Growing up Harry

Sayantani Dasgupta traces the development and evolution of Harry Potter the character, across the seven-book series

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows JK Rowling Bloomsbury 608 pp; Rs 975

Kim Barnes, the Pulitzer-nominated writer once asked young writers at the University of Idaho, “Do you understand your characters well enough to know which toilet paper they use?” We were silent but had JK Rowling been with us, she would have said, “Yes, of course”. One explanation for Rowling’s phenomenal success with the series might lie in her intricately woven, multi-layered and constantly evolving characters. This is most evident in her construction of Harry Potter, the hero of the series.

Let’s for a minute use the Time-Turner, and go back to the beginning. It’s Harry’s eleventh birthday. He lives with his cruel aunt and uncle, and all he knows about himself is that he is a poor orphan whose parents died in a car crash. Harry does not look like a hero: he is small, skinny, and bullied by his cousin. Into this world thunders Hagrid who tells the awestruck Harry that he is a wizard about to be enrolled at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He also tells him that his parents were murdered by the Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort. Through Harry’s eyes we discover a realm of spells and potions, where people chew Every Flavor Gum, drink pumpkin juice, transfigure and talk about dragons and three-headed dogs. Harry makes trustworthy friends — Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom —and discovers a natural talent on the broomstick. He is neither interested in power nor the Dark Arts, and demonstrates immense presence of mind and courage, qualities that define and redefine him over the years.

In The Chamber of Secrets, Harry acquires a streak of recklessness. He is questioned and doubted because he can speak Parseltongue, Voldemort’s snake language while his unstinting loyalty to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore creates a special bond between the two of them. A dark undertone emerges in The Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry and his friends are now exposed to serious injustices and taught that life is brutal and unfair. Harry’s character echoes this pathos. He finds it difficult to deal with the Dementors, those soul-sucking fiends, and it takes him considerable time to master Expecto Patronum, the spell that thwarts them. But it is to Rowling’s credit that she strikes a balance and gives Harry a nobility and good nature beyond his years.

In The Goblet of Fire Harry is shunned by almost everyone including his best friend because they believe he cheated to enter the famed Triwizard Championship. He struggles with loneliness, ridicule, isolation, and fear while rumours abound about the rise of the dark forces. Yet he persists; with courage, generosity and maturity, especially in the climax, which is marked by the return of Voldemort.

In The Order of the Phoenix Harry is stubborn, impatient, and forever willing to pick a fight. The overarching reason for this is people’s mistrust of him and his story of Voldemort’s return. Harry also seems determined to play the hero, a trait that Voldemort exploits, and which leads to the murder of Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black.

While Harry feels vindicated because people have realised the truth of his story in The Half-Blood Prince, he also battles with an overwhelming need to avenge Sirius’ death. Love comes in the form of Ginny Weasley but Harry withdraws because of the weighty task entrusted to him by Dumbledore, who dies a martyr’s death leaving Harry feeling orphaned again.

In the final installment, The Deathly Hallows, Voldemort’s forces lurk everywhere, establishing a new, terrifying status quo. As the death count rises, Harry fears for the lives of those he loves and this makes him harsh, impatient and unforgiving. Yet he cannot bring himself to kill the provocation, and instead sticks to the disarming charm, Expelliarmus. He is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice and though it scares him, he walks towards it without hesitation.

Harry and his world will be missed for several reasons, but mostly because the magic came, not from spells and potions, but from the basic plot and characters. They made us want to be them, with or without the use of polyjuice potion.