Harry VS. Tom Riddle

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. Tom 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.