Harry's character development: Static or Dynamic? Was: Saving Private Draco

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183717

> > Carol responds:
>  
> > But is Harry "static" (unchanged by the events around him) or 
> dynamic
> > (changed in some fundamental and lasting way by those events)?
> 
> 
> Potioncat:
> Questions:
> 1. Is static and dynamic simply types, without value? 

Montavilla47:
General Disclaimer:  Your Mileage May Vary.

Both static and dynamic characters have value in a work
of fiction.  

We like to see characters change.  But, not all characters
can, or the work would become chaotic.  We need a few
static characters to provide support for those who are 
changing.

With longer works, I don't see why characters might not
switch parts--a static character might become dynamic
and then settle into being static again.


> 2. Is there some literary rule or tradition that a character should 
> be one or the other? 

Don't know.
 
> 3. What are some examples of other static and dynamic characters?

Well, Ebenezer Scrooge would be an example of a dynamic character, 
wouldn't he?  He goes from being a crochety old miser to being the 
man who best kept Christmas.

In trying to think up other examples, I wondering how much a 
character needs to change in order to be considered dynamic.  Is
Mrs. Coulter dynamic because she goes from destroying children
to loving her daughter?  Does Jo March change from being the 
awkward ugly duckling teen to the strong, loving woman--or is
she simply growing up?  (Likewise Amy, who goes from brat to 
gentle lady of the manor?)  Dido Twite likewise goes from brattiness
to confidence and courage over the course of about two books, but
her transformation seems more dynamic than Amy's, since she was
really headed in a bad direction in "Black Hearts in Battersea."

Does Huck Finn change, or does he remain the same?  When he
famously declares he'll go to hell rather than let Jim be sent back
into slavery is that a change or would he have always felt that way?

>4. Sirius Black went from a reckless, wild youth to a marose, bitter 
> man. Is that dynamic?

I think he changed from the couragous, driven man he was in PoA,
to the morose, bitter one in OotP.  But it's hard to say whether he 
was changing, or whether this was simply part of his personality
Harry hadn't had a chance to see before.

Which is where it becomes tricky, right?  Because the seeds are
always there in the character to begin with.

If you have watched the "Up" documentaries (which follow a 
group of British schoolchildren from the ages of 7 through--
I think they are up to age 49 now), you'll see that the people
go through tremendous changes.  They change jobs, they
change spouses, they have children, their parents die....  One
of the girls goes from being a nervous wreck at 21 to a 
beaming, radiant mother at 28.

But, you can always see the seed of their adult lives in
the children that they were.