Harry Potter and the Coming of Age

Though it is perhaps the obvious answer, Harry Potter’s transformation throughout the seven books seems to be the most drastic and influential in the series. Throughout the first three books, though Harry certainly grows from a young boy with no knowledge of the wizarding world to a teenager trying to cope with a dangerous position in the wizarding world. He grows by coping with danger and learning about truths of his past that affect his situation. In the fourth book however, Harry is first put to the test when he witnesses the death of Cedric Diggory. From this moment, Harry is changed, and it is not only by the fact that he can now see thestrals, or that he becomes subject to the wrath of Dolores Umbridge: his strength is tested as he is forced to live through and deal with this trauma from which he has suffered. As J.K. Rowling stated herself, death is the most important theme in this series, and this seems to directly correspond with Harry’s maturity. Only a year after witnessing the murder of a friend, Harry witnesses the murder of Sirius Black, who represented the closest this to a parent to Harry. Only a year following this incident, he witnesses the murder of Albus Dumbledore who filled a role that was not only that of a mentor, but that which was nearly fatherly. Thus, by the end of the sixth book, Harry is forced into extreme independence and remarks upon how utterly alone he feels in the world. Therefore, with every father figure having been taken away from him at such a young age, he does not so much step into maturity as he is shoved into it. Therefore, in the seventh book, Harry is an entirely different person from the character introduced in the beginning of the series. Any remaining vestiges of Harry’s innocence that remain in the seventh book are immediately squashed when Harry’s white owl, Hedwig, is killed during Harry’s attempt to flee his childhood home, number four, Privet Drive. Throughout the seventh book, as such a tone indicates, Harry is required to lead rather than follow, and be entirely self-sufficient. As a result, he is uncomfortable in the amount of power that is thrust into his own hands, yet finds success through his own means. Though so many incidences of trauma have undoubtedly had negative effects on Harry, they have, too, made him stronger, and constructed the independence he needs to be successful in hunting down and defeating Voldemort.