Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
"It's been like ... like something out of someone else's life, these last few weeks with you," he tells her. "But I can't ... we can't ... I've got things to do alone now."
All I wanted was to tell her how much I loved her. . . . "I want you to know that I will always be there for you--that I will always be your friend."
"Only a friend?"
"That's all that I have to give." Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: 'With great power comes great responsibility.' This is my gift . . . my curse."
--Harry Potter to Ginny Weasley (HP and the H-B P)
All I wanted was to tell her how much I loved her. . . . "I want you to know that I will always be there for you--that I will always be your friend."
"Only a friend?"
"That's all that I have to give." Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: 'With great power comes great responsibility.' This is my gift . . . my curse."
--Peter Parker to Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man)
"It's not a question of what I want, don't you see? It's a question of what I am. Part of the problem may be I haven't truly given myself over to my work. . . . [I]n spite of what [he has said] I've never been really convinced I was especially talented. But perhaps I need to dedicate myself, commit myself to being a magician. . . . In my own way, I do love you . . . [b]ut I think I should try to find out about myself before I try to make up my mind about the rest."
--Pug to Princess Carline (Magician)
In the latest Harry Potter book, Harry struggles to confront the truth of his existence--exactly WHAT is he supposed to do with his life? He's been going to school for the past five years, learning more about his magical heritage, learning even more about the perils and pitfalls of celebrity, expectation, and the unknowable question of his own future.
While the first several books were sort of one-offs, existing mostly to introduce the reader to characters, their personality traits, and set the world around them, books 4, 5, and 6 have thickened in spine width and grown a spine in the story as well. The deeper story of Harry's destiny and the future of J.K. Rowling's wizarding world has grown and taken on more weight.
I don't pretend that these books are Milton or anything. In fact, some reviewers protest a bit too much. Heck, I read the 650+ pages of Half-Blood Prince in barely more than a day. You don't even attempt that in serious, "important" works of fiction. These books are fun and intended to draw you in, make you care about the characters. I think this was done very well from book 1 and has continued to the present effort.
I came to the Harry Potter party slightly later than some. It was sometimes after the first one was published and getting a lot of publicity (after 1997 I believe). But, I have a history of loving these kinds of stories. Once I tried the first one, I was hooked. Rowling showed a surprising ability to combine magical, fantasy elements with believable (in a fictional sense) modernity. (As so many reviews have mentioned, the train station that Harry takes to ride the train to Hogwarts is King's Cross . . . the site of one of the all-too-real July 7 terrorist attacks.)
But, as I said, I have a history with these stories--stories where an ordinary, often overlooked boy discovered surprising things about himself, confronts the changes that come from this discovery and makes choices-sometimes hard ones, to protect those around him. Sound familiar? All three quotes above deal with this theme.
Sure, it is highly Romantic and over-blown, but it was an appealing notion to me back when I read Magician. Pug the orphan boy, who discovered he was much more than it first appeared. He wasn't the ordinary kid that no one cared about. He had the ability to do magic that no one had ever seen, and in doing so, he became more than he ever thought possible. He won the affection of his dream girl, but realized that he had to keep his distance for her sake.
Much the same thing occurs in Spider-Man of course. Peter Parker was a nice, ordinary kid, who through a twist of fate/luck became Amazing, Powerful, Important. This allowed him to eventually win the affection of the girl of his dreams . . . but he too realized that her safety was more important than his desire to be with her.
Harry comes to the same conclusion in Half-Blood Prince. While Harry in earlier books thought about girls and his own boyish desires, he was always forced to focus on tasks and trials that were placed in front of him. That, and the fact that he was mostly inept around girls and had no clue how to approach them, except in a purely Platonic sense. In this book, as Harry and his friends turn sixteen, girls take a place in their daily lives that is at least as important as school, though less important than the threat of Lord Voldemort's growing evil influence.
Harry develops a strong infatuation with one of his female friends, and while I thought it was a bit forced at first, Rowling eventuallyvwon me over. He has to turn away from his own wishes in the end, however, forced to accept his growing role as the Chosen One, the person destined by prophesy to confront Voldemort.
H-BP doesn't really propel the overall, seven-book plot much farther. It felt more like a plot expansion. As one review stated it: "In many ways this book has been a mere staging ground for Rowling's final narrative to come. . . . Too much of the book was either a repeat of what we have seen before, or bogged down by Rowling's attempts to maneuver plot lines and characters into position. After a while all magic tricks begin to lose their impact." I agree that there was more references to the past than in any other book before it. And I also agree that a great deal of heavy plot lifting has to get done in the seventh and final book, but I don't think this book suffered greatly for all of that.
All of these books have a common pattern, a very reliable structure. It is interesting that this book ends by hinting that this plot structure will be thrown into a new direction at the end. The expected phases: a) the Dursleys, b) visiting the Weasleys, c) the train to Hogwarts, d) school, sports, mysteries, and then e) the exciting plot resolution might not be there in Year 7.
Yes, someone dies in this book. That has almost come to be expected as the plot thickened from book to book. Cedric Diggory died in book 4, and while the entire 80+ pages that end Goblet of Fire never fails to choke me up, Diggory himself was only a minor character. In book 5, Order of the Phoenix, Harry's godfather Sirius dies at the end. He was more important than Diggory, but had not been a major character from the beginning. In H-B P someone important dies.
This death also matches with the literary/cinematic traditions of my childhood. Pug's mentor Macros the Black had to disappear before Pug could come into his own. Peter Parker's uncle Ben has to die before Spider-Man can accept that responsibility and power are intertwined. Obi-Wan Kenobi knows that Luke won't come into his own until Vader seems to be triumphant. Likewise, Harry must confront the death of those close to him before he can face his future in book 7.
But was this death the result of misinterpretation or was it a chosen fate? Obi-Wan intentionally sacrificed himself to rejoin the Force and guide Luke in different ways. Kenobi didn't misjudge Darth Vader and therefore die a death caused by his own stupidity. Which was the reason for the death in H-B P?
There are other questions raised by the end of H-B P. Harry may be destined to confront Voldemort, but is he truly ready for that and skilled enough to succeed? Whenever he has faced Voldemort in the past, he succeeded through luck and the timely help of others and a bit of deus ex machina. If that is the route for success in book 7, I think it will feel cheap. Harry has to gain some convincing power before I buy the notion that he can defeat the most powerful evil wizard of all time.
And once it's all over . . . what then? Does Harry retire to a life of leisure? Does he marry his postponed love? Does he go back to Hogwarts and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a la Tom Cruise in Top Gun?
I don't have the answers to these question, nor to the reason why Malfoy would be so emotionally fragile in H-B P as to seek out the advice of Moaning Myrtle? Does that make sense? But I wonder how things will all end. And while I am excited to know that the end will come and I enjoy reading these books, I regret that I read them so quickly that the original thrill of discovery is gone just as quickly.
But maybe that is another lesson to be learned. Fantasies are just that . . . fantasies. And life's reality doesn't unfold as in Harry Potter, Spider-Man, or Magician. I guess it's best to grab those moments of excitement when they come.
In the latest Harry Potter book, Harry struggles to confront the truth of his existence--exactly WHAT is he supposed to do with his life? He's been going to school for the past five years, learning more about his magical heritage, learning even more about the perils and pitfalls of celebrity, expectation, and the unknowable question of his own future.
While the first several books were sort of one-offs, existing mostly to introduce the reader to characters, their personality traits, and set the world around them, books 4, 5, and 6 have thickened in spine width and grown a spine in the story as well. The deeper story of Harry's destiny and the future of J.K. Rowling's wizarding world has grown and taken on more weight.
I don't pretend that these books are Milton or anything. In fact, some reviewers protest a bit too much. Heck, I read the 650+ pages of Half-Blood Prince in barely more than a day. You don't even attempt that in serious, "important" works of fiction. These books are fun and intended to draw you in, make you care about the characters. I think this was done very well from book 1 and has continued to the present effort.
I came to the Harry Potter party slightly later than some. It was sometimes after the first one was published and getting a lot of publicity (after 1997 I believe). But, I have a history of loving these kinds of stories. Once I tried the first one, I was hooked. Rowling showed a surprising ability to combine magical, fantasy elements with believable (in a fictional sense) modernity. (As so many reviews have mentioned, the train station that Harry takes to ride the train to Hogwarts is King's Cross . . . the site of one of the all-too-real July 7 terrorist attacks.)
But, as I said, I have a history with these stories--stories where an ordinary, often overlooked boy discovered surprising things about himself, confronts the changes that come from this discovery and makes choices-sometimes hard ones, to protect those around him. Sound familiar? All three quotes above deal with this theme.
Sure, it is highly Romantic and over-blown, but it was an appealing notion to me back when I read Magician. Pug the orphan boy, who discovered he was much more than it first appeared. He wasn't the ordinary kid that no one cared about. He had the ability to do magic that no one had ever seen, and in doing so, he became more than he ever thought possible. He won the affection of his dream girl, but realized that he had to keep his distance for her sake.
Much the same thing occurs in Spider-Man of course. Peter Parker was a nice, ordinary kid, who through a twist of fate/luck became Amazing, Powerful, Important. This allowed him to eventually win the affection of the girl of his dreams . . . but he too realized that her safety was more important than his desire to be with her.
Harry comes to the same conclusion in Half-Blood Prince. While Harry in earlier books thought about girls and his own boyish desires, he was always forced to focus on tasks and trials that were placed in front of him. That, and the fact that he was mostly inept around girls and had no clue how to approach them, except in a purely Platonic sense. In this book, as Harry and his friends turn sixteen, girls take a place in their daily lives that is at least as important as school, though less important than the threat of Lord Voldemort's growing evil influence.
Harry develops a strong infatuation with one of his female friends, and while I thought it was a bit forced at first, Rowling eventuallyvwon me over. He has to turn away from his own wishes in the end, however, forced to accept his growing role as the Chosen One, the person destined by prophesy to confront Voldemort.
H-BP doesn't really propel the overall, seven-book plot much farther. It felt more like a plot expansion. As one review stated it: "In many ways this book has been a mere staging ground for Rowling's final narrative to come. . . . Too much of the book was either a repeat of what we have seen before, or bogged down by Rowling's attempts to maneuver plot lines and characters into position. After a while all magic tricks begin to lose their impact." I agree that there was more references to the past than in any other book before it. And I also agree that a great deal of heavy plot lifting has to get done in the seventh and final book, but I don't think this book suffered greatly for all of that.
All of these books have a common pattern, a very reliable structure. It is interesting that this book ends by hinting that this plot structure will be thrown into a new direction at the end. The expected phases: a) the Dursleys, b) visiting the Weasleys, c) the train to Hogwarts, d) school, sports, mysteries, and then e) the exciting plot resolution might not be there in Year 7.
Yes, someone dies in this book. That has almost come to be expected as the plot thickened from book to book. Cedric Diggory died in book 4, and while the entire 80+ pages that end Goblet of Fire never fails to choke me up, Diggory himself was only a minor character. In book 5, Order of the Phoenix, Harry's godfather Sirius dies at the end. He was more important than Diggory, but had not been a major character from the beginning. In H-B P someone important dies.
This death also matches with the literary/cinematic traditions of my childhood. Pug's mentor Macros the Black had to disappear before Pug could come into his own. Peter Parker's uncle Ben has to die before Spider-Man can accept that responsibility and power are intertwined. Obi-Wan Kenobi knows that Luke won't come into his own until Vader seems to be triumphant. Likewise, Harry must confront the death of those close to him before he can face his future in book 7.
But was this death the result of misinterpretation or was it a chosen fate? Obi-Wan intentionally sacrificed himself to rejoin the Force and guide Luke in different ways. Kenobi didn't misjudge Darth Vader and therefore die a death caused by his own stupidity. Which was the reason for the death in H-B P?
There are other questions raised by the end of H-B P. Harry may be destined to confront Voldemort, but is he truly ready for that and skilled enough to succeed? Whenever he has faced Voldemort in the past, he succeeded through luck and the timely help of others and a bit of deus ex machina. If that is the route for success in book 7, I think it will feel cheap. Harry has to gain some convincing power before I buy the notion that he can defeat the most powerful evil wizard of all time.
And once it's all over . . . what then? Does Harry retire to a life of leisure? Does he marry his postponed love? Does he go back to Hogwarts and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a la Tom Cruise in Top Gun?
I don't have the answers to these question, nor to the reason why Malfoy would be so emotionally fragile in H-B P as to seek out the advice of Moaning Myrtle? Does that make sense? But I wonder how things will all end. And while I am excited to know that the end will come and I enjoy reading these books, I regret that I read them so quickly that the original thrill of discovery is gone just as quickly.
But maybe that is another lesson to be learned. Fantasies are just that . . . fantasies. And life's reality doesn't unfold as in Harry Potter, Spider-Man, or Magician. I guess it's best to grab those moments of excitement when they come.
posted by David at 10:34 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Very interesting review. I enjoyed the references to Feist's Pug scenario, as well as Spider-Man, which I had instantly connected. Unfortunately for me, this lessoned the impact of Harry's profession, which seemed to quick and stilted to be sincere, and too much of a borrowed plot device.
A couple of other thoughts, too: I loved this book, many of the same reasons you did. Now, having said that, one gripe: I thought Dumbledore's character was, frankly, too Gandalf-esque to be really inspiring. The way he hunted around for information, all his methods, including the use of fire, just felt too much like Gandalf's methods for hunting down the nature of the One Ring, from interviewing people to his power with fire and such. Now, I know we are dealing with archetypes, but when connections begin to detract, there is a weakness.
Still, she is amazingly fresh in most ways. About page 200 I was really growing frustrated that these kids had not yet had real relationships and weren't even talking about girls/boys, etc. Then it all happened and I was satisfied, though I felt it came late. I'm certain this was a plot device more than anything. Along those lines, and this may be a problem the arises because Rowling as a woman may simply have not thought about how young men feel in this regard, but Ron and Harry are approaching 17 (Ron has his birthday in the book, actually). A major event in young men's lives at this time is beard growth and the desire to feel more adult by starting to shave. Yet that never happens. Perhaps it was too trivial to mention, but she does spend careful attention to these kinds of details. Perhaps they will later?
I have some ideas about the character who dies, but those should probably be discussed and not typed here so as to avoid major plot spoiling.
As for your discussion of the standard story arc she creates, there are major possibilities that, once the summer ends, the arc will no longer follow that pattern. But that is another spoiler issue, so I'll leave it at that.
Perk
I also felt Dumbledore came off as very Gandalf-esque--especially in the cave at the end. That entire chapter seemed spiritually connected to the Fellowship's wait outside the Gates of Moria.
Great review! Stories are only stories after all, but the good ones build on archetypes and weave in universal themes, as you point out. While these books might not be "important" works that rank with the Great Books (determined by whom?), they will be important to readers who cut their literary teeth on the bildungsromantic themes Rowling uses. Thanks, I just wanted to use that word.
Literary and Historical Note:
It was on this day in 1954, the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out, The Fellowship of the Ring.
Post a Comment
<< Home