No I don’t mean Harry Potter is literally a mirror as the
title of this blog post suggest, and I also don’t intend to make the argument
that J. K. Rowling intended for the Mirror of Erised to be a metaphor for the
character of Harry Potter. Contrarily, I am arguing that the character of Harry
Potter lacks any significant substance, this includes character flaws; therefore,
young readers of these novels are able to project themselves into his
adventures. Likewise, the Mirror of Erised show the onlooker their hearts greatest
desire. Harry is simply a blank canvas and we the readers eagerly paint a
self-portrait on him.
It could
be because this novel was written for a younger audience, but the character of
Harry Potter is very passive and the majority of his characteristics seem to be
external in nature. His character flaws are not necessarily internal faults,
but rather external struggles with his muggle relatives, snide peers, or evil
wizards. Harry’s primary internal flaw seems to only be his inability to ask
for the help of others, and this is evident when the troll is loose in Hogwarts
and Harry and Ron take it upon themselves to rescue Hermione (173). Although Harry
does go to Professor McGonagall before attempting to reach the Sorcerer’s Stone
before Voldemort does, and she dismissively retorts, “I don’t know how you
found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it’s
too well protected” (268). In this first book of the series, his primary
motivation is solely to thwart the plans of Voldemort. At very best, Harry’s character
traits could be boiled down to him being inherently heroic and his inability to
ask for or receive help.
With Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone being an escapist novel by the nature of
its plot, the bland character of Harry Potter acts as a gateway, a Platform
Nine and Three Quarters if you must, through which the reader can see what they
most desire: a magical reality to escape too. This utterly ordinary origin
story of Harry seems intentionally crafted in order to meet the reader where
they are, in the real world, instead of ejecting them headfirst into a
witchcraft fantasy. In the first chapter, Dumbledore explains his reason for
doing this when he says to Professor McGonagall, “It would be enough to turn any
boy’s head. Famous before he could walk or talks… can’t you see how much better
he’ll be” (13). Perhaps it is because the character of Harry is so removed from
his own narrative that allows this novel to be such a success as an escapist
novel. Harry is very much a product of his environment, and, with that
environment being an otherwise unmagical upbringing, this provides an easy
transition from the ordinary world into the magical reality as the reader
learns and explores along with the central figure of this novel.
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