I'm curious - in the face of all the evidence, how do you manage to remain hopeful? And would you continue to read the books if you had to give up hope?
I guess what mostly holds in my mind is that the series isn't over yet. Heck, I hardly count it as "almost over", just 'cause a lot of stuff usually happens in a single book. Harry and his friends' story isn't over yet; but in the story that IS over (which we've seen -- Marauder/Snape era), we've seen that cosmic payback comes (even if not direct retribution for enmity); only they don't always get a chance to learn from it. I mean, there is always potential in arrogance being a cause of death: in James's case, it was. Sirius never, ever learned from the mistakes caused by his rashness --> and from the Prank to Azkaban to death, he paid for it too. (Unless JKR plans to have Harry replay Sirius's life, then I think somethning should change.) Remus, so eager to be liked by his friends that he'd overlook harrasment to a Slytherin student, is now alone and not exactly in the most secure and pleasant position. I honestly can't imagine anyone not seeing a connection between Remus's silence during the Pensieve scene and the Trio's silence on Montague's injuries (except perhaps that Harry and Ron don't see it as a terrible thing, while Remus at least looked a little disapproving. But even so, Hermione did suggested the notion that telling was the right thing to do; even if she was instantly silenced and pacified, the notion was still brought up. Why would JKR even bring up such a notion if she were honestly trying to convince everyone that Harry and Ron's thought process is the right one? Why instill the doubt that it isn't, especially when the best defence to it was "More trouble for Umbridge", which not even that many kids would be pacified by? This leads me to doubt that the authorial voice is in fact NOT condoning the boys' apathy as the right reaction. Which of course gives me a bit more hope that JKR may see the connection and ... well, do something.)
So I suppose I would keep reading, probably just for the fact that I wouldn't allow myself to give up hope until tnhe epilogue at the very least. There would always be that feeling of "Just because nothing's happened yet, doesn't mean it won't!" I even feel a little guilty for sometimes feeling that since the Fred/George debt storyline was supposedly dealt with at the end of GoF, it means that JKR has just written off that storyline for good; because to be fair, we've only had one book pass between the end of GoF, a book in which (for the most part) F&G were at school where they really couldn't do much of consequence that we haven't seen them do before. And we know that JKR has the tendency to carry early storylines into later books.
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Date: 2004-09-05 10:39 pm (UTC)I guess what mostly holds in my mind is that the series isn't over yet. Heck, I hardly count it as "almost over", just 'cause a lot of stuff usually happens in a single book. Harry and his friends' story isn't over yet; but in the story that IS over (which we've seen -- Marauder/Snape era), we've seen that cosmic payback comes (even if not direct retribution for enmity); only they don't always get a chance to learn from it. I mean, there is always potential in arrogance being a cause of death: in James's case, it was. Sirius never, ever learned from the mistakes caused by his rashness --> and from the Prank to Azkaban to death, he paid for it too. (Unless JKR plans to have Harry replay Sirius's life, then I think somethning should change.) Remus, so eager to be liked by his friends that he'd overlook harrasment to a Slytherin student, is now alone and not exactly in the most secure and pleasant position. I honestly can't imagine anyone not seeing a connection between Remus's silence during the Pensieve scene and the Trio's silence on Montague's injuries (except perhaps that Harry and Ron don't see it as a terrible thing, while Remus at least looked a little disapproving. But even so, Hermione did suggested the notion that telling was the right thing to do; even if she was instantly silenced and pacified, the notion was still brought up. Why would JKR even bring up such a notion if she were honestly trying to convince everyone that Harry and Ron's thought process is the right one? Why instill the doubt that it isn't, especially when the best defence to it was "More trouble for Umbridge", which not even that many kids would be pacified by? This leads me to doubt that the authorial voice is in fact NOT condoning the boys' apathy as the right reaction. Which of course gives me a bit more hope that JKR may see the connection and ... well, do something.)
So I suppose I would keep reading, probably just for the fact that I wouldn't allow myself to give up hope until tnhe epilogue at the very least. There would always be that feeling of "Just because nothing's happened yet, doesn't mean it won't!" I even feel a little guilty for sometimes feeling that since the Fred/George debt storyline was supposedly dealt with at the end of GoF, it means that JKR has just written off that storyline for good; because to be fair, we've only had one book pass between the end of GoF, a book in which (for the most part) F&G were at school where they really couldn't do much of consequence that we haven't seen them do before. And we know that JKR has the tendency to carry early storylines into later books.