Finally came over to read this and I'm glad I did! Those rules are interesting, not because everybody should follow them, obviously, but they do lay out a good extreme to compare things against. As you said in a comment above, in GoF the mystery is so besides the point and that's absolutely true--you really can't solve it on your own. I don't think that's what Rowling is about anyway. Her "mysteries" aren't about figuring out who dunnit at all. It's more that you read the book one way, then something is revealed which casts everything before it in a different light.
But that probably plays into the comment you quoted, because people a) get used to thinking there's a "solution" to a character and a character's actions, so they get attached to certain readings, always claiming that no one is what they appear and b) get used to certain readings being rejected in the text--no, this character was not a good guy, but a bad guy; he was not helping Harry but setting him up, etc.
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Date: 2006-02-24 02:33 am (UTC)But that probably plays into the comment you quoted, because people a) get used to thinking there's a "solution" to a character and a character's actions, so they get attached to certain readings, always claiming that no one is what they appear and b) get used to certain readings being rejected in the text--no, this character was not a good guy, but a bad guy; he was not helping Harry but setting him up, etc.