Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Conclusions (HP & otherwise)

HARRY POTTER SPOILER ALERT. IF YOU WISH NOT TO KNOW THE CONCLUSION OF HARRY POTTER, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN PAST THIS SECTION. HARRY POTTER SPOILER ALERT.

I finally finished it. After a week plus some change and some would-be spoilers, I decided that I could no longer leisurly read the book and just needed to get it over with.

Last night I read until the wee hours of the morning, deciding to leave the last 60 pages till the next day. I brought the book with me to class and read it during our breaks. As I was reading page 707 and had just finished with:

"But you're dead," said Harry
"Oh yes, " said Dumbledore matter-of-factly
"Then... I'm dead too?"
"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling more broadly. "That is the question isn't it? On the whole, my dear boy, I think not."

What? He's not dead? After he found out that the only way to kill Voldemort was if he let Voldemort kill him (he contained a piece of V's soul within his own), he ended up in a place of limbo.

Right while I was reading this part, my teacher saw what I was reading and told me: "我听说HARRY死了." (Translation: I heard Harry dies). I was livid. Don't tell me! Let me find out for myself! After reading for 10 years, don't tell me!

I steamed for a few hours after that, but once I finally got to read the end of the book on my own, I realized that Harry does not die, but chose to live.

I was kind of disappointed with the ending. Yes its all happy happy joy joy that he and Ginny marry and have 3 kids, while Ron and Hermione marry and also have kids. However, though it was an emotional rollercoaster, I think JK Rowling took the safe way out. At least one of the 3 major characters should have died!

Oh well, I cried at the conclusion. The conclusion, however, was not as closed as I thought and I really think she can make more books.

END HARRY POTTER RANT/SPOILER

Today's lesson in class was very interesting. We read (in Chinese) about a child who watched an MTV cartoon and imitated it, using matches to burn down his house and kill his older sister. We then had to write a short op-ed about whether or not parents should let their kids watch tv and why.

As the lessons progress, the interest factor also increases. Yesterday we learned about how to break up with a boyfriend who drinks too much. Today, we learned the word for "burn to death" and "messed up". All in all, very useful stuff!

I was going to write more, but I'm tired, so I'll save my thoughts for another time. I think tonight I'll be joining a lot of students to a restaurant/bar that has a trivia night... yay for getting out of the dorm!

2 comments:

RyMer said...

No way! That was an awesome ending! She brought it all together, everyone, all the characters together in a battle royale every bit as epic as anything George Lucas ever put out there. She kept Snape a secret till the very end, it was a well crafted masterpiece by a very very very gifted writer. Perhaps a tad too happyhappy lol!lol! at the very very end, but had it ended depressingly, Rowling may have been responsible for a whole new generation of teenybopper goths.

RyMer said...

No way! That was an awesome ending! She brought it all together, everyone, all the characters together in a battle royale every bit as epic as anything George Lucas ever put out there. She kept Snape a secret till the very end, it was a well crafted masterpiece by a very very very gifted writer. Perhaps a tad too happyhappy lol!lol! at the very very end, but had it ended depressingly, Rowling may have been responsible for a whole new generation of teenybopper goths.