And etc…

Because everyone else is, I’m going to give you my very own personal thoughts on the latest installment (book 6 if you’re living in a cave with no television or newspapers or Internet) of Harry Potter. Because I lack organization, this post shall be pieced together sheerly by the order in which I think of things to say. Oh yeah, if you don’t want to know what happens, I advise you to stop reading. Now.

Ok. It seems that a major plot focus of the book was obviously “who is the half-blood Prince?” Or half-blood prince. I suppose it takes on a whole different meaning based upon whether you capitalize that last word or not. When Harry thought it might be his father, I wanted to throw up. Just because you idolize him doesn’t mean he’s the best, smartest freakin’ wizard in the world. I enjoyed the way that they simply ignored Hermione’s thoughts on the topic, though she was clearly more correct than they and has a track record of almost always (if not always) being right. It was somewhat chauvinistic to believe that the “prince” or “Prince” could only be male. I don’t care what Harry said about the way stuff was written. Everyone has different handwriting and styles of writing. It clearly shows that Harry is an idiot (or a 16-year-old boy) with his own personal agenda when he first ignores Hermione (because she’s a girl? Who knows…) and claims the Prince’s maleness as fact rather than mere speculation. Gotta love the way he pushes Hermione’s find of “Eileen Prince” out of the way as coincidence. (At least this is how I remember it.)

My first thought as to the identity of the Prince was “uh…Voldie?” I mean, who else has a complex with being high and mighty? Oh yeah. Snape–he does reign as all-knowing emperor of the classroom and looks down on everyone. And Harry’s father, according to Snape so I guess I can see why Harry might suspect his father…maybe. That’s all I really have to say on this subject. I like Harry less and less as the series goes on…huh. Of course, I’ve never especially liked the behavior/thinking patterns of teenage boys in general (with a few exceptions).

So we learned that Dumbledore’s fallible in something of a Lion King moment. If you have no idea what I mean, go watch that movie again. However, I have trouble believing the Snape betrayal. We are seeing the situation through Harry’s eyes, and we know that he hates Snape. We don’t know what was going through Dumbledore’s mind when he was about to die. We don’t know what sort of conversations Snape and Dumby (I just love that nickname…) had before his death. Maybe he told Snape to kill him if it comes down to that or revealing his identity as a spy, for all we know. I mean, nothing like blowing your cover in front of a bunch of Death Eaters when it comes to ways to get yourself killed. I would be happy if Snape had his own agenda and wasn’t a follower of “the good” or “the bad.” I have trouble envisioning him as much of a follower, especially when we figure in how much he despises people who follow others into doing stupid things (like tormenting people they don’t like ala the marauders…kinda like the Death Eaters, huh?). However, if we believe Snape is truly evil he does fit nicely into the ugly = evil box.

How about all that hooking up? Really, was there anyone left uncoupled by the end of this book? Harry’s stomach monster of jealously was quite amusing to read about. I kept wondering if he was going to throw up or something. Harry must be a pretty big do-gooder to have never experienced jealousy before and thus be unable to identify it in himself. Of course, 16-year-old boys probably aren’t that good at interpreting their feelings. I like the Lupin/Tonks pairing if for no other reason than it disproves the whole “Tonks was in love with Sirius” pondering that went on in the book. Um…they were cousins. Ew. Fleur and Bill? Well, I like that the Weasleys finally decided she wasn’t a big bitch. I mean, you can get along with annoying people even if you don’t like them. I’m living proof…plenty of people get along with me every day. Ron and Hermione? Not a big surprise. At least when they’re together they get along. Of course, this perpetuates the common idea that if you like someone, and I mean really like them in that pre-love sort of infatuation way, you’re mean to them. I wonder if this leads to some sort of acceptance of abuse. Curious.

Harry tells Ginny that he has to leave her in a misguided sort of male hero way. And then Ginny accepts it. Now, if Ginny is thinking “I don’t want to get myself killed” this is totally understandable. However, if Rowling is just writing this to make some sort of typical male saves the world, female waits at home point then it’s sickening. Hard to say. Harry does accept the whole Hermione thing so maybe it’s not a macho thing. Maybe it’s “love.” Sorry, I have to put that in quotation marks. They’re 16. Love? Pre-love, perhaps. Caring a lot I could buy. I suppose war time does make plenty of people run off and get married to thwart aloneness. I bet that plays a factor. Or maybe I’m just a huge cynic. I’ll reserve judgement until I see how this coupledom plays out.

I enjoyed finding out about Voldie’s past. It puts everything into some perspective. I bet Dumbledore would blame his evilness on a lack of love in his childhood. Actually, I think he did. Yeah, Harry had that to I guess…so maybe he’ll become evil and we’ll learn about shades of gray! I wondered briefly if Harry wasn’t a Horcrux himself. Actually, I’m still wondering that. It would explain his connection to Voldie a little better. Dumbledore did say that Voldemort made him who he is…muwahaha.

RAB? Could be many people but I would put my pretend money on Regulus Black, Sirius’ brother who left the Death Eaters and only lived for two more days, a fact that they bothered telling us about for some reason…

And a final thought: this book has to end depressingly so that the next one can end gloriously and we believe we’ve learned something about life from literature. *cough* Star Wars *cough* Also another final thought: the next book is going to be pretty long if Rowling’s really going to tie up all of these loose ends.