Why the “The boy who lived”, lives in all of us
By Jason Kelly
On the list of the bestselling books of all time the piece of literature with the most copies sold is The Holy Bible, the first non-religious book on that list would be Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. This book was the conclusion of the Harry Potter series written by British author J.K. Rowling. Harry Potters’ popularity cannot be overstated, there are 8 wonderful movies, theme parks, thousands of pages of fan fiction and hundreds of millions of avid readers. On the night each of these books were released people would stand in lines for hours, just to receive a copy of a book in the series, anxiously seeking to know the end of the story in which they had invested so much time. What makes a simple story about a young British boy finding out he is a wizard so universally loved? The answer is found in the characters of the story, in Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville. We have seven books to get to know these people, seven books inside the mind of Harry; seven books to see young kids go through puberty and become adults. The characters in Harry Potter go beyond the simple stereotypes that populate the silver screen in modern times. They grow and improve and sometimes they fall and make mistakes. At the center of it all is Harry Potter himself, an example of a person that is imperfect in nature, yet full of pure love for his family and friends.
Harry Potter is quite possibly the most relatable character ever put to paper. When one watches “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and sees Harry receive his first ever birthday present, or wake up on Christmas to find that someone cares for him enough to get give him presents, you can feel the light and happiness illuminate from his face. No matter how long Harry spends in the wizarding world he maintains a constant sense of wonder at each new discovery. Harry isn’t just special, he is grateful to be special.
A common issue with characters in the entertainment medium is that they are infallible. Our heroes always seem to know something that the other characters are ignorantly overlooking. Only our hero knows how to save the day. This is not the case with Harry, as time after time we see him fail. His missteps lead to pain and death for the ones he loves. At times he is quick to anger, overconfident, rude and unsensitive, yet in the end his intentions are pure. He only wants to live a normal happy life, surrounded by the people he loves; like any of us would.
J.K. Rowling’s goal in her novels is to make us feel empathy for Harry. We see in book after book as the world Harry lives in grows darker and bleaker. An ordinary boy loses his parents and is treated like dirt by his only living relatives. He grows up in a closet, being beaten and bullied by all those around him. In nearly all of the novels he is doubted and gossiped about and yet through it all Harry never loses his resolve. He keeps going despite constant setbacks. We see him watch a friend die, then lose the closest thing to a brother he has ever had. In the darkest moment we see him lose his mentor and final shield blocking him from the evil that is Voldemort. He embarks on a quest to kill the man who has ruined his life, yet Harry is never full of revenge and hatred, Harry is full of love.
Like Harry we have all felt trapped, depressed and talked about negatively. We have all lost someone we love and felt like we would never see those people again. We have all felt betrayed by people that we trusted. The reason that we love Harry is because he is a representation of human pain and suffering. The empathy we feel towards Harry grows and grows until we see him finally overcome the demons of his life. In some way we hope to destroy our demons like he did.
Harry almost perfectly represents the human struggle against pain. When we see a young, honest, shy and grateful boy defeat evil incarnate we are reminded that evil is not defeated by destroying what you hate, but preserving what you love.