| Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Terrific, magical fun - as you would expect - but with a definite darker edge that's most welcome
Submitted by: Ariel
On: 10.09.2003
Okay folks, here's the deal. I'm assuming that most of you, or at least, those that want to, will have read the fifth installment in the world's best-known fiction series by now. If you're waiting for the paperback, and have somehow managed to avoid all the juicy details so far, then I suggest you click away now, because I'm not intending to keep any secrets; the rest of this review is going to be one big spoiler. You have been warned.
So, the basic plot intro: Harry is returning to Hogwart's school for his fifth year, having narrowly survived another close encounter with uber evil archimage (sic) Lord Voldemort. But in the meantime, he's been condemned to another summer of drudgery and despair at the home of his muggle relatives, the Dursleys. None of his friends have been in touch, nor has he heard from any of the rest of the magical community, and quite frankly, Harry is more than just a little pissed off about the whole situation.
That's the first indication of the major change that J.K. Rowling has wrought in her world famous character in this installment. Harry has grown up a little and hit the hormonal barrier of puberty, and is rapidly becoming a very angry young man indeed. Moody, some would say. Positively teen-aged, even. As he desperately scans the muggle press and news programmes for word of you know who's return, he chafes at what he sees as his enforced incarceration with the Dursleys, and grows bitter that no-one sees fit to keep him informed as to the developments elsewhere.
An attack by renegade Dementors, in which he is forced to use magic to save his and his fat cousin Dudley's life only to then be brought up on charges by the Ministry of Magic for breaching non-exposure regulations, is the last straw. Harry is on the verge of running away from home to find his god-father Sirius (still a wanted fugitive himself), whom he feels is the only person he can really trust, when he receives a message: stay put, the Order of the Phoenix (as it transpires a secret society of wizards under Dumbledore's leadership dedicated to opposing Voldemort and therefore protecting Harry with their lives if need be) is on the way.
It would take me another couple of thousand words to fully summarise the rest of the plot, so I'll try to pick out just the key elements that have the most effect on Harry's character; because I think that's what this installment in the series is really about, the change and development of Harry Potter himself; from schoolboy to young adult.
In short, then: Harry discovers that his friends have been forbidden to speak to him because he's been set up as a figure of ridicule and hubris by the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet. This on the orders of the Ministry itself, who are desperate to quosh the rumours that Voldemort is back; and if that means discrediting Harry and Dumbledore too, then so be it.
To that end, they send their avatar Dolores Umbridge, the very personification of bureaucratic jobsworthiness, to infiltrate and eventually take charge at Hogwart's, with her arsenal of inspections, assessments and executive powers. Umbridge, who begins by reducing the Defenace Against the Dark Arts class to little more than a text-book reading circle, is a new kind of nemesis for Harry, although just as dangerous as Voldemort himself. Rather than trying to kill him outright, she seems hell-bent on driving him to suicide or insanity with a series of excessively cruel humiliations and punishments, including, of all things, a life-ban on playing Quidditch. It ought to be more than any young man can take.
Needless to say, Harry Potter remains heroicly undaunted, and defiantly sets up a secret Defence Against the Dark Arts class for his friends, which quickly swells to around 30 members. There are other sub-plots as well, involving Hagrid and his long-lost half-brother (who's twice the man that even Hagrid is), a bout of teenage gawkiness with love-interest Cho, a show-down with the centaurs of the forbidden forest, and Ron's selection as the new Keeper for the Griffindor Quidditch team. Through all this, plus his first major exams and more Umbridge-induced detention than he thinks he can survive, Harry continues to look into a resurgent Voldemort's activities, and those of the Death Eaters, who Harry is sure have managed to pll the wool over the Minister for Magic's eyes. His investigations eventually leads him to a show-down in the basement of the Ministry itself, where Harry learns of the prophecy that led Voldemort to murder his parents, and he, Hermione, Neville and co. take on a whole cadre of Voldemort's evil crew, until the cavalry arrives in the form of Sirius and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix. The Death Eaters are defeated and the Order is triumphant, but at a terrible cost.
After the fight, Dumbledore finally explains all to Harry; about the sacrifice his mother made for him and the reason for his link with You-Know-Who, about why it has sometimes seemed that Harry can sense Voldemort's thoughts, and about why he, Dumbledore, made an error of judgement in keeping Harry in the dark for so long. It ends with Harry a much sadder and wiser lad, having learned the most uncomfortable and important truth of all - that either he or Voldemort will have to kill the other before the situation can be finally decided - and having experienced pain, loss and great sorrow along the way.
And that, as I suggested earlier, is the entire point of this fifth Harry Potter adventure, and what sets it apart from the rest of the series to-date.
Until now, Harry's adventures have been just that; pre-adolescent schoolboy romps in which even the life-or-death showdowns were more of the nature of a playground game, as directly symbolised by the giant wizard's chess match in the first volume, and more recently formalised by the school-sports-day-with-attitude of the tri-wizard championships in the fourth. But this book demonstrates an important stage of evolution of the overall narrative, and in J.K. Rowling's attitude and approach to the main story arc, as Harry takes the first important steps into genuine adulthood, and is forced to come to terms with the fact that actually life can be pretty damn serious and his actions could potentially have ramifications far beyond the loss of a few house points for Griffindor.
This is most noticeably demonstrated by The Death. Much-hyped in advance of publication, the identity of the 'major character' who was due to die in this tale was a closely-guarded secret, and none of the speculation beforehand that I read managed to hit the mark. The fact that it was Sirius who quite literally 'passed through the veil' having raced to Harry's rescue was initially something of a disappointment for me, catharsis-wise. I mean, when they said 'major character' I was expecting someone a bit more 'major' than a supporting player who'd only been around for three books and didn't actually play much of a role in the latest.
The death of Sirius, though, has far more important implications for Harry's character or, if you want to get tehnical about it, his psychology. An orphan all his life, he is suddenly robbed of his recently-discovered surrogate father-figure, and with the only ready alternative - Dumbledore - having freely admitted his fallibility, who now will the world's most powerful magical loose-cannon turn to for guidance? I've not read much Freud, but I'm sure there must be something in the Austrian Doctor's notes to suggest that this could and should prove to be a major trauma for a developing persona. And I'm pretty sure that Jung would have something to say about the archetypal resonances inherent in Harry's new situation.
Will he try to go it alone, eschewing the advice of his elder and wiser guardians? Maybe even seek to avenge his god-father's death (possible shades of a Hamlet-scenario?). Or, knowing that a showdown between himself and Voldemort is pretty much inevitable, will he try to force the issue before he's fully prepared (think Luke Skywalker in Empire and his brush by the Dark Side...) and end up as his own worst enemy?
Whatever the immediate impact on Harry's psyche, it's quite clear that after the events of book five, his relatively carefree school days are well behind him now. Although he still has two years left at Hogwart's, he's having to face up to sone very adult responsibilities, and he has his own unique burden to carry. He's an adult now, albeit still a very young and inexperienced adult, and how he responds to the challenges that face him will no doubt be explored to the full in the last two volumes in the series.
So, at the end of the day, what's the verdict on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Well, it's quite possibly the most over-hyped book in the history of publishing and undeniably one of the fastest-selling books in history, which has to say something. Not, to judge by the indignant and somewhat green-tinted reactions of a few vitrioloc high-brow commentators, one of the the best books in history, at least in terms of literary merit. But then, I don't think that this, or any of the Harry Potter books have been written for literary reasons. It's not art, dammit, it's story-telling, and the story that Rowling wants to tell is clearly powerful and important enough to millions of people to keep them utterly enthralled. Yes, other authors have written about similar characters in similar situations before now, but clearly they haven't written their books with the same sheer power that J.K. Rowling has, otherwise they'd be the ones with the multi-million dollar film deals, and she'd still be writing her stories in that coffee shop because she couldn't afford to pay the heating bill on her flat.
So, I think that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a damn fine story, well told. Possibly a little long in places; the fact that Harry doesn't get back to Hogwart's until around the middle of the book is another sign of Rowling's departure from her previous model, but also of the significance that she clearly attaches to the events that lead up to his fifth year. And I do think that Rowling should be applauded for taking the story in a new direction. I'm sure she could have taken the easier path and written yet another rip-roaring yarn in which a magically-jellified arm or a bludger-bash to the noggin was the worst that could happen to her hero as he bravely fought off the bullies before heading back to the dorm for a chocolate frog before bed. Millions would still have bought the book, and most of them would have loved it.
But instead, Rowling has chosen to build on the slightly darker tone introduced at the end of volume four, to give the series its new feel and direction. It's a brave development on the part of the author; one that demonstrates that she's not content to rest on her laurels and churn out more of the same to please the crowd, or the critics, or the media.
And life-or-death struggles really will mean just that from here on in; following the death of Sirius. Every threat has to be taken seriously now, particularly since J.K. Rowling - who has shown her aptitude for using massive media attention to her advantage by announcing The Death pre-publication and then including several bluffs in the course of the novel to keep her readers guessing - has publicly said that she doesn't know whether she'll write any 'adult' Harry Potter stories because he might not survive the end of this series...
I think that overall, HP#5 is the strongest of the series to date, and will be looked back on as the turning point that defines the series, the book that elevated the whole from boy's own school tale to coming-of-age character study. J.K. Rowling has things she wants to say in her fiction, observations on life and a character who is clearly more to her than the sum of the dollar signs at the bottom of her bank balance. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a coming-of-age novel for more than just the main character.
Publisher: Bloomsbury (UK)
Date: June 2003
Price: £16.99
Format: Hb
ISBN: 0747551006
More Info: Amazon.co.uk | |
