Friday, February 6, 2015

Finding Strength in Knowledge: Harry's Journey to Extroversion

One of the most interesting elements that we’ve discussed throughout the semester, for me, is the discussion of introversion and extroversion. After looking at my life experiences, I discovered that I had a transition from introversion to extroversion over a span of several years. This I find is very similar to what Harry Potter experiences throughout the book.

At the beginning of the novel, it’s very apparent that due to the unfortunate home situation that he was “forced” into by the untimely death of his parents, Harry was a total introvert. His Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin are completely different and rude to Harry. They treat him so poorly that he finds solace in being quiet. It’s a way for him to survive. He keeps to himself most of the time to avoid conflict, ridicule, and general torture. In the beginning, it’s pretty clear that Harry was an introvert.  

Throughout his journey in finding the truth about who is truly is, Harry begins becoming more and more extroverted as the story unfolds. He finds out some very detrimental information about what happened to his parents and how he received his iconic scar and with each piece of information he gathered, Harry grows. He becomes very interested in finding out more about who he is and what he is capable of. As this story unfolds, I am sure that Harry will keep busting out of his introverted shell on his journey to extroversion.

1 comment:

  1. I’m such a Harry Potter geek that I’m just loving all of these Harry Potter posts! I agree with you immensely about Harry being an introvert, but I would like to say something about your descriptors for why. Harry is usually quite; this is true. But I’m a little unsure of his “avoid conflict” trait. I always found Harry to be a little bit of a Sass Master, even before I started keeping a count of how many times that he is sassy about something. Harry is smart, Dudley is dumb. Harry knows that Dudley is dumb, Dudley doesn’t know that Harry is smart. As a result of this, Harry is often verbally burning him (more or less sassing him) but Dudley is just too dumb to notice. While Harry does not actively look for getting beaten up, he does seem to get pleasure from outwitting his cousin. Sometimes, he needs to pay for his sassiness, but it almost seems like he can’t help but provoke Dudley, just a little, at times. But that being said, Harry really is an introvert.

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