wand to do the boring repetitive stuff? I loved the scene in which Harry dug Dobby's grave. In this work of mercy he finds the answers he has awaited, the clarity that ends the aimless slogging. It is also his willingness to labor for Dobby that catches Griphook's attention and paves the way for the Gringott's expedition.
On a related note, I liked the slogging in the forest after it was all over. The first time through I detested it. I wanted to call up her editor and say, "What were you thinking?" But you know, life is a slog. The part where you conquer your opponent and everyone hoists you up into the air cheering -- you don't get there unless you're willing to put in the time, whether at Quidditch practice or lost in the woods. It's a good message for a kids' book, I think, and the grownups can probably use an occasional reminder too.
It is a gift to be an incarnate soul. As he walks into the Forest Harry is grateful for the body he has been given, for the miracle of his beating heart. Rowling encourages us to live life gratefully, remembering that it is short and unpredictable. At first I found it wildly implausible that Voldemort could have created a Horcrux accidentally, but it makes sense to me on reflection. When you begin to sacrifice your own integrity, your literal whole-ness, you can't know where it will end. I was touched, too, by Dumbledore's desire to keep Malfoy's soul intact.
Mercy triumphs over judgment. When Voldemort's followers sought forgiveness, he tortured them. Even at the bitter end, Harry challenges Voldemort to turn away from evil, to find remorse. And I loved it that he rejected the advice to stop Disarming opponents -- the signature move he was cautioned against does exactly what he needs it to do.
These are big truths, and it would have been easy to make the book heavy-handed. But it is not. During the last battle I kept laughing aloud -- at McGonagall in action, at Neville coming into his own, at Ron's response to Peeves' victory song. Not since childhood have I been so fond of a set of fictional characters, and I will miss peeking in the windows, especially at the Weasleys' home. Of course the books are flawed, but I have been a little bemused by some of the posts complaining about their shortcomings. They're books for children, written by someone who has never pretended that they are anything else. They are full of inventiveness, full of fun, and -- who knew? -- full of truth.
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