Harry's Coming of Age

The Harry Potter series is known everywhere as being one of the best fictional stories ever written (the best, in my opinion). They are also a coming of age story. In my opinion, the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,  is the culmination of Harry's coming of age. 

The first big coming of age aspect of this novel is the romantic relationship that Harry forms with Ginny Weasley. He starts to develop feelings for her, and they end up together. He has never experienced anything like this before, and romantic relationships are a very big part of "growing up". He also shows his growth as a teenager through jealousy of Dean Thomas, Ginny's boyfriend at the beginning of the book. Again, he's never felt this way before, so this is a very big part of coming of age.

The second way Harry comes of age is by mourning a loss. Even though he is an orphan, he has never grieved for anyone before. This changes in the Half-blood Prince. Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, is killed in the previous book, and Harry learns to deal with this pain in the sixth book. He decides that the best way to deal with it is to avoid mentioning it, because he knows it makes it worse for him.

Harry also develops a strong bond with his headmaster/mentor, Albus Dumbledore. They set out together on some very important missions, and this forces Dumbledore to trust Harry much more than he ever has before. Although he has very strong friendships with his friends, this is completely new to Harry. That shows a great step forward in his maturity.

Harry Potter is a lot of things, and one of these things is a coming of age story. This essay was great because I was able to write about something I am very comfortable with and love a lot.


Comments

  1. locally locayleeJanuary 30, 2021 at 12:37 PM

    I think that there are coming-of-age aspects in all of the books/movies and I find it interesting you picked The Half-Blood Prince. I like how you focused on Harry's growth through his relationships besides his obvious growth as a wizard. Also, your writing is very concise, so I can understand the coming-of-age aspects with only the necessary parts of the plot left.

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  2. Raneem SaadahFebruary 1, 2021 at 8:21 PM

    I've always read Harry Potter for pure entertainment and never stopped to think about how Harry as developed through time, but this blog post got me thinking. I agree that the Half-Blood Prince is probably the book that Harry endured the most internal suffering (and growth). Harry goes through most of his trials with Ron and Hermione so it was interesting how you were able to disassociate Harry from them and show his personal development from a kid to "adulthood".

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  3. SerenityFebruary 6, 2021 at 9:56 AM

    It's interesting that you focus on his coming-of-age through his relationships with others. I agree that gaining trust and becoming friends/equals with a mentor is a very large step in the journey towards adulthood. I also agree that romantic relationships (especially first ones) can be a major learning experience and can lead to discovering more about ourselves and the people around us, which is crucial in coming-of-age.

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  4. Eliza D. TerzievFebruary 10, 2021 at 7:52 PM

    Personally, I think that Harry Potter is the single best coming of age story maybe ever, I was even considering writing about it myself. I really like your analysis about how relationships can be a big part of coming of age. However, I would probably say that in addition to the half-blood prince, the Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix also stand out to me as Harry's coming-of-age books. If I had to pick I think I'd say the Order of the Phoenix is the most concrete example. If we're continuing with the whole relationships in coming of age strand of thought, I think that really started for Harry in his 4th year with Cho, though that wasn't nearly as deep of a connection as with Ginny (though there was the jealousy). Also, I would say the moment that really cemented death for him was Cedric's death, which was the first of many times when someone (kind of) close to him died and he spent a very long time recovering (the entire summer before his 5th year). Great choice, you did a good job pin pointing specific elements of Harry's coming of age.

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    Replies
    1. Lorenzo PantanoFebruary 18, 2021 at 9:28 PM

      Yeah, I definitely agree. GOF and OOTP were both very important in Harry's coming of age, but to me, he was still a child at the time. With Harry's relationship with Cho, I saw that as a childish thing. He was learning new things and definitely taking steps towards becoming more mature, but I had a feeling that they "were just kids". A transitional step. And, with Cedric's death, I definitely think that it cemented death for him, but Harry and Cedric were not close at all. I'd even go the extra step and say that Harry disliked Cedric (whether it be through jealousy or just normal disliking). He always saw him as kind of arrogant, so his murder was completely different than Sirius'. Harry's parents died, and he lacked a father figure. Sirius filled that role perfectly. Just as Harry was starting to build a family for himself, the one thing that was holding him together (other than Ron and Hermione) was taken away. A much closer and devastating loss. Harry seemed to get over Cedric quite quickly, because he really wasn't that close with him.

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  5. Ilana C.February 14, 2021 at 1:11 PM

    I think that it’s really interesting how you chose to define Harry’s coming-of-age journey through the Half-Blood Prince specifically and how instead of more internal and individual growth, his maturity shows more through his relationships with others (whether that be Ginny, Sirius, or Dumbledore). I also like how you described that each of these relationships shows different development in Harry’s life: Ginny with more “serious” relationships with others, Sirius through the loss of innocence to death and experiencing devastating mortality, and Dumbledore with the need to take on more responsibility and overall mature and make decisions for himself. I also find it interesting that you chose this as the culmination of Harry’s coming-of-age journey, and not the final book in the series (which perhaps exhibits more internal growth or Harry using the skills that he learned in the sixth book). I think that this makes complete sense and you’re points are really strong! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Katya S.February 14, 2021 at 3:54 PM

      I totally agree with you that the Harry Potter series follows Harry as he comes of age. I think you're correct in judging that the sixth book is his main coming of age novel because it seems like that was the book where he went through the most emotional turmoil while trying to make sense of his world. Rather than a lot of the action-packed plot that is present in the other books, it feels like the sixth book is more about Harry dealing with his trauma (which he has a lot of) and then learning to move on and become the strong leader we see in book 7.

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    2. Lorenzo PantanoFebruary 18, 2021 at 9:32 PM

      Yeah, it's funny because I am an obsessed Potterhead. I know absolutely everything about Harry Potter, and as soon as I decided to write about coming of age in Harry Potter, the first (and only) option in my mind seemed to be HBP. It's a great book for character development and a way for the reader to attach themselves to the main characters before the devastating events of DH.

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