Adolescent Development in Harry Potter !

Running head: ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT IN HARRY POTTER

Adolescent Development in Harry Potter: The Advance of Morality and Humility In J.K. Rowlings Series Amelia G. Howden University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Spring 2014

Adolescent Development in Harry Potter " Two Separate Paths: Background Tom Marvolo Riddle, whom would later become Lord Voldemort, was born to a witch Merope Gaunt. Merope had fallen in love with a rich Muggle (human) and used a love potion to woo him, eventually becoming pregnant. Shortly after Toms birth, Merope died and Riddle Sr. abandoned his son after being released from the potion. Tom grew up in a Muggle orphanage. Unpleasant occurrences happened around Tom and he was regarded as a bad child. His struggles growing up had led him to be extremely unhappy, however he was already power-hungry. He stole from other children and even hurt them when they didnt listen. He collected these objects as trophies to remember the terrorization of the others, similar to his Horcruxes as an adult. When he turned eleven years old, Tom received his first visitor, Albus Dumbledore (whom at the time was simply a professor at Hogwarts, not the Headmaster). Dumbledore told Tom that he was a wizard and brought him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he excelled as a student. His pupils and teachers, whom thought him handsome and charming, revered Tom. In reality, however, he was arrogant and manipulative and mostly cruel. In his sixth year during summer holidays, Tom snuck back to the village where his father lived. He murdered Riddle Sr. and his entire family. Tom then convinced Morfin Gaunt, his maternal uncle that he had committed the murders. This is most likely where Tom created his first Horcrux, after learning about them from Professor Slughorn that year. And thus began the rise of Lord Voldemort. Similarly, Harry Potter grew up an orphan. Lord Voldemort killed his parents before he could speak, and he was left to stay with his Muggle aunt and uncle who did not tell him of his wizarding powers. The Dursleys were horrible to Harry, forcing him to
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Adolescent Development in Harry Potter : live in the cupboard under the stairs and basically using him as a slave. Harry, however, grew up a polite and quiet boy although rather annoyed with his family. At the age of eleven, Harry was also summoned to Hogwarts by groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid. While the Dursleys attempted to make him stay at home and be miserable, they eventually lost the battle. Harry discovered that he was famous in the wizarding world as The Boy Who Lived. He was, however, embarrassed by this title and attempted to keep his identity hidden rather than use it to gain popularity. He did not particularly excel in school, however he always did very well in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Throughout his entire seven-year schooling at Hogwarts, Harry faced mortal peril several times. He always put others safety before his own, oftentimes narrowly escaping death. While he remained modest about his success against the dark arts, he became a hero. Literature Review Before delving into the topic of morality in relation to Horcruxes and how adolescent development has been developed, it is important to define the following terms and themes. Terms: Kohlbergs Morality Scale and Chickering and Reissers Vector Scale of Human Development. These two scales are comprised of several different levels, which outline the development of morality in people. Foreman (2007) uses these scales in his article, The Boy Who Lived to Lead: An Analysis of Harry Potters Moral and Ethical Leadership Development, in order to follow characters development in the series, specifically Harrys. The scales both consist of different steps, but a generalization of the levels are as follows: Pre-Conventional (in which the subject does not yet understand
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Adolescent Development in Harry Potter E conventions of its society, but still conforms in order to obtain reward), Conventional (in which the subject understands rules and conventions of its society and conforms to those, specifically from authority figures), and Post-Conventional (in which the subject is separated from rules and conventions, making decisions based on their own principles, this stage is rarely seen in modern development). The author identifies the experiences in Harrys life and how he responded to them in order to map his moral development. Foreman also compares this development to Lord Voldemorts, using the steps to analyze why specifically they ended up in such different places. Ontological Humility. Hollands (2013) book explores Voldemorts absence of Ontological Humility. Ontological humility can be defined as a persons acknowledgement that others have values or perceptions that are equally as valid as their own and that the person themselves have no claim on reality or truth. The opposite, ontological arrogance, means that the person believes that their truth is the only truth. Holland explains the difference between the two by using various characters. Horcruxes and Morality One of the biggest plotlines in the Harry Potter series deals with Voldemorts Horcruxes. In the sixth movie, we see a young Tom Riddle (whom later becomes Voldemort) asking Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn tells Riddle that you split your soul and hide the piece in another object, essentially rendering the person immortal, unless the Horcrux is destroyed. He says that only an act of pure evil could split the soul, a murder. Riddle asks if it would be possible to make seven Horcruxes in order to make them stronger, Slughorn is horrified that Riddle would even contemplate killing that many people. He also warns young Riddle that creating Horcruxes damages

Adolescent Development in Harry Potter F the soul beyond repair, as it is an act against nature (Rowling). This is where we first see the rise of Lord Voldemort as he is presently in the series. According to Sehon (an author from The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles), Rowling uses a sentimental view of the soul, meaning that a persons soul is what makes them human. Thus, according to Sehon, the Horcruxes would not affect his mental or physical abilities, but his humility. Voldemort has grown less human after the damaging of his soul, enough so that it mutilates him both physically and mentally. Childhood and Adolescent Development Holland relates his lack of humility to Voldemorts failures. Because he has had nothing in his life, he must be the most powerful. However, he also had no family or friends and was lonely as a child, so he begins to seek revenge. His loss of morality can also be traced back to his experiences as a child; several of the articles in Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts outline this loss. Heit also explores Voldemorts experience as a child, especially in the orphanage, in Vader, Voldemort and Other Villains: Essays on Evil in Popular Media. Heit also explores the reason that a young Riddle did not seek the love and attention he never received but instead sought power and dominance over the force of good. He argues whether evil is simply the absence of good and can be overcome versus not. Importantly, Heit also discusses the differences between Harry and Lord Voldemort. Both were offered choices between good and evil, which were either recognized or not, and the reasoning behind these choices. Rosegrant focuses on these problems and the development issues of Voldemort versus Harry Potter and uses them to explain his inherent need to cheat death. Kern and Foreman both explore the opposite of this in Harrys experiences in The Wisdom of Harry Potter:
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Adolescent Development in Harry Potter J What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices and The Boy Who Lived to Lead: An Analysis of Harry Potters Moral and Ethical Leadership Development. Both characters shared similar childhood occurrences, but chose completely different paths. They elaborate on the reasoning behind Harrys humility and Voldemorts lack of, and how it relates to the actions taken after these awful childhood experiences. Differences in Development: Entering the Conversation Both Harry and Tom grow up in un-ideal situations. Neither had a family to love them and was, retrospectively, entirely on their own. Both children are entirely isolated from the world they belong to, which neither knew existed, and are perceived as odd, or freakish. However, Tom is feared while Harry is bullied. Even as children, their moral character begins to show. From the very beginning, Tom portrays behaviors of dominance and cruelty while Harry is meek and scrawny. At the age of eleven, they are both told the truth about themselves. When Dumbledore tells Tom that he is a wizard, the boy trembles with excitement saying he always knew he was special and different from them. Harry on the other hand is extremely disbelieving when Hagrid visits him. He tells the groundskeeper that hes just Harry and that he must have made a mistake. The difference here is that Tom was power hungry, while Harry was humble and shy. Harry and Tom also both had different experiences at Hogwarts. Tom was adored by his professors and fellow students, who thought of him as only charming and elegant. He was a prefect, Head Boy, and the top of his class. However, underneath his charm, Tom Riddle was beginning his transformation into the evil. He was becoming even more power hungry. Tom had no friends, only followers, some of whom later became his Death Eaters. This gang ruled the school in glamour, but no one saw the true Tom Riddle,
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Adolescent Development in Harry Potter L except Dumbledore. Tom performed many dark tasks while in the Hogwarts castle. In his second year, he opened the Chamber of Secrets, which resulted in the death of a girl, and then blamed it on Hagrid. Because of his charm, Tom got away unscathed. As I mentioned before, Tom murdered his paternal family in his sixth year, which no one but Dumbledore ever knew about. Never once is he portrayed as feeling guilty for these evils, his moral character is non-existent at this point. After leaving Hogwarts, Tom was expected to go on to great things, but he only wanted one. Hogwarts was his only home and he wished to remain there as a teacher, however Dumbledore refused him. This is where Tom disappears and returns later as Lord Voldemort. In his quest for dominance, Riddle realized his one enemy, death. Thus we can assume he began his collection of Horcruxes. During this time, Riddle also became disfigured, taking on his snake-like features and becoming less and less human. Rowling never explains this phenomenon, but the loss of humility is the most likely explanation. In his quest for immortality, Voldemort voluntarily murders six people (although he murdered many more regardless of Horcrux creation). His need to be separate and above all others takes over his entire being, rendering him essentially inhuman. Harrys experience at Hogwarts was entirely different from Riddles. On his first day, Harry is terrified and embarrassed of his famous status, his modesty becomes him. He does, however, find two genuine friends in Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Even the simple act of friendship was something that Riddle never achieved in his entire life, he was instead too caught up in his power. Instead of being at the head of the school, Harry is constantly picked on, especially by Draco Malfoy, and loathed by Professor Snape. He is mediocre in his classes and both he and Ron lean heavily on Hermiones
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Adolescent Development in Harry Potter M immense knowledge to get through their lessons. He already exhibits good moral character, standing up for Neville Longbottom when teased by Malfoy. Harry also faces the Dark Arts in the opposite way that Riddle did: by fighting them. In his first year, Harry passes through a series of magical obstacles and faces Lord Voldemort for the first time. In his second year, he saves Ginny Weasley from a reincarnation of Tom Riddle (a memory of him) and a giant basilisk, almost dying in the process. In his third year, Harry saves both his godfather and convicted-but-innocent-felon Sirius Black from death, again almost dying. In his fourth, Harry is entered into a wizarding tournament, which he is too young for. He miraculously survives the three events, but again displays moral character when he saves more than one victim. In the final event, he again faces Lord Voldemort and witnesses fellow classmate, Cedric Diggory, die. He takes Cedrics body back to Hogwarts after escaping, where he collapses in grief over his friends death. In his fifth year, he teaches his fellow students defense against the Dark Arts secretly in order to protect them. He also refuses help from his friends in a dangerous situation as they could die. In this year, Harry also witnesses his godfathers death and he again falls apart in grief. In the years following, he, Ron, and Hermione search for Horcruxes to destroy Voldemort. He again initially refuses their help, saying, no one else is going to die, not for me. In the final part of the series, Harry willingly sacrifices himself in order to end Lord Voldemort, reaching the final level of the morality scale. It is often mentioned in the series that Harrys difference from Voldemort is love. He is loved by others and has love for others while Voldemort does not. Harry is selfless because of this love; he always puts his loved ones before himself. He is literally willing to die for them, something that Voldemort could never do. Tom Riddle was always

Adolescent Development in Harry Potter N selfish. He didnt care for others pain, only his success. He was, as Holland said, ontologically arrogant. Voldemort believed that his truth was the only one, and that nothing was too large a price to pay for his goal. He was not upset when he learned of his followers deaths unless it affected his reign of terror. Harry, however, held so much emotion in him, both loving and grieving heavily. He was completely distraught and in pain when his friends died. One of the major themes in the series is the prophecy that says either Harry or Voldemort must kill the other. This prophecy, however, was made after Voldemort became unusually evil. So, if Tom Riddle had had a family that loved him in the first place, would he have ever become the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time? On the other hand, Harry grew up without a loving family; he had no friends until he was eleven years old. But he never attempted to hurt people, never wanted dominance. So, I think that these developments were inherent to their natures. Perhaps Tom Riddle was angry about his parents heritage, and maybe he hated his orphanage, but deep down, I think that he was truly evil and nothing could have changed that. Dumbledore recognized where no one else did this true evil. Multiple times, he tried to change Tom, but nothing worked. Regardless of his friends at Hogwarts, Riddle always believed he was better than everyone. So, its hard to imagine that a family or friends could have changed that. He had the option, at the orphanage, to be a good child as Harry was, but he chose to be bad and to use his unknown magic to hurt people. On the other hand, Harry used and continues to use his magic to protect others from harm. He had a horrible childhood but still had compassion and love even for those who hated or bullied him. He makes the ultimate sacrifice, which Voldemort could never make; he is ready to face death in order to save them.

Adolescent Development in Harry Potter !< Why is Adolescent Development a Major Plot Point: Conclusion While the similarities and differences are somewhat highlighted throughout the series, they are not, for some reason, a very major plot point. Dumbledore mentions once to Harry that he and Lord Voldemort had similar upbringings. I believe, however, that these similarities that led to differences are extremely important to the plotline. These developments or withdrawals of moral character and humility basically make up the entire characters, but are never thoroughly explained to the audience. Would the story have been as interesting if you knew, in the back of your mind, that Harry and Voldemort grew up on the same path before becoming mortal enemies? Would you feel differently about the entire character of Voldemort if had he had a loving family that he came from, instead of his broken one? The fact that they became such different people is the entirety of the story after all, so shouldnt it be more important to somewhat focus on where they came from? In Harrys case, we experience almost his entire childhood. But we experience very little of Tom Riddles life, especially in the movie series. Thus, for someone simply watching the film, its impossible to see the full effects of the connections between the two characters. Dumbledore says that, it is not how you are alike, it is how you are not. This, in the situation present, is true. But, if there are no similarities can there still be differences? Some connection has to be made between these two characters in order to highlight the differences. After all, the prophecy never specified a specific child to be Voldemorts enemy. It could have just as easily been Neville Longbottom. However, Voldemort made a choice, and perhaps he chose Harry because in the sliver of human identity he had left, he knew that they were indeed the same.
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