Sunday, August 05, 2007

Of Stories, Of Choices....Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

if someone still wants no word on the book 7 suspense please do not read any further

Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” ~Barry Lopez
well if not literally alive but to feel alive yes you do...some stories do that and
Rowling's magical Harry Potter books do that.
Last week almost seemed like the end of an era.....when i finished the book seven (Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows late at night.
It was too much to resist and it brought back that feeling you have when you leave school. There is so much in life beyond school everyone tells but you want it back...those rules which you despised...those innocent friendships.....that world which you owned and will love for life.Therein lies the charm of Rowling's world.

Unlike other books which critics praise as much more accomplished and classy,
Potter books are actually just a hark back of the wonderful days when we
believed, we hoped and we loved.

Unlike other books ,its not a magical world for all the magic in the book.
The same can't be said for other books.......its all about friendships, families...
responsibilities and choices.
Yes choices...somehow this line had caught my eye when i read it in Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets.
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Somehow in the end the whole series seemed to emphasize just that.If there was
one character who seemed to good to be true or above being just human it was
Dumbledore and in this book she humanizes him the most and makes the
greatest point about choices and abilities.
At every point in the book most characters choose,
Harry chooses to trust Dumbledore finally while burying Kreacher
...Harry chooses to die......if that was the only way.
Voldemort chooses to kill who he believes served him most loyally.
Ron chooses....,
Draco chooses....even Narcissa Malfoy chooses ....
Xenophilius Lovegod chooses
Dudley chooses and so do most in some part or the other.
While i wont say it was the best of the seven books it surely was a befitting end
and Rowling simply was amazing.

The Dumbledore angle was brilliant and it shows how one becomes wise.Dumbledore was brilliant...but it is after his misery that he understood how much
power corrupts and as he says
"It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrustupon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their ownsurprise that they wear it well."

On a side note i've always felt this about leaders and managers.

Snape's character was brilliantly etched. It shows how the most resourceful and brilliant
can be the most brave or the most evil depending on the choice .
It shows how not all brave people believe in showcasing themselves.
It shows why appearances can be deceptive, and why you first have to be strong
in the mind to be do anything great evil or good.
People who are weak within like Xenophilius may have good intentions
but will easily break.
People like Snape once they choose the right side will never break and is the
greatest cause he probably was the only one who overcame temptation most.

Even Dumbledore was never confident about himself having power so he never
took up a post at ministry but Snape was confident enough that he wont do
wrong again and hangs around with Voldemort's power.

There was nothing exceptional in Harry except that he earned the
love and trust his friends and fellowmen by his being brave and loving for them.
I've not yet seen the movies of this book though i've read all seven ,
now i may see them. But to really love this story you've got to read it,
get immersed in its world and then feel its familiarity...
a movie does not do that to you.
Some who did not read the book ,don't understand the movie they tell me
and some enjoy it nevertheless and you have to hand it Rowling , she made it
complex enough and its all linked up from book one ...clues clues and clues.

I've read the book in absolute anxiety(been waiting since i read the sixth and
wrote a post on it) and sure would 've missed so much and so there might be another post or some addition to this.It could've been made more thrilling , more duels more magic, but Rowling instead focuses on human nature, its temptations, its fears and fallacies .

Its definitely not literature but then once you read books which deal purely with
such literary stuff ,you kind of wont face up that you belong there even if you do in reality........but here in Rowling's world you do own up .
Ron faces upto his fears when he tries to destroy a Horcrux
Harry faces unto them when he realizes that others were becoming leaders too as he wavered off.
But the book surely leaves you longing for what you cant have....
what you leave behind or
rather can never leave behind ...memories.

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