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Magazine
Harry reinvented
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The nerdy but nice hero of Rowling's earlier books is unrecognisable in The Order of the Phoenix, but it is her best novel yet, writes MUKUND PADMANABHAN.
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FIRST things first. This is the best Harry Potter yet and by a very long way. The Order of the Phoenix is easily the most complex and satisfying of the five HPs and the reason for this becomes apparent within a few pages of this delightfully plump book.
What sets HP5 apart is that it is driven almost entirely by the plot. For the first time, J.K. Rowling's novel proceeds in a manner that assumes that the reader is more or less familiar with her magical world of wizards and witchcraft. Having sold more than 200 million books already, Rowling may have assumed (and correctly) that most of her readers have already read one of more of the earlier novels. The impact of this assumption on her narrative is discernable. It frees her of lengthy scene-setting passages, dispenses with long drawn out explanations about what transpired earlier and permits her yarn to be spun with an ease and swiftness that is somewhat lacking in her previous novels.
In The Order of the Phoenix, the familiar rituals that make up Rowling's school of wizardry (such as the journey by the Hogwarts Express, the initiation by the Sorting Hat, the games of Quidditch) are dealt with summarily, as footnotes to the larger plot: the conspiracy to find a lost prophecy that Lord Voldermort believes will help him to kill Harry Potter. Rowling doesn't waste much time with new monsters (the winged Thestrals being about the only really new addition) or new magical gadgets (there are no striking inventions here or at least nothing that matches the ingenuity of a remembrall, a sneakoscope or a quick-quotes quill). There is plenty of magic of course but unlike the earlier novels, Rowling doesn't use it so much to evoke awe and wonder but works it seamlessly into her narrative in a direct, unfussy and workaday manner.
In a way of course, the real change in The Order of the Phoenix is Harry. Having turned 15 and now in his fifth year at Hogwarts, he bears hardly any resemblance to the nerdy but totally nice character he was until a year ago. He bullies his insufferable cousin Dudley, he snaps at his owl Hedwig, he fares terribly in his magic potions class, he gets jealous and angry with his friends and even (though admittedly under severe stress) bawls his head off at Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts kindly and powerful Principal. It is obvious that Rowling is trying to paint some shades of grey in what was otherwise a more or less black and white picture. Her purpose may have been realised but anyone who reads the five novels in succession will probably feel that Harry's transformation is much too sudden and unexplained. In this coming-of-age novel, Harry's hidden affection for Cho Chang in The Goblet of Fire develops into the flicker of a relationship that dies by the end of the novel. Hermione lectures a confused Harry about how girls really feel and with the young wizards growing further, HP6 is set to contain longer sections on adolescent love.
Back in Hogwarts after a lonely summer vacation with the Dursleys, Harry is plunged into an environment in which Dumbledore is pitted against the Ministry of Magic. In the face of Dumbledore's slipping authority, hastened by the entry of a ministerial representative into the Hogwarts faculty, Harry Potter secretly teaches his fellow students how to defend themselves against practitioners of the dark arts. Fearing that the Ministry is in league with Voldermort, Harry and his friends stumble into a situation that directly leads them into a confrontation with Lord Voldermort and his Death-Eaters or his lieutenants. The battle results in the death of someone Harry loves but ends inconclusively with Voldermort getting away and with Harry discovering the secret prophecy that binds his life with that of his arch-enemy in a strange and extraordinary way.
The war is over, Dumbledore regains his authority, the Ministry of Magic is chastened and normalcy returns to Hogwarts. But as the school closes for the summer holidays once again, it is quite clear that the second war is already beginning. Read all about that in HP6.
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