Comments on Harry Potter

When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I thought Harry Potter was a real stand up individual: at the age of eleven, he went from being alone to having tightly knit group of friends, smashed the school Quidditch records, and fought off a troll. Oh, and he also defeated the world’s most powerful dark wizard. Not once during all the challenges Harry faced during his first year at Hogwarts did he say “I deserve this” or “I did this, isn’t that just fantastic!” All Harry wanted was to be accepted for who he is and to be left alone. After all, it can’t be easy to be born famous.

Later in the series, Harry hits his teenage years running with a full-on mood swing that lasts for far, far too long. This is especially noticeable in book #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Starting almost immediately, Harry blames Ron and Hermione for his troubles. As the series progresses, Harry and his friends seem to have more and more fights. Harry becomes more self absorbed, saying that no one knows what it feels like to face Voldemort, and that he was cable of handling that threat by himself he has a right to be included in the meetings of the Order of the Phoenix.

This does not sound like the Harry Potter people around the world grow to love in The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. That Harry would have accepted the fact that he was the only one who could have defeated Lord Voldemort and that it had to be done, hold the thanks. I suppose the fact that as the series progresses more and more pressure is put on Harry et al to save the wizarding and muggle worlds from evil, and that is why they are so on edge with each other. However, saving the world (or at least the inhabitants of Hogwarts) has been par for the course for Harry and his pals since the series started.

No one likes to read a book with an ornery main character; the Umbridges, the Malfoys, and the Voldemorts of a book are who we are supposed to cringe at, not the main character. After reading the first few chapters of The Order of the Phoenix, I was ready to choke Harry if he said he was entitled to something one more time. That is not how a likeable character acts.

Why do these mood swings and petty bickering bother me so much? Probably because that’s actually how normal teenagers put in abnormal situations would react. Rowling wrote about teenage angst, and she got it right.