Do the books parallel with various stages of life?

[Author By Night]

If you look at each book, is it possible to draw any parallels to the various phases we go through at each age?

The first two books are about Harry ultimately losing a lot of his innocence, and realizing that hatred and evil is very, very real. I think that this is true of anyone Harry's age in those books - we start to notice that strangers don't always offer friendly hands, and we start to notice that we really are judged by such little things. You no longer make friends by offering people crayons.

In the third book, Harry's parents are made real to him, and he has to reconcile his feelings towards his Godfather. At thirteen, we begin to question who our loved ones are, and we're torn between sitting on their laps and slamming doors in their faces. (Notice that in the fifth book, Harry finds out that his two father figures were actually prats at times in school. His doubt is returning, is it not?)

What other parallels do you see? Do the books truly mirror a youth's journey to adulthood, using fantasy as a tool?

[gracehasvictory]

I don't think there's any question that Harry Potter is a Bildungsroman. One of its strengths is that Harry is so real for a boy of whatever age he is supposed to be.

Most specifically, Harry symbolically grows up at the moment when he defeats Voldemort. After that his scar no longer hurts - he has left childhood behind.

[vegablack]

I think the way the books grew with Harry as he aged was one of their great strengths. Harry perceives his experiences in book one as an eleven year old. He reacts as a fifteen year old in the fifth book and he acts independently as an adult and demands adult respect in the last book. I would argue that he still thinks like a teen in the last book, but that too is acurate. A seventeen or eighteen year old, while more mature than a fifteen year old still lacks adult reactions and thoughts.

Book five very much mirrors Harry's maturing into adolescnece. He is disilusioned and experiences death, grief, and love, but the truth about the weaknesses of adults, but he discovers them in an immature adolescent way. Consequently we have Capslock Harry. I thought that made the book stronger not weaker and was brave of JKR.

[kelleypen]

I agree. I had a 15 year old son at the time book 5 came out. Unlike many of my friends, I had no problem believing Harry was acting like a 15 year old boy. My son was that emotional too.

[vegablack]

That was my experience as well Kelleypen. I had teenage boys when I read the book five and thought Harry was very in character. (I had expected drama when from my daughter but was surprised by the amount of storm and emotion teenage boys generate as well.)

I had a child that matched Harry's age for every one of the seven books. My youngest son graduated High School the year the seventh book came out. I felt a special link with Harry and the series for that reason.

I never viewed Harry's and his friends as peers but rather as my kid's friends. This influenced my view of Snape and Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore and McGonagall. I have more sympathy with Mrs. Weasley and less with the teachers for that reason.