Tuesday, July 26, 2005 :::
 
We have now reached the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. While Goblet of Fire may take pride of place on rereading--which shall commence after a certain pudgy, balding English teacher returns from his sojourn in California--Half-Blood Prince is a fine, even great accomplishment. In terms of skill, J.K. Rawling leads the reader astray until the very end. In terms of writing, she successfully portrays very real people in surreal surroundings, the way Shakespeare did, though at a different level of course. And when the death arrives, you are not so much stunned as deeply saddened, and she draws the pain out just right to tear your heart.

The end shows, also, that she has been affected by the Lord of the Rings, because now young Harry sees himself on a journey whose end, good or bad, will still leave him alone. So, too, does one scene remarkably recall both the Gate of Moria and Weathertop. Nevermind. Both are worth building on. And Harry has developed just as the readers who grew up with him have, which explains why the mysteries and twists are not so obvious.

The moral or religious problems that the adventures of young Harry pose to that capacious mind, Joseph Ratzinger, remain mysterious to this loyal son of the Church. However, there does appear to be one if suspicions about the epochal moment turn out to be true: it appears to have been a mercy killing. A morally complex and ambiguous one, to be sure, but still a mercy killing. And so does A Mind The Suits enter his bet on the question that will bother all denizens of Hogwarts for the next two years: what really happened ?

::: posted by A Mind That Suits at 4:42 PM


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What doesn't kill me, makes me laugh... usually.