LOVE, FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP
J K Rowling portrayed love, family and friendship in the first book in an engaging way. The twists and turns keep the readers cling to the novels. Harry Potter is an orphan child though he is brought up in his relatives’ home. The treatment of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon towards him is horrendous. Though his biological parents, Lily and James loved him a great deal yet his Muggle Aunt and Uncle bring him up in a dreadful manner. He does not receive any love from his own relative which was his only family after the death of lily and James at the hand of Voldemort. This lack of love and care is filled up when Harry receives the love in the friendship of Ron and Hermione. Though Hogwarts provided Harry with all his requirements and became a real home for him yet the life there was not without any challenges. Harry goes through challenges at Hogwarts.
MOTHER’S LOVE FOR A CHILD ACTS AS A SHIELD FOR HARRY
Lily and James sacrificed their own life for their son. This demonstrate that family can be a life-saving source of love. Harry’s story starts in the aftermath of his parent’s death. When he is only a year old, an evil wizard named Voldemort goes to the Potter home in order to kill Lily and James. Both are killed trying to protect their son, but Lily’s sacrifice in particular prevents Voldemort from being able to kill Harry, as it is implied that this love gives him a kind of magical protection. Additionally, when he tries to kill Harry, Voldemort becomes incredibly weak and disappears. The sacrifice that Lily makes continues to protect him even later in his life. Harry comes face-to-face with Voldemort again at the end of the novel; he has returned, even though he is weak, by taking over the body of a Hogwarts professor named Quirrell. Professor Quirrell is unable to touch Harry without being burned, which ultimately prevents him from being able to kill Harry. Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts, later reveals to Harry that Lily’s love is indeed what protected Harry and kept Quirrell
from being able to touch him. Dumbledore explains that “to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.” Thus, love becomes essentially the ultimate force for good and a weapon against evil.
Two different types of family have been presented in the novel, Harry’s own family and his Relative’ family. Harry receives all love and protection from his own family but receives nothing from his Uncle and Aunt’s Family. Rowling tries to show that family is not always a conduit for love. Rowling provides a counterexample to James and Lily in the Dursleys. Harry’s unpleasant aunt and uncle, who demonstrate how family ties without love essentially constitute meaningless bonds. Harry is deprived of his basic rights as a child and treated as almost a servant.
ROLE OF FRIENDSHIP:
Ultimately, friendships come to take the place of Harry’s family in terms of providing love, support, and protection. The friends that Harry makes at Hogwarts function as a kind of chosen family, as they allow him to feel loved, and, perhaps more importantly, help him to overcome challenges in his life. Ron and Harry, in turn, help another friend overcome a great challenge; when a troll is running loose at Hogwarts, they help to save another girl in their class, Hermione, from being killed by it. Buoyed by their ability to overcome this obstacle together, the three immediately form a tight-knit bond as a result—one that drives not only the rest of the plot of this book, but the rest of their seven years at Hogwarts. At the end of the novel, Harry is trying to prevent one of the professors, Snape, from obtaining the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is a powerful object that can grant its bearer eternal life. The Stone is guarded by several rooms, each bearing a different obstacle. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide that the best way to protect the stone is by stealing it first, they work as a team to get past these challenges. Hermione is able to remember a key detail from Herbology to get past a set of vines that threatens to strangle them; she also gets past a tricky logic puzzle. Ron takes the lead on a chess game with living pieces, even sacrificing himself in order to let Harry and Hermione advance without him. Harry uses his flying skills to retrieve a key with wings, allowing them to pass through yet another door. Only together are they able to advance, and thus their love and friendship is ultimately what allows Harry to face Voldemort and conquer him once more.