Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past 20 years, you’ve at least heard of Harry Potter. An amazing book series by author J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter tells a tale of a young wizard, whose parents were killed when he was 1 year old by a dark wizard, called Lord Voldemort. At the age of 11 Harry discovers his true wizard identity, despite his abusive aunt and uncle’s attempts to keep this from him, and is able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he learns how to use magic, and meets his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. Over the course of the series, Harry and his friends have frequently had to face monsters and beasts, as well as Lord Voldermort’s followers, and Voldemort himself. Ultimately, it is up to Harry Potter, the chosen one, “the boy who lived,” and his friends to protect the world from Lord Voldemort and his army of dark wizards, who call themselves the Death Eaters.
There are many reasons as to why these books have become popular and one of the most commonly stated reasons is this – these books are relatable. They mimic experiences that many of us lived through and represent the struggles most of us understand. Sure, not many of us were orphaned by a dark wizard at an early age, however, many of us can relate to the feeling that we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, along with struggling to fit in.
Not fitting in, in particular, is a theme that’s consistently present throughout the series. In nearly every Harry Potter book we find examples of someone being mistreated for not conforming to society’s norms, for failing to meet the artificial cookie cutter expectations set forth by others. For example, in the beginning of the very first book, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, Harry is sent to live with his aunt and uncle (Vernon and Petunia Dursley), and their son Dudley, after his parents were murdered. The Dursleys’ apparent fear of anything out of the ordinary leads to them forbidding Harry from asking any questions about his parents or from making any references to magic. On his 11th birthday, Harry found out the truth – he is a wizard, a magical being, and his own parents were a witch and a wizard too.
At this time his relatives’ opposition to magical beings becomes apparent, in particular when Petunia, furious, informs Harry that she knew he was a wizard. After all, how could he not be, given what his mother, her sister, Lily, was: A FREAK! Petunia is full of rage, disgust, and arguably, jealousy, when she speaks of her perfect sister.
Even at Hogwarts, where everyone is a witch or a wizard, just like Harry, we encounter numerous examples of bullying. For example, one of Harry’s classmates, Draco Malfoy, constantly bullies Harry and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In trying to make his snide remarks as painful as possible, Draco usually chooses to attack Ron for his family’s financial struggles, such as “‘What would you know about it [referring to an expensive broom, Nimbus 2001], Weasley, you couldn’t afford the handle…I suppose you and your brothers have to save up, twig by twig.”Draco also frequently bullies Hermione for being Muggle-born (born to non-magical parents), calling her a Mudblood, which is a [discriminatory] derogatory term.
When it comes to Harry, Draco has an abundance of insults for him. For instance, in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” we learn that Harry is quite sensitive to the influence of the Dementors, terrifying creatures, which normally guard a prison called Azkaban, and who in this book were on the hunt for an escaped convict, Sirius Black. The Dementors are known to feed on human emotions, in particular, despair, as well as painful memories. Since Harry experienced much tragedy in his lifetime, they had a particularly strong effect on him, causing him to lose consciousness as the memories of his parents’ murder would come streaming into his brain. When Draco realizes the overwhelming influence the Dementors have on Harry, he starts dressing up as a Dementor specifically to taunt Potter. As the series continues, we see how bullying can transfer to outright cruelty, as we learn about Draco’s hand in helping the Death Eaters sneak into the school, nearly killing one of the students in the process and agreeing to murder the school’s Headmaster.
The teasing and bullying is not only seen in the Hogwarts students, but in the teachers as well. Severus Snape, who to be fair, deserves a blog post of his very own, frequently bullies Potter and his friends due to the fact that he, Severus, was bullied by Harry’s father and his friends as a child. Furthermore, Professor Dolores Umbridge, arguably one of the cruelest characters in the series, who strips the school of any fun activities, is seen torturing Harry when he openly disagrees with her. Specifically, Umbridge asks Harry to repeatedly write lines, “I must not tell lies”, which then are razor etched into his hand. Umbridge is later seen gladly torturing Muggle-born witches as the ministry falls under Death Eaters’ control.
When Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters come to power, we witness the magical community undergoing a war parallel to World War II, where the dark wizards, born to other witches and wizards (ie., Purebloods), want to exterminate Muggles (regular, non-magical humans), as well as Muggle-born witches and wizards. We also learn about the terrible intolerance of other species, such as elves, for example, who are treated as slaves rather than living beings.
Yet, as horrible are the doings of some of the book characters, so too are the wonderful and heroic deeds of other characters that we read about. Harry Potter and his friends sacrifice themselves on countless occasions in order to rescue their friends and family members. Hermione, for one, is a wonderful example of someone who is both courageous and compassionate. She is always the first one to comfort the elves who do (and even those who do not) need her help. She will stop at nothing to rescue someone, human, elf, or beast. On numerous occasions Harry himself risks his own life to help others, including his nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
In reading the Harry Potter series we learn what cruelty is, we are reminded of what unspeakable horrors human beings are capable of, and most importantly, we are reminded of how amazing human beings can be. Through seeing the world through Harry’s eyes, we hurt when he hurts and we heal when he does too. As readers, many of us can connect to Harry, or perhaps one of the other characters, whether it is Ron, Hermione, or one of his other classmates, such as Neville or Luna. We might also connect with one of his teachers, such as Lupin, or Severus Snape. And through this connection we understand, and for many of us, remember, what it feels like to be bullied, to be mistreated, to be put down, and through the trials and triumphs of our heroes, we might heal too.
Throughout the stories we learn about pain and we also learn about compassion. Compassion is the ability to understand what another being is going through (empathy) and the desire/action to alleviate the suffering of that being. For example, when Harry found out how terribly Dobby, the house elf, was treated by the Malfoy family, he empathized with the elf (having been physically abused by the Dursleys) and wanted to help him. He ended up figuring out a way to trick Draco’s father into setting Dobby free.
Perhaps one of the most touching examples of compassion is seen in the last book/movie, the Deathly Hallows. When Severus Snape, a teacher Harry loathes, is dying from a toxic snake bite, Harry comforts him. Gently holding Snape’s face with his hand, Harry stays with him until he passes, a scene that broke many of our hearts.
Several studies have found that reading the Harry Potter series produces meaningful benefits in terms of increasing empathy in the readers, as well as assisting the readers with coping with painful experiences, including grief, bullying, and dealing with prejudice. For example, one study found that children who read passages from Harry Potter relating to prejudice reduced their own prejudice toward immigrants (Experiment 1) and toward the LGBT population (Experiment 2). Another study found that reading such passages of Harry Potter resulted in activation of brain regions related to pain and empathy. The reason why the pain regions of our brain might be involved in the processing of Harry Potter chapters, is because when we identify with certain characters, we might start to feel what they feel. Let’s say that someone really likes Neville, that person would probably feel pain when Neville is being pushed around by Draco or embarrassed by Snape. Taken together, these studies highlight the importance of engaging works of fiction, such as Harry Potter, in teaching compassion and perhaps promoting altruism in its readers.
Coming up next: What Harry Potter books teach us about facing our fears
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