Harry Potter - How Harry Potter Is Portrayed in the Novel "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"

20.6.09 Kerry O’May
PSS – Explain how Rowling portrays the character of Harry in the novel “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.
The novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, written by J.K Rowling is the first of seven books in the Harry Potter series. It is set in modern day England. The story is narrated in third person although during the first chapter, we look at the story through the eyes of Mr Dursley. The genre of the text is fantasy. The book explores themes such as the value of humility and the consequences of desire.
Harry Potter is an ordinary boy living an ordinary life in Surrey, all up until his eleventh birthday. He begins to receive letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, inviting him to start learning there. He finds out that his parents were not killed in a car crash, but instead by the Dark Lord Voldemort, unfortunately unable to kill Harry too. He leaves his aunt, uncle and cousin to start a new life. With his charming personality, Harry makes plenty of new friends and a few enemies too. Throughout his first year at Hogwarts, he learns about fear and courage and the truth and importance of his past.
Harry is the protagonist of the story. He is easy to relate to as he is coming of age. While growing up with his aunt and uncle and their son Dudley, he is maltreated and tormented. This leads to him being unsure of his abilities. He is timid and unsure of his surroundings. There is a contrast between his two very different lifestyles. One of them, surrounded by people who adore him for the importance of his name, living in a lively atmosphere. The other, living in neglect under a staircase with people who use him as a slave. Even though Harry has become famous, he still keeps his modesty. At the end of the book, where he has saved the world from Voldemort’s wrath, he does not expect any praise from Dumbledore. Instead he asks a few simple questions and remains satisfied. That is one of the reasons that Dumbledore respects him. The way that Harry does not use his powers or the powers of the stone to gain knowledge or grant certain wishes is also highly respected and understood. The fact that he does not want the stone to fall into the wrong hands shows the simplicity of his desire and how it makes him a hero.
Harry manages to control his desire to see his parents again through Voldemort and the Mirror of Erised. That is what separates Harry from Voldemort. They share the same blood, so share similarities. Within saying that, they are the opposite in many ways. We realise that a way that they can both connect is through Harry’s scar on his forehead. This scar is a symbol or emblem showing how he has survived a great battle and of being destined to go through future battles. The pain caused by the scar is always triggered when hatred is directed at him. For instance, when Snape first notices him in Hogwarts or when Quirrel tries to grab him.
In the first chapter, we are introduced to a number of elements to the story. They are not fully explained. This stirs our curiosity and enhances the idea of this unknown, intriguing world that happens to be so far away from reality. The word ‘muggle’ is used repeatedly. It is referred to as humans but we do not fully understand its associations. However, we feel the importance of the difference between muggles and non-muggles. Similarly, we realise that there is an importance of Harry’s scar, but we cannot explain it any more than Harry can. It is important that his journey and initiation into magic is steady so that we can understand his feelings. We are in the same circumstance as him. Like us, he is entering an unknown world.
From the start, Rowling creates a buzz about the protagonist, Harry. Both the other characters in the story and the reader feel this. She does not explain to us, the importance of Harry but simply shows his existence in the world and how it affects it. We do not understand why Harry is special, but we see that he is destined to play an important role. Rowling states him in opposition to the very powerful and feared Voldemort. It is clear that these two characters will confront each other in a climactic battle.
The contrast that Rowling establishes between night and day indicates to us, the more important contrast between the novel’s ordinary world and its wizard world. When Mr Dursley is walking around, he shows the boredom and monotony of everyday modern life, unlike Albus Dumbledore, who snakes around the halls at night. This enhances the mystery and fantasy of wizardry. Professor McGonagall’s ability to transform from a cat to a human and back again illustrates the difference between wizard’s, who have magic at their disposal, and muggles who do not.
It soon becomes clear that Harry cannot abide by the rules. He does not hesitate to go after Malfoy, when he takes Neville’s remeberall, even though the flying instructor has clearly prohibited broomstick flying. He enters the third floor corridor with full knowledge that it is forbidden to all students. He also uses the invisibility cloak he receives to wander the restricted books section in the library. The occasional rebellions are not failings, but instead they enhance his heroism, as they show that he can think for himself and make his own judgements. The contrast to Harry in this situation would be Hermione who never crosses out of line, and is also annoying to both Harry and the reader. Eventually, when she manages to lie to one of the teachers, she shows that she can transcend the rules too. Hermione then becomes friends with Harry and his other friend Ron. One of the main lessons of the novel is that even though rules are there for good reasons and necessary, it is also necessary to question and even sometimes even break them for the right reasons.
I thoroughly enjoyed studying this text. From the character of Harry, I have learnt to never underestimate someone or something. It is inspiring how he manages to use his powers wisely and not against others who have betrayed him. It is a hard decision to make when you have that amount of power and responsibility on your shoulders at such a young age. He acts maturely and takes the situation like a professional would. That is something you do not see in a lot of young boys. It is his spite that actually drives him on as well as finding out the truth. I admire how Rowling chooses the protagonist to be a young boy rather than a man because we can follow the story easier and also because he has open feelings as a child would rather than having them blocked up. We feel more sympathetic for the journey of an eleven year old having to deal with abuse from family members as he grows.