I Turn to Fanfiction in a State of Depression

Harry Potter has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old. I waited for the books to come out, cried for all the characters, re-read each book more times then I can count, memorized full scenes of the movies, and crushed on Harry for all of my elementary school years. It's all ending. When the seventh book came out, I could handle the fact that I would never count down the days until the book came out, never have that feeling of reading a book like that for the first time. I still had the movies. Now, what will I do. I feel like going into a state of depression, and the movie hasn't even come out yet. I burst into tears after the trailer.

In this troubling time, I turn to fan fiction*. Some of them are not worth my time, being badly written. Also, I cant stand reading fan fictions about Harry, Ron, or Hermione. It's okay when they are in them, but when they're the main characters, the writers have them do and say things that J.K. Rowling would never write. I prefer reading about Draco or Ginny. Draco's character is easy to duplicate, and I don't really treasure Ginny as a character, so I don't care if the writers portray her in a way that Rowling would never do.

Recently, I was reading a particular D/G fan fiction that was incredible. It really brought back the rush of reading Harry Potter again. In this fan fiction, Draco leaves Voldemort, and is moved to the burrow for protection. As Ginny finds out, Draco had been beaten by his father, forced to hate muggle borns, and used by Voldemort in his plan to kill Dumbledore and shame Lucius. In telling her this, she confesses that she really cant stand her family. She loves her brothers, but they are super overprotective, and they never let her do anything. It's true. Ron flips out when she starts dating guys, when if given the chance when he was that age, he wouldn't have thought twice about it.

In the fan fiction, Ginny starts doing things just to make her family mad, and ends up really hurting Draco in the process.

If she had been given a little more freedom, she wouldn't've felt the need to do a whole bunch of horrible things. There has to be a happy medium, where Ginny can do things that she enjoys, but her brothers don't feel like their little sister is turning into a bad person.

The thing is, she wasn't even complaining about her parents, she didn't have problems with them, and they didn't have problems with her. To think that her brothers come down so hard on her when her parents don't mind is even more frustrating. She never gets her way on anything, and it isn't even the authoritative figures in her life that enforce these unfair rules. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley should step in and help their daughter out.

*Fan fiction is: A piece of fiction within a fandom utilizing characters and situations from a pre-existing work including (but not limited to) books, television programs, films, and comic strips.

This definition has been copy and pasted from urban dictionary (urbandictionary.com) and because I have cited it it is not plagiarism.

Re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

“It's a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This is because all the mockingbird does all day is sing, so why would you do away with such a beautiful sound? True, the mockingbird does sing, and the song it sings is pretty, but that shouldn't be the only reason to kill it. If the only reason for me to stay alive is that I play piano nicely, then kill me. I'd rather be dead.

What's the matter with a bluejay anyways? You can't kill the mockingbird, but go ahead, kill as many bluejays as you can. True, bluejays can't sing, they only chirp. For all that it's worth, I think that the chirping of the bluejay is just as pretty as the song of a mockingbird. The sound of their two voices combined into one harmony would be even prettier.

This time reading, I noticed that Scout doesn't mention her mom a lot. Yes, she talks about her occasionaly, but just to say that she doesn't have one, and that she cant remember a thing about her. I really respect Scout for that. She is perfectly contempt with her life, she doesnt need anything more. There are so many times in my life when I wish I had an older sister, or a younger brother, or something along those lines, but Scout doesn't even long for a mother. I respect the way she handles the loss of a mom.

The racism and prejudice in this book reminds me of homosexuality today. There are a lot of people I know who are homosexual, and there are also a bunch of people I know who are completely against it. When I'm talking to my friends about this awesome funny friend of mine, and then I mention his boyfriend, the mood of the conversation changes suddenly. It's like, everybody thought he was a cool guy, but then uh oh, he's gay, we hate him now, lets talk about something else. Some people can be so mean and horrible.

I bet if everyone put on blindfolds and walked around Maycomb, greeting people, meeting people, they would be surprised when everybody took off their blindfolds. It doesn't matter if someone has a different color skin, and it doesn't matter if someone's homosexual. They are the same person no matter what you see on the outside. Thats not how most people think about things in Maycomb. The only thing black people have done in the world is to benefit others, so why is it not a sin to kill them?

Little Women (again): Revised

As I said in my previous blog post about this book, (I apologize for the length of this classic novel, Little Women) each chapter is it's own little story with it's own moral. Well, the chapter I’m reading right now is about Meg, Jo, and Beth going to an island with Laurie, their friend. It starts out with them all getting invitations. Along with Jo's is a very big hat. She always complains that her face gets burnt in the sun, but she can’t wear a bigger hat because it's not in style. Laurie thinks that she is not the kind of person to let fashion get in the way of comfort. It's a little joke between her and Laurie.

I think that this part of the story is it's own little moral in itself. Jo isn't the kind of person to care about style, and yet, she still shows concern for fashion. Even the people who seem not to care about things in the slightest bit, think about them a little. Jo is a tomboy, or at least as tomboyish as you could be back then, and she really takes no notice of the latest fashions, but she wouldn't willingly cross a line and wear something crazy.

The thing is, she does wear the hat. It is not absurd, and she feels that there is no reason for her not to. Because she does wear the hat, it seems to me that she is going out of her way to be different, and to show that she doesn't care about clothing and being a proper young lady.

In it's own way, the fact that Jo wears the hat shows that she cares about fashion just as much as Amy, if you can believe it. She just chooses to wear everything that is not in style, rather then refuse to wear anything that isn't.

I think that I would rather be in Jo's position then Amy's. She is not afraid to wear anything she wants without suffering because of the clothing she is wearing because she feels the need to be in style. Although, there are disadvantages to being the way she is. She is the object of ridicule in many situations, and I'm not sure if I would rather be subject to that and be able to wear whatever I want then wear what is in style and suffer because of it. There is no way out!!

I would've thought that Jo wearing the hat would've been embarrassing for her, and made her feel self-conscious, but I was wrong. It created a laugh at the start of the trip, breaking the ice, and it would serve as a good umbrella in case of rain. Plus, Jo was not sunburned, and there was no peeling skin on her nose. Always a plus.

Jo didn't have to face the consequences that come with being different. I think that there should be no consequences to begin with, but a world without bullies is pretty far fetched. I wish it could be like that all the time, no worries about being teased or talked about behind your back, but thats not how it works in the world. I'll just have to make the most out of it.