Birth, Doubt, Fear, Pride, Disillusionment

[mightymaus75]

No: HPFGUIDX 79715



One of the things that struck me most when I read OotP was the fact 
that the book seemed to have a very clear-cut theme: disillusionment. 
It made me wonder if not perhaps each of the Harry Potter books has 
one single defining theme. It seems to me that they do; In each book 
Harry faces a new obstacle, overcomes that obstacle, and goes back to 
the Dursleys a little wiser and a little stronger. 

Here's what I found so far:

Book 1 – Birth. This is in fact the book I'm least sure about. But 
most of the book seems to deal with Harry's introduction in the 
Wizarding World. Everything is new to him and he has to learn a lot 
before he can come into his own, and finally face Voldemort. This 
theme is then visualised by the birth of Norbert the Dragon. 

Book 2 – Doubt. The book starts right away with Harry's doubts about 
his friends, and whether he really belongs in the Wizarding World. 
And for a large part it deals with Harry's doubts about being the 
heir of Slytherin, and whether he really belongs in Gryffindor. Harry 
then finally conquers these doubts when Dumbledore explains to him 
that it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities.

Book 3 – Fear. Harry spends most of the book conquering his fear of 
dementors, as well as his fear of death and his fears about his 
destiny. Something which he does when he finally is able to create a 
powerful Patronus during the Quidditch game. As a visualisation of 
this theme there are the bogards who become precisely that which you 
fear most. 

Book 4 – Pride. Harry's pride prevents him from accepting help from 
his friends. Pride also prevents him from making up with Ron. Only 
during the last task is able to leave his pride behind him when he 
lets go of the mental image of him winning the Triwizard Tournament 
and proposes to take the cup together. There is also the pride of 
Barty Crouch which ultimately caused his son to end up in Azkaban.

Book 5 – Disillusionment. During the book Harry finds out that his 
role as the hero who always neatly solves everything isn't that 
simple. In life it doesn't always end with a happy ending, and Harry 
certainly cannot solve everything by playing the hero. There is of 
course also Sirius' death. The fact that Harry leads the Dursleys out 
of the train station at the end of the book seems to suggest he has 
overcome his disillusionment, and that he's now more confident with 
his own role. As a visualisation of this theme there is the 
Disillusionment charm at the begin of the book.

Book 6 – Anger ??? / Hate ??? The death of Sirius and the growing 
influence of Voldemort may well cause Harry to become even angrier 
than he already was in OotP.

Book 7 – Death ???  If the theme of the first book is birth, the last 
book could be about death. To those of you who have read my theory on 
the outcome of Harry's final fight with Voldemort it won't come as a 
surprise that I believe Harry might well die before the end of the 
series.

Now, I'm not at all sure that these are in fact the themes JKR had in 
mind when she was writing the books. Book 1 and 4 especially I am not 
so certain about. Also in book 2 and 4 I haven't been able to find an 
object or spell or creature that really embodies the main theme, like 
the birth of Norbert, the bogards, or the Disillusionment charm. So 
any suggestions of possible alternative main themes or visualisations 
of those themes would be very welcome. Is JKR perhaps following some 
standard list of stages we all go through in order to grow up? 

-Maus