“One for death”, funny bingos and an original interpretation of HP epilogue, aka “All was well”.

[elanor_x]

HP epilogue: I read many criticisms of the epilogue on my Friends list. One of them concentrated on its last 3 words “All was well”; justly pointing out that old prejudices were still alive and nothing would prevent the rising of another Dark Lord. The wizarding world didn’t change, only returned to the same point, in which it was 7 books ago (more exactly, when Harry’s parents were still at school, between G’s defeat and the rising of V). How can all be well? David Ganin gives his personal perspective “on the closing words of the seemingly saccharine epilogue” in his essay All Was Well on Mugglenet, basing his unique interpretation on the last words of the poem Death Is Nothing At All by Henry Scott Holland and simultaneously telling a moving personal story. Personally, I don’t think neither that JKR wrote the last sentence thinking about this (or another) poem nor that she intended us to understand them in any other, except the straightest meaning. But she wrote them, and imo the interpretation is valid, specially since it goes so well with the theme of dealing with death – the central theme of the whole HP series and, in particular, of DH. What do you think?

 

Bingos: Remember the HP DH bingo, which made fun of fandom flame-wars and the responses we get for literary criticism? (I found another one here.)  

Visiting feminist blogs, I regularly stumble upon anti-feminist trolls, and reading newspapers exposes one to numerous pseudo-scientific studies, trying to present the norms of contemporary culture as universal, evolutionary-evolved traits, aka “All women like pink”, and giving real Evolutionary Psychology a bad name. Now I will be able to raise spirits and regain my belief in humanity with the help of Evolutionary Psychology Bingo! and Anti-Feminist Bingo! Aren’t they wonderful?

 

And let’s end with Fransisco Goya’s picture from b-a-n-s-h-e-e’s post:

 

 

The Magpie's Calling Lyrics

(E. Pugh)

 

Oh-oo the magpie's calling

The farmer has had a child

Will it live or will it die

Only this bird will tell

Oh-oo the magpie's calling

One for death

Two for love

Three for the gypsy's journey

Never to be done

One - Two come the magpies calls

On Jonny's wedding day

But on the bed of old Caradoc

There was only to be one

Oh-oo the magpie's calling

One for death

Two for love

Three for the gypsy's journey

Never to be done

©1998 Scrawny Music, BMI

 

Her lj is fully in Russian, but my English speaking art-loving friends can enjoy it too - b-a-n-s-h-e-e posts entries with collections of pictures on various topics (the artists’ & the pictures’ names are in English), like caricatures against suffragists [noting in her post that those pictures were put since they are very interesting and characterize that epoch, not to hear anything bad about men or women – me: those pictures include very funny dialogues in English], children’s games, the fairies, hardworking children, gothic winter, witches, castles and ruins, and much more. (I specially liked Wonderland by Adelaide Claxton.)

Comments

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I wasn't as impressed with the essay, I'm afraid. I like the HP books, but I really struggle with the idea that they realistically portray death, sacrifice, and love.

However, the Suffragette pics are pure art. I feel nothing but love for them!

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

They don't have to portray those things realistically for me to like the essay. As somebody wrote in the comments to it, "I suppose this poem gives the epilogue more depth than a person reading it "unaided" would". Anything giving more depth, let alone with the use of a good, not shallow poem, is good for me. :)
Glad you liked the pictures.

[sunnyskywalker]

I'd seen the fantastic Anti-Feminist Bingo, but the other ones are new to me! Thanks for the links :D There's also a Comics Anti-Feminist Bingo (the entry at the top explains each square; the actual bingo card is toward the bottom) which is pretty good even if you only know a little bit about comics like me.

Those suffragist caricatures are fascinating. The men might have to hold the babies sometimes, oh noes! Oppression! Those made me laugh. (The one with the battered woman saying she was better off than the single woman is just horrifying, though, mostly since unfortunately that attitude isn't dead.)

I like the idea of that essay, and the poem is pretty neat read in conjunction with the last sentence of the epilogue - but it also goes so much against the tone of the epilogue that I can't quite see it as a genuine connection. Which makes me sad, because JKR could have had a few more hints in that direction - she could have mentioned that George was getting on with his life, for instance, or that Hermione's parents are finally feeling comfortable around wizards again - and she didn't.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. Anti-Comics-Feminist Bingo Card is wonderful and I liked that each point was carefully explained. My favorites were "But she’s from an alien culture with no nudity taboo!" and "This is just fanboy entitlement… from women!". :) As a note, I have never read comics, but got the points due to reading a couple of discussions on blogs.

Did you understand the joke in the one, titled "The fifth of November"? I didn't.

I agree about the poem's going against the tone of the epilogue. Liked the idea of giving more hints in that direction, it would have made the epilogue much deeper and genuinely moving for me.

[sunnyskywalker]

I think that's a reference to Guy Fawkes Day, a British thing. He was part of a conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5, 16-something (but got caught). Now they celebrate him getting caught every year by having bonfires and burning him in effigy. This is all stuff I learned through fandom (great place :D ), so it might be a little garbled.