I’m rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix now, but for school we’re reading Hamlet, and I literally don’t understand a word. Thank you, Sparknotes!
Order of the Phoenix usually doesn’t receive a lot of love, but it’s one of my favorites.
Whoever said Flowers for Algernon, I love that story!! IT love it, no matter how sad it is.
Reading 1984 and loving it. Might be my favorite book ever.
I remember reading that for my Honors World History class. I remember hating it. But lots of books I read and was forced to overanalize and do essays about make me dispise them. I’m going to re-read 1984, and I’ll probally enjoy it more reading it for leisure instead of class.
The Order of the Phoenix was so boring to me. I was struggling to get through it by the time they were making their way through the Department of Mysteries. But I did enjoy Umbridge. She wasn’t a pleasant person, but she made me laugh. I just wish they would have talked about what happened to her when the Centaurs took her away.
I have a question for those of you who have read Flowers for Algernon and The Giver. What do you guys think about those books being challenged?
Well, to each his own.
The Giver of course would be challenged…the government doesn’t want people to think for themselves…which is actually the same thing Order of the Phoenix teaches.
If a book is challenged people will read it to find out why’s it forbiddeb,which AGAIN goes back to Order of the Phoenix, The business with The Quibbler…Umbridge forbade people from reading Rita’s interview with Harry, which caused the whole schoool to read it.
Just curious on your stance if it was a life-threatening situation. If the mother was at risk of dying from childbirth, would you risk both perishing, or save the mum? Not wanting to attack your political stand, but just wanna know how you respond to such a moral dilemma.
I do agree, though, that if possible, one should not abort a baby simply because they ‘don’t like it’. And we must remember that it as much the mother’s fault sometimes as the father’s (as brilliantly depicted in your Linguini/Collete love-child fanfiction, I like the fact that the roles are reversed and it’s the mum that wants to abort).
SOA: I tried reading Order of the Phoenix, but I stopped halfway because Harry wouldn’t STOP SHOUTING. 
But I should give it a reread. I just wished that Rowling had used adjectives or adverbs instead of resorting to capitalisation.
He only yells in a couple of chapters. He’s meant to be annoying in that book.
It’s a shame you gave up so early, cause you missed the best bits.
If that was Rowling’s intention, she certainly succeeded.
I had a feeling I did when I watched the movie. The ending was really beautiful with Harry’s line to Voldemort about how he will never be like the Dark Lord because he has friends, and that he feels sorry for him. It was a really powerful moment, and if that was in the book, I missed out on that, I guess. Tis’ a shame that Rowling didn’t keep me as hooked as she did for the other books, or I would have persevered.
Like I said, I may consider a reread, if I can squeeze in time before the Deathly Hallows Part 2 finale film release.
Actually that line isn’t in the book, and is one of the numerous inventions of the movie. But the best parts of the book aren’t Voldemort related, but the political ones. I can strongly identify with the kind of rebellion that takes place in that book. Plus, Umbridge is a flawless villain, simply because she’s so real.
It’s a shame when people give up midway through the series.
And yes, he’s intentionally annoying, as he’s supposed to be through a very specific moment of his life. But I don’t think she overdid it, cause he only does that a couple of times, as I said before.
^ Yeah, I think Harry’s a bit annoying, but he’s going through a lot. I’d be shouting too. Umbridge is one of my favorite villains, because I’ve experienced teachers that seem to think that’s the way a teacher should be. They’re exact copies. My favorite in the book is Ron, though. He sticks with Harry and stands up for him so much, I love him. I liked how everything got darker in this book too, and Voldemort is more of a threat.
You should try reading them, though, TDIT! You’ll be missing out on a lot come July
Yes. Umbridge can represent a lot of teachers from the real world. But also a lot of politicians from the real world.
I get your message, but I actually read all the books except for the second half of Order of the Phoenix (because I gave up) and the second half of Deathly Hallows (because I had to return the book to the library).
Interesting. I can see how this might be relatable to your personal life and your sentiments about (your?) government. While I don’t relate to the book in that way (I connect more with the human relationships and the duality between good and evil), I really do appreciate how Rowling manages to weave current affair and matured topics into her plots.
Themes such as ethnic supremacists (Mudbood, Half-Blood, Pure-Bloods, etc.), racial profiling in the interest of national security (Ministry of Magic) and corrupted politicians (Umbridge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, etc.). Adults would probably pick up on the issues more than kids do, but it’s good that Rowling is trying to encourage discussion and debate about these important matters, if subtly, through her stories.
It’s not so much that I don’t like him shouting, if it is part of his character. It’s just that the way Rowling expressed that in capitals is bad writing, when she could’ve used more descriptive adverbs like “He hollered”, “He ululated”, or include secondary actions like “He picked up a bowl and threw it at Dobby” or “He slammed his fist on the table.” It would’ve been more powerful if he had expressed his anger and frustrations through his body language instead of YELLING IN CAPS often. It is something to avoid when writing dialogue, and unsophisticated of Rowling to resort to such simplistic shorthand.
I agree with you both, though, that Umbridge is one of the best villains Rowling has created next to Voldemort.
I forgot to mention that I read Cyrano de Bergerac before I read The Giver. It was a very good play that almost had me crying at the end because I could relate to how Cyrano felt about why he couldn’t be in a relationship. I just saw today that there’s a 1950’s version of the play on Netflix Streaming. I hope it’s good.
[quote="thedriveintheatremIt’s not so much that I don’t like him shouting, if it is part of his character. It’s just that the way Rowling expressed that in capitals is bad writing, when she could’ve used more descriptive adverbs like “He hollered”, “He ululated”, or include secondary actions like “He picked up a bowl and threw it at Dobby” or “He slammed his fist on the table.” It would’ve been more powerful if he had expressed his anger and frustrations through his body language instead of YELLING IN CAPS often. It is something to avoid when writing dialogue, and unsophisticated of Rowling to resort to such simplistic shorthand.
[/quote]
“slammed his fist on the table” is a boring statement.
And the way J.K. Rowling does it is italics for normal shouting and all caps for extremely loud shouting.
You are on the Internet, you should know by now that on the Internet, using all caps is considered shouting.
And action is boring, unless it is done brilliantly. For example, there are twenty pages in “Truancy” by Isamu Fukui about these two kids battling with makeshift swords, which is beautifully done. The way Rowling did Harry’s anger with the dialogue was better for what she was doing, and what Isamu Fukui did was better for what he was doing.
And anyway, obviously you didn’t read the whole book, because Harry DOES show his anger through actions near the end of the book when he starts destroying things in Dumbledore’s room.
I like reading plays in addition to books, because plays are all dialogue with a few stage set-up directions and stuff. Dialogue is fun to read. What Rowling did was show Harry’s anger through an interesting way. What you are saying is that she should have told us that he was angry.
Also, “He ululated” would be something Stephenie Meyer would do, and anything Stephenie Meyer would write is unacceptable to suggest that J. K. Rowling should have written.
And “bad writing” and “J.K. Rowling” do not belong in the same paragraph.
As to Cyrano de Bergerac, lovely play. I can kind of relate to it to, but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about being involved with relationships. Even though love is the only thing that would make having that gross thing called “life” enjoyable, I must focus solely on my writing except for the occassional comment I have to make on forums like these.
I agree with you. Besides, as I said before. It doesn’t happens as often to be really annoying.
I know, I was just chucking out the first statement that came to my head. I’m sure I can think of better examples if I was more awake.
I was using it as an example, it’s not directed at Spirit or anyone in particular.
What I’m proposing is the ‘Show Not Tell’ mantra. Instead of resorting to capitalisation, Rowling could’ve used adverbs or secondary actions to reveal Harry’s level of anger intensity. If she wanted Harry to be mildly annoyed, she could use normal formatting for his dialogue and maybe add a ‘he said tersely’ or ‘his finger tapped on the table’ or something. If she wanted him to go ballistic, she could use at most italics for his dialogue and a ‘hollered’, ‘shouted’, ‘screamed’, etc.
The use of capitalisation, as you said, is poor manners on the Internet. In the book medium, which is even more ‘proper’ than the Internet, it’s a travesty (in my view).
I guess I can see your point about how Rowling was trying to break convention. But I didn’t mean telling the reader in the sense of:
"Harry was so very angry. He said “Get off my plane!”
But more in the demonstration of actions:
"Harry’s eyes glowed menacingly. He spat out, “Get off my plane!”
There is still a level of reader involvement in interpretation, but it’s more nuanced and not as brute-force as capping his dialogue. Maybe Rowling intended it to be in-your-face, but again, I personally felt she could’ve done it in a better way.
"Harry lost it. “Get off my plane!”
I’m not sure if the use of the word ‘ululated’ is something which only Stephenie Meyer is qualified to do. I have seen better authors use it too.
Of course, but that’s just your opinion. Rowling’s not perfect (and of course, this statement is my opinion as well), so I reserve the right to make a criticism if I provide supporting arguments (as you are entitled to, as well).
Well, it seems I may have offended a few Rowling fans here, so if I have stepped on anyone’s toes in the process of expressing my personal opinion, I sincerely apologise. I’m still a huge Harry Potter fan, been since I was 12.
Don’t worry, TDIT. It was pretty clear it was an example. I don’t feel offended or anything.
If anything, maybe Lover_of_Fiction came out a little harsh with that statement, but I’m sure he didn’t it on purpose either.
I’m trying to order a play from David Hwang called FOB. I heard it’s a funny yet compelling piece.