Bye Bye Dad (Revised)

In a few days my dad is moving to Connecticut to take care of my grandmother. He's going to stay there for a while and he will visit, but I just feel like it wont be the same. And this makes me think about Harry in the Harry Potter series. His parents are dead and he never got to experience being a kid with a caring family family (not the Dursley's). He doesn't know how it feels to be loved by parents so what could he be missing? The answer is nothing. He doesn't know what it's like to have a family. The theme I'm getting at is kind of like "is it better to have loved and lost or never loved at all". So I wonder how he would feel if he knew his parents, and then they died.

If you think about it, orphans who never knew their parents (and are not adopted) never experience having a real family (unless they're adopted of course). So like I said, what's to miss? But it's not about that. Since I don't have the experience I can't really speak for them realistically but I would think that they aren't hurt by the missing, they are hurt by the desire. The desire to have that perfect family and being loved. Since they don't have it and sometimes will never have it, the desire hurts the most. 

Obviously I'm going to deeply miss my dad when he goes away, but I always think, at least I have the memory. I know my dads coming back and stuff but you know what I mean. But I think sometimes the memories can hurt. Thinking about the good times will lead to you missing them even more. I know I'm going to remember watching all the old movies with him and yelling at the TV when we watch Top Chef. But on the other hand you at least have something to look back on and that's good enough for some people. I just know that I'm lucky, and I'm glad to have a dad.

Countless times throughout the book Harry is reminded of his deceased parents. Whether it's through pictures or seeing them in a special mirror in the earlier books, he can't seem to get away from it. Anyway, my colleague Peter Diller argues at my point. He believes that he doesn't desire a family, he misses his dead family. I disagree with that statement. He was too young to remember anything to do with his parents. If he had, he would have known he was a wizard before a half giant came knocking on their door to tell him.

But going back to theme, I think it is impossible to make the decision, especially because I haven't gone through it, and just in general there's always an opinion. But if I was to make a decision I probably would go with what Harry went through. He made a family. The Weasleys and his friends were his family and in real life it's possible to get adopted. I guess my only question now is how would it change your life if that person was alive, or you originally did have a family? What if Harry had a family? Would he be different? Would he have the tremendous courage he has now?

Curious Incident Response

An issue that comes up in this book is fairness. Throughout the book Christopher's dad keeps holding secrets against him but I don't believe that it's fair.

In the book Christopher's dad told him that his mother died of a heart attack, but he finds out that he was lying to him. Now, strait out I would completely say that messed up and it's completely unfair. He deserves to know if his own mother is dead or not. I mean the only reason his dad kept it from him is because of his personal reasons, but why should Christopher have to suffer for his dad's problems?


In the real world, fairness can go from who gets to play Mario cart first, to secrets of death. In some ways I think if something really horrible has happened, the truth is not always the best thing to say. So maybe it is fair. Maybe the person is trying to protect them. But I still think to keep something from someone for PERSONAL reasons is completely unfair. It's your issues, so why should your sorrow keep something important from someone.




In the book Christopher's mother doesn't even know that Christopher thinks she's dead. So I think it's unfair to her too. After writing all those letters to Christopher with no response can really hurt. But still their relationship is at stake because his dad doesn't love her anymore. Why did he do it? Not really to protect him cause he has nothing to protect him from. Maybe to protect himself. To protect himself from loneliness. He knew that if Christopher knew his mother was alive he would go find her. But still, no matter what reason, he shouldn't have kept that secret. It just isn't fair. Death is nothing to lie about. When you say someone died, your saying that they aren't on the face of the earth anymore. That's pretty deep. So if his mother was alive, he should know it.


For now my conclusion is that sometimes it's fair to keep secrets, but not for your own personal reasons. Sometimes the truth can be hurtful, but it's better than ignorance. Christopher might have wanted to see his mother. His dad never thought about that, which I think was pretty selfish. He tried to do it for a good cause but it just wasn't fair. 

John Steinback Appreciation

John Steinback is one of my favorite writers. Of course he is the author of one of my favorite books, Of Mice and Men. One of the things I really loved about his writing, is he made such a short book (good for me) but made it so dense with interesting writing, it was almost like I read two Harry Potter books combined. He sucks you into the book by not explaining everything. And I think he does in a way to make you feel like you don't even care about that either. Some books, you really want to figure everything out and the author intentionally lets you discover themes by yourself. John Steinback isn't like the with this book. He gives you a story about two dudes who go to work on a farm. That's it. Sure, they give them a small back story but it's all kind of laid back.

Another thing I liked about his writing in the book is he really knows how to get you how he wants you to feel. If it's supposed to be sad, trust me, IT'S REALLY SAD. (Spoiler Alert) I thought it was interesting how he took such a strong guy and made him relate to this small puppy. Of course the puppy dies, which got me almost devastated and soon he dies too. Steinback fits all these great emotions into a 90 page book which I think is borderline impossible.

So, I want to appreciate John Steinback for Of Mice of Men and his other great books. He's one of the writers that gave me a reason to read in middle school. So all I can say now is a great big THANKS!

Harry Potter #7 Response: ya gotta do what ya gotta do

Now that I've gotten into the book a little farther, I see a new theme that I would like to talk about. And that theme is sacrifice. Not sacrifice like killing someone. But sacrificing yourself for someone or something. Or sacrificing something for someone or something. Not the creepy sacrifice. Yeah...
(Possible spoiler)

So in the book Harry is basically sacrificing his life for the world, along with Ron and Hermione. They must go find the horcruxes and destroy Voldemort. Now, try to think of it this way. Pretend you are Harry, and you're the one the whole world is relying on. Doesn't sound too great, does it? That was rhetorical. The answer was no. Now, obviously the world is worth one or three lives, maybe even a hundred. But you got to put yourself in their position. It's not to nice to think about.

Now if I were Harry, I would probably try to find every possible way out of it. Honestly, I would say, Screw Dumbledore, I need help! I would ask everyone to help for the horcruxes, not only me. And finally if it all came down to me again. I think I would do it, but I don't know if I would be able to do it. Not because it's impossible to make magic but mentally I would probably freak out. I don't see the realistic circumstances in this book. On the other hand, like I said before, magic is impossible. I just can't see myself doing something like that in the real world. Maybe that's just me, and there are a lot of people in this world. There's got to be many brave people. If you want risk your life for the whole world, that's fine with me. Just keep me out of it.

And in sacrifice in general, it's different. There are not everyday situations like that. But sometimes you might have to sacrifice for the better good. So overall, I think the majority always wins with sacrifices.

Starting the Final Harry Potter (Possible Spoiler Alert!)

So finally I have started the final book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I'm only 50 pages into it and I already see something I want to blog about. My question is what would you say to someone that you know you might never see again? Of course I'm talking about the Dursley's in Harry's case (Which I doubt he would ever want to see again anyway).

In the book, there is actually a moment between Dudley and Harry. Dudley actually appreciated Harry for the first time in the 7 books. He gave quite a memorable goodbye (in Dudley's standards) but his parents (Harry's aunt and uncle) did not. They sort of just left. Harry didn't seem to mind but it kind of angered me. I would have wanted more. I would have wanted recognition, even if they were terrible guardians. I'm pretty sure most people would have wanted more too.

In real life, I've never really experience a time where I might never see someone again. I know my dad and his brothers have with my grandfather, but not me. Obviously many people have in this world have, and I'd be lucky if someone with that experience would respond. But anyway, I think what I'm getting at is the idea of closure. Even a plain screw you when the Dursley's left would have left me satisfied. But I guess that's just a way of making it a better book. Making the reader think about what they could have said, or why they didn't.

I'm guessing the reason Harry's aunt and uncle didn't say anything is, because they were afraid. They were afraid of saying a goodbye to someone they have tormented for 16 years. They didn't want to say that this was it and sorry for the horrible way we've treated you these past years. But I think they should have. I know it's hard to end something sometimes but I think it's the right thing to do. Whether it's mean or nice, bad or good. Sometimes it just good to end it.