Over the course of the Harry Potter series, we have witnessed characters develop in some surprising ways. These developments have implications for the way in which we read the series, and particularly, for our understanding of what Rowling are saying about themes like coming of age, traumatic experience, historical trauma, empathy, etc. Consider the way in which one or two characters’ development has/have affected your broader interpretation of the series using one of the major themes. Discuss how specific moments of character development have lead you to reassess how one of the major themes is being explored. Your response should be in the range of 300-500 words.
As discussed last week in class, Tom Riddle and Potter both had experienced traumatic beginnings. Early in each of their lives, both parents were gone and both were raised in environments where they felt unloved and a nuisance. Rowling has many themes throughout the Harry Potter series but I feel that the most prevalent theme is the jealousy and pure hatred between Harry Potter and Voldamort. This theme drives the series and the twisted plots intertwine to reveal the true beginnings of the desire to kill Harry Potter.
ReplyDeleteTom Riddle was born of a muggle and ironically he is “racist” against such individuals. Having his father abandon him and his mother laying down her own life was the start of young Riddles life. As we discover later within the series, Toms mother did not die for him but died from a broken heart with the abandonment from Tom Sr. Having powers in which he himself could not understand, Tom was raised within an orphanage and was distant from the other children. He only found comfort once he reached Hogwarts.
Harry was also without his parents at a young age. Also born a muggle, Harry’s mother and Father were both killed by Voldamort. Raised within a household where he was treated without dignity or human respect, Harry too felt alone and unloved. Like Tom, Harry felt more at home at Hogwarts than he ever did at the Dursleys.
Volamorts personal attack upon Harry’s parent was, I believe of pure jealousy. Being born a muggle is looked down upon and comes with disgust and impurity. Voldamort saw how must the Potters loved their muggle son and was truly enraged. Why should a muggle have a better life than himself? He even gave Lilly Potter a chance to live by stepping aside and letting him destroy the baby Harry. When she refused, Voldamort was mortified. How could someone love something to the extent that they would rather die than live without? Even worse, why hadn’t he had this kind of love from his mother? Filled with rage and jealousy, Voldamort killed Lilly and attempted to do the same to Harry.
I believe the only thing that saved Harry that night was the immense love shown by Harry’s mother and the lack of love Tom Riddle’s mother had shown him. Love is one of the major themes within the series, how Dumbledore loves Harry, Harry loves Black, Hermione and Ron’s puppy love! Love is one of the strongest emotions an individual can posses. You always hear of people doing crazy and irrational things in the name of love. The directly opposite emotion of love is hatred, another major theme within the series. Although Harry goes through “false hatred,” he does display this emotion to various characters, Sirius Black, Draco, even Hermione and Ron (under false pretences mind you).
Revealing information and looks into past events has changed Harry’s perception of the characters within the series. Although he does go back and forth with his love and hatred toward people introduced in his life, this is a major theme throughout the book.
Throughout the Harry Potter novels there have been many characters that have developed in many surprising ways. The first character that’s development took twists and turns is Snape. In the book Snape is seen as the person that is plotting against Hogwarts and Harry Potter. Every time Harry or someone else believes that Snape is doing something wrong it gets turned around and he is seen as the good guy. It wasn’t until the 6th book in which he kills Dumbledore that the reader has evidence that Snape is working for Voldermort. A theme in the Harry Potter books is evil and the results of evil incidents. Snape killing Dumbledore is a perfect example of how evil takes place. Even though Snape did kill Dumbledore to protect Draco, Snape is still on the side of evil. The evil event that took place was him killing Dumbledore and the aftermath of that event was Harry Potter deciding not to go back to Hogwarts, but instead find and kill Voldermort. Snape finally being revealed as evil is also a point where the reader sees more development in Harry himself. Harry was always the character that was constantly trying to help Hogwarts and Dumbledore, but when Dumbledore dies Harry is frozen and unable to help. I believe that this moment was a turning point for Harry. After this happens he decides to fully commit himself to killing Voldermort and with doing that he is avenging everyone that Voldermort and company has killed. I think that Dumbledore dying was a huge event and turning point in the series that really helps the reader understand what is really going on with everyone. The last character that was changed by the killing of Dumbledore was Draco. He was the person that was originally suppose to kill Dumbledore and the fact that he was unable to do so changed him as a character. The reader could see that he wasn’t a horrible person; he was just being pressured to live up to his father’s footsteps. The ending of book 6 was when a lot of characters developed in many surprising ways and was a turning point for the series in general.
ReplyDeleteHermione Granger is a character in the series whose development aides in understanding the coming of age theme. Hermione is introduced in the series as an arrogant know it all. She may even be overcompensating her knowledge of wizardry to make up for the fact that she's a muggle-born and it is just her way of fitting in with the other wizards. Eventually she befriends Harry and Ron and defends them frequently (lying about the troll incident, putting a spell on Snape at the Quidditch match, and many others throughout the series).
ReplyDeleteIn the second book we see her develop a crush for her teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, and we see her bullied by Draco, calling her a Mudblood. In the third book Hermione experiences some falling outs with her best friends. Harry is mad at her for revealing he has a firebolt and Ron is upset with her because he believes Crookshanks had something to do with Scabbers disappearance.
In the fourth book Hermione grows up a little, she takes up a good cause by starting S.P.E.W. to help gain basic rights for elves. She also has a romantic interest, Viktor Krum. In the next book Hermione and Ron bicker quite a bit and there is a romantic interest that starts to develop. In the sixth book Hermione experiences extreme jealousy after seeing Ron kiss Lavender at the Christmas party.
All of these examples show a young teenage girl (Hermione) who is coming of age before the readers' eyes. She is faced with many similar situations and problems that many young girls face growing up, minus the magic.
-Alex Fosco