My Lips Are Sealed

I finished the book. I will not reveal the ending.

We did not end up going to the midnight release EVENT for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. MLC and I decided that we would have a nice quiet Shabbat dinner with Bruce and then retire early so that we could pick up the books in the morning for a full day of reading pleasure.

Above: D., T., and N. picking up their books at a bookstore in Illinois. The three cousins caused no mayhem yesterday. They were too busy reading.

We got our books about 9:30 AM MDT and were ensconced in "comfy" chairs near the Seattle's Best counter with lattes in hand by 10 AM. I even had them put carmel in my latte. We were making our own morning release party. We had dropped Bruce off at the Hardware store, so we figured we had about an hour's reading pleasure. I got four chapters read before Bruce called.

We came home, had some lunch, and I settled in my red leather chair in the sitting room with some chocolate and tea and propped my feet up on the hassock. And I did not move again for about four hours. By then I was half-way through the book. I knew I was not following my plan to read a few chapters at a time, but I could not help myself. I could not put the book down! It had a spell on me!

After a short break to walk the dogs, I was back in my chair and I finished the book at about 10 PM. And then I read the first chapter aloud to Bruce. It was that good!

Today I have been wandering about in that post-book mixture of euphoria and sadness. You know the feeling--you've been in an alternate reality, a different world and you have grown to know and love the characters. They have become real. And now you have to re-enter your own world. So you are stuck between worlds for a while. A really good book just does that to me. This morning I re-read different parts, looking closely for the foreshadowing and literary allusions that will allow me to discuss the book. But not here. Not yet. My lips are sealed.

I think I will go back and re-read this book. Soon. That is how powerful it is.

Tradition: Dithering Over the Midnight Hour

I refuse to read the pre-release reviews. But I am still on tenterhooks. How can one even think that Harry Potter might die? It destroys the whole hero's journey! But...I'm worried.


And I am dithering about tonight.

Months ago, I reserved three copies at a well known bookstore.
One for N. One for MLC. And one for me.

The plan was to go to the midnight release EVENT as we have since Goblet of Fire came out. I think that was the first release party--at least in our part of the world.
But then we made summer plans and now N. is going to the midnight EVENT at a different well known bookstore in Illinois. I arranged for his "Aunt Madge" (not her real name but everybody in the family calls her that) to pre-order a copy there for him.

So why go to the midnight party? As I told Bruce, who listened patiently and wisely did not tell me what to do, I would have to drive into town at about 9 PM. I'd have to sit around the bookstore until midnight. I would have to wait in line to get my copy. Then I'd have to drive home, arriving around 2 to 3 in the morning, depending on the lines. And by then, it is unlikely that I'd even be able to keep my eyes open to read the first chapter.

So it's probably more sensible to wait until 9 AM tomorrow morning and arrive at the bookstore and get my copy. It's only 6 or 7 hours later and then I'll be fresh for reading. They have coffee at the bookstore or I can go to our local coffee shop to read. Sounds like a plan.

BUT...we have not missed one of the parties. And this is the LAST one! You know what Garrison Keilor says: If you do it certain way twice, it becomes a TRADITION. And I love tradition.

Tradition. Tradition. Tra-DIT-ion! (Humming Fiddler on the Roof. Da-da-da-da! Da-da-DAH!).

"Why without our tradition, our lives would be..."

A lot less tiring.

Whatever I decide, I will not turn to the last chapter first. I would NEVER do that.
And I will not be on the internet again until I have finished the book.
I do not want my pleasure spoiled.

High Inquisitor Umbridge: The Cloying Sweetness of Evil

Warning:This is a post that discusses the new Harry Potter movie. If you have read the book, then the post will not spoil the movie. But it might if you haven't.



I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. I did not go to the 12:01 AM showing on Tuesday night-Wednesday morning because I just hate to pay 10 bucks for a movie that I will fall asleep at.
These days I can sleep through the most exciting movies if I am tired enough and if they are late enough.

So Bruce and I went to a reasonably (for us) timed showing at 6:30 PM. That way, I met him near Sandia, we ate and drove to the theater together, and still arrived home by about 10 PM when all was said and done.

The movie was exciting, and I enjoyed it, although I stand by my prejudice that almost no movie can do justice to the written work. Of course, if I were the queen of movie adaptations, there were things that I would have included or made clearer, but IMHO Roger Ebert's review was really off the mark this time. My guess is that he has not read the book and has some clear misunderstandings about the Harry Potter world.


As when I read the book, I was fascinated anew by the character of Dolores Umbridge (played skillfully by Imelda Stauton). J.K. Rowling is very good at introducing us to types of people that are almost archetypes. Dolores Umbridge, the Hogwarts' High Inquisitor, is such a character. As the story opens, she is placed at Hogwarts School for Wizardry and Magic by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, in order to reform (Hermione uses the words "interfere with") the curriculum at the school. As the story unfolds, she finds so much to reform that she succeeds in becoming High Inquisitor, with the power to fire staff and torture students, and finally, temporarily, headmistress.



In her role as an agent for the Ministry of Magic's desire to suppress the reality of approaching evil in the form of the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, Umbridge manages to disrupt the curriculum that would teach students to defend themselves against the "Dark Arts." It is only through the subterfuge of the students themselves that real lessons in fighting the approaching evil threatened by Voldemort go on.



But the evil represented by Dolores Umbridge is not the dark and powerful evil of Voldemort. It is not bold and immediately frightening. In fact, it is not even immediately apparent. No. The evil that Umbridge represents is that of a mid-level bureaucrat who in her self-righteousness, makes small, incremental choices to do unrighteous acts. Early in the movie, she justifies torturing Harry by saying sweetly, "You know that you really do deserve to be punished," thereby placing responsibility for her evil act on the victim of it. Later, she will justify her attempt to use the illegal and horrible cruciatus curse, by saying that the extraordinary circumstances she is in require it (the ends justify the means), and that she is doing it because she is loyal to the ministry of magic (a deflection of responsibility), and that the powers that be need never know (anything is legal as long as you don't get caught).


Dolores Umbridge's character serves also as a contrast to the developing strength of Harry Potter's character. By his 5th year at Hogwarts, Harry is deep in the existential angst of adolescence. And because he is a deeply moral person, he struggles with his connection with the evil Voldemort, and he worries that he might be evil himself through that connection. As he wrestles with this possibilty, he is counseled by his godfather, Sirius Black, and later by Dumbledore, that this is the lot of all of us, that we all have the inclination toward good and the inclination toward evil within us, and that is our choices that ultimately determine our destiny.






But what differentiates Harry's character from that of Dolores Umbridge is that he knows that he has within him the possibility to do evil and that he must make choices and take responsibility for them. Dolores Umbridge, on the other hand sees herself as the epitome of sweetness and light. She is sure of her own righteousness, and therefore puts the responsibility for her evil acts on others. This "cloying sweetness" is made plain by her dress and her manner and the way she drinks her tea--with 3 heaping teaspoons full of sugar. Her character is a demonstration of the difference between "goodness" and "niceness." We tend to equate the two but they aren't necessarily the same.

At the end of the movie, Harry has the opportunity to inflict the forbidden cruciatus curse on a witch who has just murdered his godfather. And he is tempted to use it by Voldemort. But in the end he chooses not to do so. And in making the choice, he takes responsibility for what he does, which the opposite of what Umbridge does when the opportunity presented itself to her.

I believe that it is this quality of the mythic hero's journey that makes the story of Harry Potter so compelling to so many of us. We can look at the world situation around us and see all of the elements of the story in our reality. We, too, know that there is evil approaching. And we have some leaders who would like to deny that. And we, too, are reluctant to use that label--evil--because we know that we have the same capacity within ourselves.

It's all there. But what really got my attention was how well Rowling understands that most of us confuse "nice" with "good." And so the overdone "sweetness" of Dolores Umbridge is funny and scary at the same time. It is so unexpected. But it shouldn't be.

And then there is our expectation that a "good" woman should be "nice"...but that's a different blog entry.