Blog Post # 2: empathy for Harry

For this blog, I want to discuss how Harry’s development throughout the series has affected a broader interpretation of the theme of empathy. First of all, empathy is defined as the power of understanding and imaginatively entering into another person’s feeling. When discussing the theme of empathy throughout the Harry Potter series, I wasn’t exactly aware that I was doing this at first but as I read the series, I couldn’t help but envision myself going to Hogwarts and being able to use magic spells, playing quidditch and going on crazy adventures that a thirteen-year-old child probably shouldn’t be doing.

The Harry Potter series is a fantastic portrayal of a fantasy world that people want to believe in. This is why many people, besides just myself, can imagine themselves going through certain situations that happen in the series. The theme of empathy is apparent throughout the entire series because you can’t help but imagine yourself going on crazy adventures in a mysterious realm of magic. Also, you cannot help but relate to certain dramatic events that occur in the novels to our own lives. If anyone has dealt with someone close to them dying, you can’t help but relate to all of Harry’s personal struggles throughout the series, or more specifically Sirius and Dumbledore being killed right in front of him.

In the first few books of the Harry Potter series, you might feel envious of the exciting adventures that Harry and the gang embark on. But as the series moves on the overtone of the series become darker with the return of Voldemort and the sub-sequential deaths that occur. It becomes interesting to note how even when the series becomes far more serious than the previous books, I still felt empathy towards Harry’s character, this may be because I believe Harry is the most relatable character to me. When I read the Harry Potter series I constantly imagined what I would feel if I went through all the devastating loses that Harry has dealt with. The theme of empathy is apparent throughout the series because even though the characters are witches and wizards, you can still relate the troubles they are going through.