1st argument about the owl – it’s the loss of one of Harry’s last ties to childhood. It’s an abstract shift away from the innocence he once had due to the responsibilities being forced onto him. And you should stop speculating intentions while the interpretations themselves remain lost on you. 2nd about voldemorts’s flying – this establishes [one] His isolation from everyone else [two] the extent of his power and [three] the tension from something that has a “hawk’s eye view” 3) Moody’s death made an impact that was literally ephasized throughout the story. You’re downplaying it way more than how it was written. 4) The pacing was fine. You probably didn’t catch on to the character development. Your mediocre attention span is not a valid argument for the quality of the book. 5) Bill and Fleur’s wedding had small but important plot developments that were hit upon more strongly later in the book. It was also to show the last salvaging of happiness in the war and the failure of even that to remain pure. 6) I disagree about the Dumbledore backstory part – that “somebody who was dead” was a major, MAJOR character in the first 6 books, not just a “somebody.” And the deeper look into Dumbedore’s early life is a theme of reality vs. illusion. And the focus was temporarily on Dumbledore; you act as if the story became “Albus Dumbledore” rather than “Harry Potter” and it really wasn’t like that. 7) Camping section complaints are more for character development, especially showing the transition in the trio’s friendship deterioration and survival. Again, it’s all on understanding and attention span dude.
About Ron – it’s a little thing called the character’s fatal flaw. It’s a tool that gives a character more life and realistic behavior. Also, I’m kinda confused about you’re ideas of Ron; it’s like you’re trying as hard as you can to find a reason to hate him. You were given a list of his goods which you countered with bads. Big whoop, he’s imperfect – he’s as human as a literary character can get. What you didn’t do was explain how these bads outweigh the goods. 9) The horcruxes weren’t really that rushed, but it is a good point – however, it’s a great strategy when building to the climax – sort of a manifestation of the battle rushing quickly towards harry. 10) The deaths, although numerous compared to previous books, show the uncaring nature of the world – how life goes on even if yours doesn’t and that death doesn’t discriminate since everyone is fair game. Quite a few antagonists died as well so you can’t really say it’s just for shock value that she’s killing the characters people love. 11) About Ron not dying – /dude/ you’re just projecting your own fantasies now. Stick with fanfiction instead of the actual book if you don’t like the way the story ends, but don’t claim that the book sucks because it didn’t happen the way you wanted it to happen. That’s just ignorant. 12) About the feuds – Molly fought in place of Neville for several reasons. [one] Bellatrix was threatening her family [two] The characters are foils to each other, creating stark contrast and [three] The irony of Bellatrix being killed by someone who represents everything that she is not is clever and perfect. It also could have been Harry who killed Bellatrix since she severed his last ties to family, but again Molly’s maternal image vs. Bellatrix’s misanthropic image was at the very least a more richly paved path to take, literature-wise. And in regards to the choice not to have Neville kill her, it’s a simple matter of realizing the relationship between Neville and Harry; Neville is Harry’s emotional apprentice. He hadn’t yet lost his innocence as Harry had. 13) Harry vs. the slytherins – more fantasy, in my opinion. The fight built up over time – and Draco’s lack of involvement showed emotional transition to virtue that began in the previous book with the whole bathroom scene. This particular battle showed what making the wrong decisions led to, since they were sort of cut off from the outside war. It’s why he survived and Crabbe didn’t. Seriously, I recommend fanfiction.net if you don’t get it. You’d probably like those stories more. 14) The werewolf fight would have been cool, but that’s again fantasizing about what could have been – still not a valid argument against the alternative which Rowling went with. 15) About Ron and forgiveness – like, seriously? Did you not read the book? Or did you just completely miss the part where Ron saved Harry from drowning? And even then, Hermione’s forgiveness of Ron wasn’t as instant as Harry’s, since she didn’t have a near-death experience. 16) Percy’s return represents, or rather illustrates, the undying bond that holds a family together. Especially when death of any of them was imminent, a la George. 17) The final battle includes characters that were never forgotton but were actually included several times in other books, if you will recall. Maybe you just forgot, but I remember reading about a month back every book in order from the last to the first and J.K. Rowling doesn’t just stick them in there for the sake of sticking them in there. 18) The dueling ground at Hogwarts shows where Harry truly started his journey, where he was sorted in his first year. It’s not epic, but it has HUGE personal and consequently literary significance – which can also account for the collecting of all the major characters and species, at the greatest school – the center of all of the magic world. 19) About apparating – this is not an action movie. It’s not meant to be all fighting, and if that’s what you want, go watch a Steven Segal movie. Again, just because it didn’t happen the way you wanted it to doesn’t mean it was a bad move on Rowling’s part. 20) McGonagall vs. Snape – Snape wasn’t a bad guy; for him to actually hurt her instead of merely tricking her to get in Voldemort’s good graces would make him a bad guy, something which he is definitely not. The reflecting spells are meant to show their equality in power and equality as Dumbledore’s most trusted teachers. 21) The Snape-shaped window is comic relief. Um…yeah. 22) I just disagree with you on the part about the writing, but of course this is merely a preferential standpoint. 22) I previously said I agree about the Molly-swearing scene. 23) I don’t have a copy of HP7 on me right now to verify, but I don’t remember being confused about Voldemort’s death. And I found its structure to be a good syntactical strategy, but that’s just me personally. 23) The cover shows the abstract struggle that was going on between Harry and Voldemort – for the wand, for the school, for Harry’s life, for EVERYONE’s lives, etc. But this can all be up to interpretation which I may be reading wrongly. 24) I agree about the chapter titles because I’ve yet to really find any significance in the titles that makes a “wow” moment. The exception is the last chapter however. The flaw in the plan was a great choice, since it reflects Voldemort’s as well as Dumbledore’s flawed plans and flawed logic.
