Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[sir_guinglain]

Albus Severus

The details were well-foreshadowed, but there was much I hadn't anticipated about the tie that bound Severus Snape to the protection of Harry Potter. It had been fairly clear that Snape's actions were ultimately in Harry's interest, but knots had been left to be unravelled in this book. This was revealed in one of the last seven chapters which remained to be read when I returned at 2.30am from a party, and kept me awake well past four. Considering Dumbledore's repeated emphasis upon love as the most potent weapon of all against Voldemort, and the knowledge that Snape had been persecuted by the James-Remus-Sirius gang, that Snape's love for Lily should have been the one great cause in his life that meant more to him than self-preservation and turned him away from the embittered cause of Voldemort was entirely appropriate. I found myself feeling for Snape immensely; how human it was that he should lose his love partly because he let himself be imprisoned by ideology and bitterness, but also because he set less store by, and was also less skilled in, the social skills flaunted by James and company. A cautionary but uplifting tale for introverted males everywhere, from a woman who has gradually revealed more and more of her talent for observation.

I'm not of the generation which grew up with the books, but think that they might have the best perspective on the series. Unlike viala_qilarre I wouldn't immediately say that they could be used to mark a transitional phase in my life. I confess to reading them mainly as part of what someone picked up the other week in conversation as my need to 'keep up' with one cultural strand or another - "Don't you do anything for fun?" I was asked. I wasn't greatly impressed with the first two, particularly Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which appeared to retread the elements of the first book. ...the Prisoner of Azkaban seriously began the process of opening out Rowling's world; and though ...the Goblet of Fire was mostly an ill-formed jumble of set pieces, the fifth book in particular showed a greater confidence of purpose and the widening of the protagonists' horizons; though I could have done without so much of Harry's confrontational dialogue being written in capital letters, it probably helped explain Harry's emotional state to the target audience. A lot of the sixth book seemed to be marking time until the climax.

...the Deathly Hallows reads like the story J.K. Rowling has been waiting impatiently to write; if much of the earlier books read like hard slogs this is because they were to the writer too, putting her child and adolescent wizards through the experiences which would make them fit for the tasks in this book. The conventions of the earlier books are undermined; on the eve of their visit to Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione realise that they have entirely lost their sense of time while on their search for horcruxes, jarring when the previous books have been so rigidly shaped by the school year. The Godric's Hollow segment also includes a scene of body horror which is going to be difficult to realise on a 12A certificate film.

It's been explicit for some time that Dumbledore's agenda is more complicated than simple concern for Harry, but in the last two books in particular this has been overshadowed by the maturing Harry's increasing need for Dumbledore to fulfil the role of mentor. Rowling manages to be eloquent on the problems of working for 'the greater good'; Dumbledore's death becomes part of a detailed confession of his failings and how he, in death, and Harry can learn from them. The obvious Doctor Who comparison (though not a perfect one) is with the third Doctor in Planet of the Spiders; the final crisis is substantially shaped by the insatiable curiosity of the protagonist (Harry's purpose being merged with Dumbledore's here, in the search for the Hallows); but the realisation of this leads to a transformative experience which makes Harry a 'new man' and makes it easier for him to live with the demon within.

There are disappointments, of course; but the Harry Potter books have been chronicles of imagined lives more than they have been novels as such, and so some people will never find the resolutions they need, nor perhaps knew that they were looking for. Draco is aware of love but lacks the insight to overcome the conflicts in his personality; that we learn from the epilogue that he has named his son Scorpius strongly suggests that he still needs to wound. The end of the conflict is a personal one and from the moment Voldemort dies retreat from the wizarding world begins; we don't know how the wounds in wizarding society will be healed, only that Kingsley Shacklebolt will be minister for magic and that he is a man of more integrity than either Fudge or Scrimgeour. There are pleasing commentaries on sexual love which deftly handle matters in ways that can be understood and appreciated by children: how Ron and Hermione's childhood relationship grows into one that will lead to their marriage is charted through their growing consciousness of their attraction, and Ginny's possessive defence of Harry displayed when she beats back Cho even at a moment of extreme crisis.

Probably the most satisfying Harry Potter book, then; and my respect for Rowling as a writer and a storyteller has again increased.