Blog Prompt 3

At the end of the series, I was very happy with the way that things ended. The seventh book really seemed to give the series a good final ending. I really liked all of the parts. When it comes to being problematic, I really did not find anything too problematic as most of everything was resolved. I did not think that all of the deaths that occurred were necessary though. For instance, I was shocked when Hedwig died. I also did not see the point in killing off Dobby. As for the wizards, I did not think that killing Fred, Moody, Tonks, or Remus was needed. They all seemed pointless. I think that the series would have ended exactly the same if they were all included in the final Epilogue. For some reason my feelings towards Dumbledore never really changed. I never saw him as his brother saw him. I always felt that he cared for Harry, as he said he did, and did not mean to harm him, or do anything that Harry could not handle. I always saw him as a mysterious person, really. And that did not change at all throughout the books, he remained mysterious. As for Snape, I'm sure everyone's feelings changed towards him. He always seemed like such a heartless man, especially when he killed Dumbledore. The seventh book really made him seem the most human...someone who had feelings, someone who loved, and someone who would willingly sacrifice himself for someone else. At the end, I guess I got a kind of soft spot for Snape, even after everything. And really, the reasons why he treated Harry as he did made sense--he was jealous of James and Harry reminded him every day of what he never had. Harry, Ron, and Hermione pretty much stayed the same. I appreciated Ron and Hermione a lot more, because their parts in this book were much more prominent. Although they always helped Harry in the previous books, their help in this one was much more pronounced. I guess Harry became more of a person I respected. This all happened because he walked straight into death. Although Harry seemed to continuously did so, as the book even said through his inner monologue, his will to live was always stronger. So to make him walk straight to his so called death really changed how I saw him as a character. He seemed much more brave now. He was no longer just a naive child.
In a cultural context, Harry Potter can just be easily related to. Although everyone is most certainly not marching to meet death and stare it in the face, we all have many concerns that we do face every day. And more importantly, Harry Potter shows how every day relationships evolve and how a teenager copes with them, something we have all experienced. It shows relationships between friends...romantic relationships...family relationships...parental relationships. It is just something that is easy to relate to.