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An Altered Author?
by Farah Weheba
July 22, 2004
When I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I could not put it down! I hardly had any time left for eating or breathing; I had my mind set on finishing that book. I thought that if I just finished one more chapter...I would be done for the day, and I could go eat dinner. Most Potter fans repeated this cycle, and as they finished the last few gripping pages of GOF, they were longing to know more. Everyone would check every Potter site they knew about to get some kind of clue as to when the next installment would be released. When at last Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out in June 2003, fans rejoiced and went into hiding to avoid any distractions, even the sound of mothers calling, "Honey! Time for dinner!" Any distractions or interruptions were simply unacceptable. As readers were engrossed in the book, many started to realize it was very different from GoF.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had so many twists and shocking conclusions. The Triwizard Tournament inspired many imaginative possibilities and served as a source of anticipation to readers. When Harry and Cedric had reached the Triwizard Cup within seconds of each other, each character displayed a great amount of generosity. Harry instructed Cedric to go ahead and take the cup. Cedric refused, and told Harry that he should have it. Harry finally suggested that both of them should take the cup; that way, Hogwarts would have two victorious champions. Rowling demonstrated abundant sportsmanship in that scene. This invited a sense of friendship between Harry and Cedric, instead of hostile competitiveness. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, however, there were not as many times where traits like sportsmanship were shown. Harry was in grave danger at the Ministry of Magic, and had to face countless Death Eaters to defend a valuable prophecy. Harry also had to deal with the loss of the closest person he had to real family: Sirius Black. When Harry had experienced pain in his scar in GOF, after witnessing a terrifying murder at the Riddle house, Harry thought to inform Sirius, because Harry knew he could probably give him some useful advice or explanation. When Rowling wrote that Sirius had gone through the veil and met his death, readers were shocked and deeply saddened, but also confused and unsatisfied. Where does this veil lead? What is the significance of the veil? Readers began to think, "No, this isn't right. How could Rowling kill Sirius? It just can't be! She can't do that! She wouldn't do that to Harry, would she? This doesn't even sound like something Rowling would write."
Dolores Umbridge had replaced Harry's main source of protection as headmistress of Hogwarts. She was very much in denial about Voldemort's return to power. When Harry would not retract his story about Voldemort's rebirth, Umbridge gave Harry many detentions, where she made him write "sentences." Harry, however, had to use her enchanted quill, which used his own blood as its source of ink. The words "I must not tell lies" finally settled into Harry's hand. Readers had never seen such a display of betrayal by a teacher at Hogwarts. Surely if anyone had made Harry do this in his fourth year, he would've told Dumbledore. With Dumbledore busy with other matters and the relationship between him and Harry grown significantly distant, Harry decided he couldn't tell Dumbledore.
In GoF, one of the teachers at Hogwarts who had spent so much time bonding with Harry and quickly became a favorite staff member by most students turned out to be an imposter...who would've guessed? It was a brilliant move by Rowling to demonstrate how even the most interesting and informative teachers at Hogwarts could not always be trusted. With the help of Dumbledore, Harry realized that the Moody he had come to know was actually Barty Crouch Jr., who was a loyal servant of Voldemort. In OotP, Umbridge was a major obstacle in Harry's safety. With Dumbledore's absence from Hogwarts, and Umbridge in charge, Harry didn't have many people to turn to.
The covers of the two books were quite different in terms of color choices, clues, and characters. On the cover of GoF, many new characters could be seen, such as the Triwizard champions: Cedric, Fleur, and Victor. Sirius was shown in his dog form, part of the Hungarian Horntail could be seen, and Harry was holding the golden egg. On the back of the book, the Beauxbatons carriage is drawn, along with part of the maze, and Voldemort's glaring red eyes. This cover was colorful and informative. The cover to OotP involved only shades of blue, and only introduced the doors in the Ministry of Magic and some candles. The back of the book showed illustrations of Tonks, Lupin, and Moody. I see a major quality difference between not only the covers, but also between the writing styles. In GoF, Rowling seemed to have taken her time and produced a masterpiece. In OotP, Rowling's writing seemed rushed to meet a deadline, and did not deliver the same level of quality as GoF. This makes me and many others wonder, "Is Rowling all Pottered out?" or is she just adjusting her writing to suit Harry's teen rage? Will Harry revert to the optimistic, humble wizard he once was?
Back to Rowling Stone
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