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| Yes | 58% | 570 votes | Total: 975 votes | |
| No | 42% | 405 votes |
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Add to FavoritesPerhaps more to the point; is 'becoming more romantically involved' something that is in the characters' nature? And at what point does romantic involvement HAVE to mean sex?
To say "JK Rowling should not ALLOW the characters to X" when X can be replaced by doing anything that is in character and is involved with the characters growing up, as growing up is something that is surely important in the series as a whole, is to prescribe a false limitation to a story. (I certainly have appreciated the books' way of almost mirroring my own growing up and I feel that is part of the appeal, to force a false limitation on characters that are growing up would be unhelpful.) If it is not 'in character' then by all means it should not be forced into the plot, but Harry's attraction to a certain character is perfectly in character, and the way their relationship does develop is in no way detrimental to the book, or its suitability for children.
JK Rowling has the right of an author, as the mother of these books, to choose how the characters develop, and if the characters themselves are growing up, surely it is not only allowable to let them experience and portray healthy emotional relationships, it is a positively good thing! Let there be more healthy role-models for children struggling with growing up in a world full of unhealthy media images of romantic relationships!
At the same time, JK Rowling, having written this series for children initially does have a responsibility to her younger readers, but portraying romantic involvement is evidently different to portraying sexual involvement. Love is not Sex, and explicit sexual activity is not deemed appropriate for children in our society, and it does not fit with the story. But at no point did it feel like it should be somewhere it wasn't within the books and so the story and characters were kept true to themselves.
I wonder at anyone who insists that romantic involvement must involve sex, and wonder if there were more healthy, non-sex-centric portrayals of romantic relationships, if perhaps we, as a society, could learn to accept romanticism and love as a natural part of life that any child should understand. A knee-jerk reaction that keeps healthy portrayals of real-life situations away from younger readers, despite the fact that they may well be dealing with these feelings themselves, only serves to keep confusion alive.
To allow the characters to grow up and to act in a way that is suitable to the characters can only serve to educate children in areas where they need guidance. If there were more healthy representations of romantic relationships in the media, perhaps less children would feel the need to have sex to feel loved.
So, in summary, ALLOWING the characters of a story to grow up in character is a good thing to do, portraying this in a sensitive way is important, and romantic involvement isn't all about sex, it'd be good for this to be portrayed more in the media.
Learn more about this author, Hayley Addis.
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No
The Harry Potter series is a tale of good triumphing over evil at moments where all hope seems to be lost. A little boy, almost unremarkable in everyway except for the scar on his forehead, is chosen to be the one that will defeat the Dark Lord. The story tells not only of his adventures, losses and gains but it also highlights the universal themes of friendship, goodness and of course, magic. It is a tale that has sold millions and millions of copies worldwide, making JK Rowling one of the most prolific authors of all times. Readers from across the globe have fallen in love with her characters as they bloomed and in turn, fell in love with each other. While some fans have loved these new developments, critics are disappointed that Rowling has made such a move. So should the characters in the book become more romantically involved? I don't think so.
Relationships in epic tales are almost inevitable. Paging back into the history of literature and you can assure yourself that romance is everywhere. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are just a few of the classics that come to mind. There is even an entire section devoted to romance itself: Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice and the list goes on. But in the magical world of Hogwarts, romantic entanglements simply do not add anything extra to the storyline. In fact, it simply creates more confusion to the main plotline, dampening the magic somewhat. JK Rowling's creation is unique and successful in the sense that it does not just appeal to the female teenage population or the romance addicts. Instead, it is able to be enjoyed by all regardless of age or gender, something that not many novels can accomplish. Adding romance to the mix will only ruin what is already a perfect masterpiece.
Perhaps if JK Rowling had done a bit of built-up to the romance in the first couple of books, the romantic pairings may have been easier to accept by the readers. Although some avid readers are die-hard fans of certain pairings such as Heron (read: Hermione and Ron), such pairings were not very obvious to the average reader. In fact, when the couples finally emerged at the end of the sixth book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," many readers may have been amazed at how JK Rowling came up with some of the romantic couples. Harry and Ginny the old best friend's little sister story? Ron and Hermione friends turned lovers? And when was the reader even aware of Remus and Tonks?
While some readers may say that romance adds that sparkle to the top of the magical pudding, I believe that Harry Potter would still be as magical and just as successful as it is now without all the romantic entanglements. After all, this is not a romance novel about a girl and a guy and how they fell in love. Harry Potter encompasses a wide range of topics and themes, which is why it can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. And in the end, that's how the books are going to be remembered as a tale good versus evil. Romance is just not in the picture.
Learn more about this author, Y Tian.
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