Rowling with the Punches

With all the fuss over J.K. Rowling’s recent revisions to her classic—and not to mention fabulous—Harry Potter series, people are forgetting about the magic within the memory. Need I remind you that in 1990, five years before most of us high school-ers were born; an author we all know and love, by the last name of Rowling, sat on a train. She sat and dreamt up the idea of a bespectacled boy who would soon find out he was a wizard. An idea that would soon change the way the world read; an idea that would change the hearts of a generation.

Flash forward 23 years to the headlines of major news publications criticizing Ms. Rowling’s idea of an edit to the story. J.K. announced to the public that she wrote the books incorrectly with leaving Ron and Hermione as the married couple when in retrospect, she thought that Harry and Hermione would be better a suited pair.

After the news broke, the uproar from the fans and journalists was something of a dementor’s wrath. People were so frustrated with the change that was publicized, they began thinking to themselves that these precious stories would never be the same. The fans/journalist were forgetting that Ms. Rowling is an author, and it is her story to tell and change, not ours.

Though the news came as a knife to the stomach– and trust me, I was as upset as the rest– I began to think about how Ms. Rowling must feel about this adjustment and really, her whole book.

To me it feels that J.K. (in all human innocence) just wanted to make a statement to get people to remember her story; she wanted people to remember Harry, and Hogwarts, and Ron, and Ron & Hermione. She wanted us to feel saddened by the news, sad enough to want to read the books again. She is clinging to the book and cannot let it go; she especially does not want the readers to let it go.

Though I hate her opinion on Harry & Hermione, I stand by her in her plea to never forget.

Don’t let the spirit of bravery die along with Dumbledore and don’t let Bellatrix get the best of you. Magic lives on, despite major plot twists being thrown at us.

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Hanna Anderson

Hanna Anderson is journalist first, and a human second. Her life is built around reporting the news to her peers and making commentary. Hanna hopes to one day work for a major publication as a Middle Eastern correspondent, but until then, she plans on writing for her high school and college newspaper.