Even after not really seeing her since the end of The Order of the Phoenix, I still don’t like Dolores Umbridge. She’s terrible and at this point I hope the worst things happen to her instead of to Draco. The break-in at the Ministry was an early highlight of The Deathly Hallows as was Harry’s time at his parents’ graves. Things slowed down a bit after the break-in but seem to be picking up in Godric’s Hollow.
Below are some thoughts from chapters 13-18 of The Deathly Hallows.
Impulsive
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Harry Potter is a teenager. He handles many situations with the maturity of a much older person. There are instances, though, when the fact that he is a teenager becomes exceedingly clear. One such instance took place in the Ministry of Magic when Harry stole back Mad-Eye Moody’s eye from Umbrudge’s door. I know Harry thought he was honoring the memory of his fallen comrade but his impulsive decision to take the eye created mass chaos. Because the eye was missing, Ministry members knew something was up and almost captured Harry, Ron and Hermione. And even though they weren’t captured, because of Harry’s impulsiveness he and his friends weren’t able to go back to Grimmauld Place. All of our choices have consequences and we need to think through those consequences before acting. The Bible tells us that everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. It wasn’t beneficial for Harry to steal Moody’s eye and it’s not always beneficial for us to give into our impulsiveness.
Best Friends
I know that Ron and Harry will eventually reconcile their friendship. It is unsettling, though, to see them go their separate ways especially in the midst of Harry’s dangerous journey. It is true that the people we love the most can also hurt us the most. If some random person on Twitter says that I’m a bad youth pastor I wouldn’t be able to care less. If Alycia told me that I was a bad youth pastor I would be deeply wounded and seriously affected. Ron and Harry are able to hurt each other so deeply because they care for each other so deeply. Since they’re guys, though, they’ll easily patch things up and move on. I imagine they’re reconciliation going something like this:
Harry: Hey, I’m sorry I was dumb.
Ron: I’m sorry I was dumb.
Harry: Cool. Let’s go get Voldemort.
Ron: Cool.
Death
It’s hard to believe that the Harry Potter books started out with an 11-year-old boy wizard looking for the sorcerer’s stone. Now, in the final book of the series, Harry is coming to terms with deep issues like the death of his parents. J.K. Rowling does an amazing job of exploring deeper issues and themes the older Harry gets. Rowling perfectly captures the human experience; we should explore deeper issues the older we get. When we’re children we care about toys and eating mac and cheese; the older we get we should care about different and deeper things. I love toys and comics but I don’t want my love of those to keep from becoming a mature and developed adult.
I’m enjoying The Deathly Hallows so far. My sister has assured me that I won’t want to put it down from this point forward.
What thoughts do you have from chapters 13-18 of The Deathly Hallows?
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