Harry Potter from Harry Potter: Character Analysis
by Madi
Abstract: A character analysis essay of Harry Potter. This essay describes how Harry grows throughout all seven books. It describes his growth through friendships, trust, strength, and so much more! It explains how he grows from a child to a teenager to a student and to a man.
“Dumbledore’s man through and through, aren’t you, Potter?”
(Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 348).
Harry Potter has always trusted his Headmaster, Dumbledore. He knows that Dumbledore is right – most of the time – and he has put his trust in him so much that if Dumbledore tells Harry to do or not do something, he obeys. Harry has learned many things from Dumbledore and trust is only one of them. He has grown so much from the time he was eleven to the time he turned seventeen. His growth is impacted by the decisions he makes starting out as a child, turning into a teenager, as he becomes a good student, and as he turns into a man.
Harry Potter starts out as a friendly and curious child. He gets to know people who become very close to him. His two best friends, Ron and Hermione, and his godfather, Sirius Black, help and care about him. By having these three people in his life, Harry can grow because he has people to talk to and support him. Harry is curious, but his curiosity has proven to be a help in his life. In his first year at Hogwarts, Harry is curious about what is hidden in the third-floor corridor, and when he finds out that there is a stone that keeps one from dying, he ends up stopping Voldemort from gaining immortal life. In Harry’s second year, he discovers the Chamber of Secrets through a diary and he ends up saving Ron’s sister when she is taken into the chamber. Harry learns that curiosity is a good thing, but he must exercise caution with it as well.
Due to certain events, Harry is forced to become a strong and brave teenager. Someone enters his name in a very dangerous tournament and he is forced to compete. He risks his own life and in the end, he defeats Voldemort, sees a friend die, and gets by with a narrow escape. By defeating Voldemort, he showed that he was brave enough to fight for himself. In his fifth year, Harry must deal with people accusing him of lying that Voldemort has returned, and Voldemort begins to invade his mind. Voldemort eventually takes advantage of this and lures Harry into a trap. Harry risks his own life and his friends’ lives to stop Voldemort from knowing an important prophecy. Harry also sees his godfather, Sirius, murdered. From experiencing the horrors of these events, Harry becomes stronger and learns from his mistakes.
After the life-threatening events of the past two years, Harry learns about trust and determination. He has private lessons with Dumbledore so that he can learn how to kill Voldemort. Dumbledore teaches Harry how to trust him and others. Harry learns about Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes, which are pieces of soul stored in objects that keep one from dying unless all the Horcruxes are destroyed. Harry develops the determination to find and destroy them so that he can kill Voldemort. In the end, Harry learns that it is hard to trust a person when one of his professors, Snape, kills Dumbledore. Harry grows and carries on with being determined and trusting others.
When Dumbledore dies Harry is more determined than ever to do what is right and finish what Dumbledore started. In the beginning, Harry is forced to hide when dark wizards take over the Ministry. While in hiding, Harry is determined to find the seven Horcruxes that he had started looking for with Dumbledore. By making the decision to find the Horcruxes he grows in the sense that he knows how to stick with his decisions. He knows that there is a Horcrux at Hogwarts and when he goes there, a war begins with the good side against the dark side. Harry finds out that he is one of the Horcruxes and sacrifices himself because he knows that it is right. Voldemort casts the killing spell on Harry but he doesn’t die; instead, the Horcrux inside of him dies. Harry ends up killing Voldemort and he learns that determination and doing what is right helped him destroy the most powerful dark wizard of all time.
Harry was a child that grew into a teenager, turned into a good student, and became a man because of the decisions he made. He grew a great amount from the time he received his first letter from Hogwarts to when he got married and started a family of his own. If he didn’t make the decisions that showed he was brave, a true friend, strong, trustworthy, and trusting, then he wouldn’t have grown into the man he became. People grow from the decisions they make, not the decisions that others made for them. Harry was a great example of an independent person who was able to make his own decisions but was able to rely on trust in the end. And yet, can a person just rely on trust?