Harry: Forced to Mature

Harry’s development throughout the series has a direct impact on the interpretation of the books. Harry grows up and matured during many different situations in the series, he thoroughly displays the theme of coming of age.

He starts out in the Durselys house, living under the stairs in a small space. Here he shows aggression especially towards Dudley and their interaction at the zoo. After he goes to Hogwarts were he is much happier and learns a lot about himself, truly growing up during his time at the school of wizardry. Here he is forced to mature by the adversity he is faced with and the traumatic experiences he goes through. Such as, Harry finds out he is a well-known wizard and the truth about his parents murder. He has to get through plants, birds, violent chess pieces, and a potion puzzle to get to the sorcerers stone. Then has to fight a Basilisk and kill Tom Riddle to save Ginny Weasley.

Harry then learns that Sirius escaped from Azkaban and is warned to stay away from him and be careful. Harry does not listen like usual and upon seeing Sirius, he gets a desire to kill for revenge of his parents and almost does until learning that Peter Pettigrew is the actual culprit but that doesn’t stop Harry it just changes who his desire to kill is aimed towards. After this events Harry finds out that Sirius is his Godfather and he actually has family.

Another Traumatic experience is when Harry is entered into the Goblet of Fire and has to endure challenges finally leading him to Voldemort, where he is face to face with his enemy, but luckily escapes.

Later, Harry finds out about the Order of the Phoenix, a group of wizards devoted to fighting Voldemort. He is also faced with the death of his last family member and has to escape the Ministry of Magic, where he learns he is a parallel to Voldemort and the only difference is that Harry has love.

After all of this, Harry loses another close friend of his and after chases after the killer not caring for his own life, just wants to get revenge. At the end of this novel Harry has had enough and just wants to kill the person that killed his close friend.

Not only has Harry had to go through all of these traumatic experiences throughout the series but he also has the normal teenage issues, school, dementors, and trust issues. Harry has transformed throughout the series starting from a new wizard, to the desire for revenge, to not caring if he was killed. Harry has clearly encountered a lot and it has changed his mindset. Such as Harry’s hatred for Voldemort, Harry hates him throughout the series yet when learns about his past, Harry becomes has empathy. Harry has this because he can easily place himself in Voldemorts shoes as a young orphan who uses Hogwarts as a refuge, the death of his parents and abandonment.

These experiences affect the interpretation of the series because of how Harry deals with events and handles situations carries you through the books. The traumatic events shape the story and help the reader connect and sympathize with Harry making his character more personable.

(Sorry for the vagueness in the 6th paragraph..I didn't want to spoil the end of the book for those who have no finished. )