Harry Potter and the Spirit of Youth

Harry’s indomitable spirit is one of the keys to his appeal, and the appeal of the books. He is a real adolescent, moving from insecurity, to anger to adulthood, and along the way becoming determined, witty and even crusading.

Harry’s sense of justice and moral indignation is familiar to all teenagers who read the books – and to adults who remember this period of their lives. Things that are unfair outrage Harry. He is impulsive, and as Dumbledore rightly recognizes, needs the cool head of Hermione to keep him in check.

At the same time, Harry is a lover of tradition. He is uncertain of change – the exception being his conviction that anything is better than living with the Dursleys. To Harry, Hogwarts and Dumbledore are inseparable, and this is reinforced by his rescuer, Hagrid, who steadfastly maintains that Dumbledore is the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. This is most clearly demonstrated in The Chamber of Secrets when Harry’s loyalty is sufficient to summon Fawkes, the phoenix.

However, as Harry matures through the books, he is able to see the other characters in more than the black and white terms of childhood. J K Rawling underlines this when she comments that people aren’t all good or all bad. It is this, of course, what makes life tricky to understand, as our childhood notions would very much like to put people in tidy boxes.

The mutability of the Malfoys from absolute villains to disenfranchised parents concerned for their son, is an obvious case in point. Also critical is Peter Pettigrew’s instant of hesitation that allows Harry to escape.

Dumbledore’s eulogy for Cedric Diggory at the end of The Goblet of Fire is something of a climax to the series. He is praising those qualities of youth that Cedric exemplified, and his phrase, “fierce friend” speaks volumes about the nature of youth.

That youth should be dealt with honestly is one of the greatest sub-texts of the series. When adults do not, they succeed only in turning their children in copies, not improvements, of themselves.

Recognition of this is one of J K Rowling’s wisest observations and the way she communicates this to a youthful audience, one of her greatest accomplishments.