WARNING! THIS ENTRY CONTAINS HARRY POTTER 7 SPOILERS!
Hello,
Wow, so upon finishing Deathly Hallows I thought “…now what!?” I didn’t know what to do with myself since I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it at first so I had all these thoughts and excitement bottled up in me… I’d have to say the best part about this book for me was having figured something out about Snape and for what it turned out to be.
Anyways Thursday last week I finished reading Half-Blood Prince. I’ve only read it once before and that was when it first came out. I had forgotten that the supposed reason according to Dumbledore that Snape turned good again had something to do with relaying the prophecy to Voldemort and that it was a terrible mistake. When I thought about it I couldn’t understand how Snape was remorseful when all this time he’s been badgering Harry about how awful and stupid his father was and how Harry is just like him. Then I thought “Wait…Snape has never said anything about Lily.” And the light turns on and I started freaking out with excitement. Took me long enough to figure it out, huh?
So I went into reading Deathly Hallows believing Snape was good and that he actually loved Lily so when I came to the chapter called the silver doe I thought “OH MA GAWD! IT'S SNAPE'S PATRONUS! WOOO!” I had to keep reminding myself that I could be wrong and that he could still be evil since he was remaining pretty ambiguous through out the book, and if I did turn out to be wrong I knew I would be sorely disappointed. But then when I started on Chapter 33 I completely lost it to the point where I was so excited I couldn’t even read. I had to calm down and focus. I’ve read that chapter over again a few times now. I loved it so much!
However I found that they needed some closure so I’d like to think he got to see Lily again after he died…hence the picture.
As for the rest of the book, I was happy with the way it turned out now that I’ve gotten to soak it all in. I’d have to say the saddest death to me was Dobby’s. Everyone else’s toward the end just didn’t hit me much since there was little focus on it, it seemed. I was expecting Tonks or Lupin to die but not both so it wasn’t that great of a shock, but when you find out it was like “Oh…they’re dead? Oooh…hmmm…okay.” I especially didn’t absorb Fred’s death because we didn’t get to see George’s reaction. I think if we had then it would have seemed real, but I can’t help but think that after all that they’re both still running the joke shop. Although I understand that there was a lot going on at the time that Harry couldn’t focus on it, but still…
Neville was totally awesome in this book. He was one who I could not stand to die. I swore if he did I was going to throw that book down and leave Harry Potter forever (or at least until I got over it). Wormtail’s end pretty much came as I expected, that he would do something to help Harry and die for it. So his end felt very fitting to me.
Something that I’ve come to appreciate is the role of the Deathly Hallows. Upon finishing the book I was wondering why they were really included since it seemed the story could have been completed without them. However I realized that they came to play a great role in the idea of choices and how they come to play in the character’s lives. Such as Dumbledore we learn was not perfect and he himself was obsessed with defeating death before he realized otherwise. But mostly that Harry had a chance to get the elder wand and he chose not to. I really loved that he left it for Voldemort to get and in the end it turns to be a very very bad idea for Voldemort.
Although it was very stupid of Harry to return to Godric’s Hollow I was really glad that he did. That felt right to me for him to actually go and see his parent’s grave and the house where everything had begun.
Before starting Deathly Hallows I had thought Harry would end up having to sacrifice himself whether because he was a Horcruxe or whatever reason but would return to life. So when it came to the part he realized he would have to die I thought “Awww crap!” but then I stopped and remembered what I had predicted and kept hoping on that.
The epilogue I was disappointed by some, like I’m sure most people were, mainly because you didn’t know what happened to everyone else and what not, but I did like that you could gather that Harry became a loving father and didn’t run off to go do bigger and amazing things. I wasn’t so crazy about the kid’s names of James and Lily, but I did actually like that he named one of his sons after Dumbledore and Snape. It allowed you so see that he came to appreciate what theses people did for him. I especially loved it when Harry told his son that Snape was probably the bravest man he ever knew.
I’m sure there’s more things I could talk about, but I think those were the main points on the book that I enjoyed. It’s sad the series is over, but at least Rowling will probably be coming out with an encyclopedia to explain other loose ends.
-Jessica