JK Rowling and The Audacity of T.E.R.F’s- Reflection

I had a lot of regrets about this paper, although I enjoyed writing it. There was so much more that I wanted to add to develop her story even more, but I did not. Weeks after finishing the paper, I realized what I should have ended with, “Much Like her characters Dumbledore and Snape, Rowling remains morally ambiguous.” It would tie the entire paper together. I also should have added a conversation from the fifth book, where Harry and his God Father Sirius have a conversation about good and bad people. Sirius kindly explained to Harry that not everyone is a Death eater (bad guys) or apart of The Order of the Phoenix (good guys). In other words, Sirius was explaining no wizard is a good or bad wizard. Wizards are more complicated than that.
After doing all my research on JK Rowling, I had realized she is neither good nor bad, but complex because she is human. I understand that her transphobic comments and “performative” activism hurt people, but she is a very generous person, and she doesn’t think twice about giving away her wealth. She doesn’t donate millions of dollars because she is forced to but because she understands the struggles of being a single mother, of losing someone to a deadly disease, or the impact of the pandemic by donating the royalties of her latest book to charities hit hard by Covid-19. Does donating, her wealth, or being sympathetic let her off the hook? No, but it just further emphasizes she is neither good nor bad.

To write this paper, I had to write an outline. Without an outline, I would have been lost. The sections guided me because, at each point, I knew what I was talking about. When I saw myself losing track, I simply just referred to my outline. The research was easy because Rowling is a very known author, it was easy to find information about her and her character. I had tried to use as many sources as possible. It was essential that I did, to get multiple perspectives.
When writing this paper, I wanted to remain fair. I did not want to scorn her, but I also did not sugar coat her and make her be the most innocent person in the world. It was tough, but I believed I did a good job. For every controversy, I made sure to be very subjective and give both sides of the story, her perspective, and the fandoms. A lot of the controversy happened because of the different perspectives. A lot of fans were upset at the idea of black Hermione because they see Emma Watson, a white woman, as Hermione. And when Rowling said that she was never specific, there was the backlash. I noticed a lot of fans tried to make Rowling the muggle version of Rita Skeeter, but from reading her interviews, I saw that she was very open and accepting of the fans, interpretation of the books. Rowling knows that her story might change, and she’s a part of it. What her fans want though is for her to step down, to leave Harry Potter alone, to let him go. No more quips about the characters, dates, or places because although Rowling wrote an amazing series, her series has grown to have a life of its own. I log onto my Tumblr account and I see new art being made every day of my favorite characters, or new fan-fictions or debates and arguments being had about certain characters or events. Or even other social media where September 1st is celebrated as back to Hogwarts day. My personal favorite is where the world wishes Harry Potter, happy birthday every July 31st.

I like to think about the Sherlock Holmes series, the modern version of Sherlock Holmes is almost nothing like the character Sir Author Conan Doyle wrote 100 years ago. Sherlock was often wrong and a cocaine addict. But most modern writers always write Sherlock as slightly sociopathic and a Mr. Right. Hermione may have been imagined, as a white girl, but the next remake or re-writing of the series might feature a black Hermione, a mixed (Indian-White) Harry, a canon Wolf-star couple (Sirius and Remus), a cannon Drarry (Draco and Harry), or maybe a story where no one dies? Where Harry got to live a happy life with the people who love him. I found myself conflicting on how to put these differences into words towards the end.
I enjoyed writing this paper. I enjoyed talking about my favorite characters and analyzing a beloved book. Finishing my final draft was not, as I already said everything I needed to say. I am glad to know my professors enjoyed reading my paper. I am often shy with my writing and, it’s nice to know had been appreciated. There were minor complications like my grammar, but I had tried to clean up as much of it as I could; Resulting in a well-written paper.