Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
1. Lord Voldemort created seven Horcruxes to attain immortality. Harry himself was a Horcrux when part of Voldemort's soul was sealed within his body. Harry has the ability to speak Parlestongue as a result of this. Discuss other abilities Harry has that may also be from Voldemort.
2. Before they say good-bye for the last time, Dudley admits that he cares about Harry and thanks him for saving his soul from the Dementors. How does this make Harry feel about his life on Privet Drive?
3. Ron, Fred, George, Hermione, Fleur Delacour and Mundungus Fletcher take Polyjuice Potion to make themselves look like Harry to act as decoys for Voldemort. Why would the Order of the Phoenix pick this group for such a risky plan instead of more advanced wizards?
4. Many readers were very upset about Hedwig being killed. Why do you think there was such a reaction to the pet owl's death?
6. As Harry, Ron and Hermione set off on the mission left to them by Dumbledore, to destroy the final Horcruxes, they start to question what they've been told. Did he expect them to succeed? Did he have a plan for them? Even Harry, who has never questioned Dumbledore's motives, has a period of little faith. What was your opinion of Dumbledore while reading and what were the points that it changed?
7. After she is told that Draco is alive inside the castle, Narcissa Malfoy tells Voldemort that Harry is dead so that she may leave to try to find her son. Voldemort proceeds to hit Harry with multiple Cruciatus Curses, from which Harry feels no pain, and orders Hagrid to carry Harry back to the castle. Is it believable that everyone could be tricked into believing Harry was dead? Why doesn't he feel the curses?
8. Many characters lost their lives in the fight against Lord Voldemort. What death were you most saddened by? Which was a long time coming?
9. Compare the mood of The Deathly Hallows to The Sorcerer's Stone. Some critics have said that Rowling continued writing the series with an adult audience in mind. Are the later books in the series still appropriate for a young audience?
10. Were you satisfied with the epilogue? Imagine the futures of other characters that Rowling did not include.
11. Novelist Elizabeth Hand said that Hallows ends the series nicely, but also made the criticism that "...the spectacularly complex interplay of narrative and character often reads as though an entire trilogy's worth of summing-up has been crammed into one volume." Do you agree? Was the final fight scene overwhelming?
(Questions by Katherine O'Connor of LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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