What I Love About Harry Potter
So, I've decided that this edition of The Pensieve will be devoted to what I love about the Harry Potter series. Because, as is human nature, we tend to forget the bad parts when people and things are gone...
The most obvious thing to love is the story. It's completly entrancing and I can't understand how there are people who hate these books. If given a chance, I'm sure that every single person who picked them up would not be able to put them down. The best thing is that there are not lightweights. I have used every tool in my AP English arsenal on theese books, and I still have no idea what will be contained in the 800+ pages of Deathly Hallows, plus, the tactic of narrative misdirection is absolutely brilliantly done! These books are accesible to the youngsters and us literary folks and both groups still find it facinating.
The characters are incredible both in their development and dynamics. They are so different yet, in most cases, they are acceptant of each other. Us swotty (studious) folk are presented as not just bookworms, but as dynamic characters who are just as brave as anyone else. And slightly off-kilter characters like Luna Lovegood( my absolute favorite character in, perhaps, all of literature) is treated decently my our trio even if the whole of Hogwarts thinks she's Loony...
Which leads to another thing I love...the moral sense of the book. While Jo is not out to write a morality tale, they are in there...the dangers of prejudice, the differente between good and evil, the responsibility of fate. It's all there, and it all shapes Harry, and his readers.
However, the thing I love most about Harry Potter, as cliche as it sounds, is all the joy it has given me over the past 7 years. I'm a smart kid, not gonna lie But I wasn't really much of a reader. After Harry, though, I read all the time. Most Potter, but reading was suddenly fun, and I have to know what was next in Harry's journey. I've often continplated making my children read HP in the same way I did, waiting years in between and knowing the amazing feeling I did. However, they'll be born knowing the ending, just as children are born knowing the Vader is Luke's father. No matter how much riddicule I revieved being a High School Senior wearing Harry Potter sweaters and ties, I stil did it, and I still carried the books proudly with me. Hopefully, I can continue my love through college, and the rest of my life.
I am seeing OoP at midnight, and will write about how awesome it is being in costume and arriving at 7 PM to secure a spot in live so I get my required back row center seat. Until then...!