Expectations can make or break a novel. If you can accurately predict the ending of a
story then that book probably wasn’t a good enough read. In addition, if there
are numerous off the wall reveals without a proper flow of those reveals that
too could cause a bad read.
Within the first two Harry potter books, there are
many expectations that I developed while reading that aided to my enjoyment of
the story. From the beginning, I predicted that Snape would be a reoccurring
“villain” in the story yet; I soon found that, that expectation wasn’t valid.
Also, I predicted that Harry would be a “wiz-kid” with spells and charms and be
at the top of his class with the grades and popularity. However, that
expectation was shot down with the introduction of Herminie.
The major expectation in chamber of secrets was who is the heir of slytherin. I wanted it to be Harry just like everyone else in the story. However, I soon found myself expecting it to be Malfoy or even Snape, because then that would fulfill my desire for either of them to be truly evil. Yet, one again the big reveal had something to do with Voldemort.
I think the reason
I start to come up with predictions and expectations is because as a reader I
want to “out wit” the author by being able to get the conclusion before it is
revealed. With that, I feel it is the author’s job to raise expectations, fail
to fulfill them and lead me down a road with a few twisted so that I continue
to read. If done properly, me as the reader could go back and see a “flashing
red light” that obviously pointed me in the wrong directions on purpose.
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