Anxious
Harry Potter fans wait for the seventh book
Rachel Duff, posted Oct. 25, 2006
With the recent release of the fourth Harry Potter movie,
the attention is turned to the seventh Harry Potter book,
the next release. According to an interview with J.K Rowling
by Dateline NBC on July 17, 2005, 270 million Harry Potter
books have been sold in 62 languages, including Braille. The
sixth Harry Potter book broke the record for the largest first
printing of any book ever. So, it is no mystery why there
is so much excitement and anticipation for the seventh book.
“I think the seventh book will be really exciting but
sad when it ends,” said Megan Shay, freshman at MU.
The expectations for the seventh book are running really high,
according to Debbie Lelekis, graduate student at MU. Harry’s
fans don’t want to be let down.
“You know, I think it will be good, but I also think
I’ll be disappointed if he does in fact die. I’ve
been thinking he will die to better prepare me for if he really
does,” said Brooke Emshoff, junior at MU. According
to a survey by The Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator,
out of 50,496 people surveyed on the Internet, 61 percent
said Harry will live and 39 percent said Harry will die.
“Harry will defeat Voldemort because he’s Harry
Potter, and it has to be concluded,” said Shay.
A poll taken of 25 MU students said, 48 percent of students
think Harry will die, 52 percent think Harry will live.
“I think that Harry will stay at Hogwarts and search
for Horcruxes while finishing his education. He will find
six Horcruxes and realize he is the seventh Horcrux. The killing
of his parents made him the seventh Horcrux, and only after
he realizes this will he understand the prophecy fully. Ginny
will probably have to kill him because they love each other.
Harry being killed by someone he loves is the ultimate sacrifice,
and Voldemort could take over the world if someone doesn’t
kill Harry,” said Emshoff.
There are many ways the seventh Harry Potter book could end.
“I think the book will end with the defeat of Voldemort,
although I can imagine several ways that the book could end
up with that conclusion. Based on the story line that Rowling
has been working toward, it wouldn’t make sense to kill
off the hero,” said Lelekis.
According to James Krasner, professor of English and British
Victorian literature at the University of New Hampshire, heroes
in these types of genres do not die. A big supporting character
might be sacrificed, but never the hero.
“J.K.R.’s success has been through working in
these genres, giving us complicated plots, likeable young
orphaned heroes, hateable authoritarian villains and humorous
minor characters. To step out of that would be like back shifting
to an atonal scale in the last part of his cantata. It would
seem terribly dissonant and would undermine the structure
she’d worked so hard to create,” said Krasner.
According to Rowling in an interview entitled Harry, Carrie
and Garp at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Aug.
2, there are a couple pieces of information the readers just
can’t guess at.
“J.K. will probably come up with something crazy that
no one expects,” said Emshoff.
No matter what happens, on the day the seventh Harry Potter
book comes out, there will be a line outside the bookstore
with people who want to be the first with the new release.
According to Rowling in Harry, Carrie and Garp, there will
be some people that hate the ending and some people that will
love it. Rowling says that is how it should be.
All Harry Potter fans will be very upset if Harry does die,
whether or not they think it’s going to happen, according
to Shay. Rowling is not giving anything away, so Harry Potter
fans will see how it goes.
