MATERNAL ATTACHMENT in JK ROWLING's HARRY POTTER
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i THE MAGIC OF A MOTHER’S LOVE: MATERNAL ATTACHMENT IN J.K. ROWLING’s HARRY POTTER SERIES A thesis submitted to the Kent State University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors By Adrienne Savoldi, December 2013 i ii Thesis written by Adrienne Savoldi Approved by ______________________________________________________, Advisor _____________________________________, Chair, Department of English Accepted by __________________________________________, Dean, Honors College ii iii Table of Contents Foreword…………………………………………………………………………….…1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…...3 Chapter One…………………………………………………………………………….9 Applying Mother Theory to Harry Potter Chapter Two……………………………………………………………………………23 Psychoanalysis in Harry Potter: A Literature Review Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………..31 The Lost Boys: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, and Parental Affection Chapter Four……………………………………………………………………….......60 The Boy Who Wasn’t Chosen: Neville Longbottom and His Present, Yet Absent, Parents Chapter Five………………………………………………………………………...…73 Man Behind the Monster: Hagrid and Motherless Magical Creatures Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...……...84 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...…87 iii iv Acknowledgments This project was greater than anything I ever attempted before, and I could not do it without a number of individuals. First, a special thank-you to Dr. Vera Camden, my advisor, for all her help and guidance with this project, as well as for giving me the opportunity to be her research assistant, all of which helped me realize my desire and passion to become a librarian. I would also like to thank my defense committee: Dr. Susan Sainato for her phenomenal Children’s Literature class in spring 2011, Dr. James Bracken for employing me and for showing me all those beautiful rare books, and Dr. Elizabeth Howard for her excellent suggestions regarding this paper. Additional thank- yous to the wonderful people in the English Department and Honors College, especially Dr. Kimberly Winebrenner and Mrs. Victoria Bocchicchio for starting me on this project. On a more personal level, thank you to Mom and Dad for putting up with me all these months as I struggled to complete this project. Thank you both for your love and patience, and for sending me to Kent State and for giving me the opportunities to pursue my dreams. Also, thank you to my friends, particularly those in the Kent State Library and the Kent State University Parish Newman Center, for allowing me ranting time when this project seemed too stressful or impossible. Lastly, but most importantly, thank You, God, for using this project to teach me that being myself is always best. iv 1 Foreword: The Boy Who Changed the World Children, both young and grown, all over the world are still meeting, mostly on the Internet, raising their butterbeers and saying, “To Harry Potter – the boy who changed our lives.” I will never forget the Christmas I met Harry. I was in second grade, and my aunt and uncle sent me the first two Harry Potter books as my gift that year. “I would like to read those,” my mother said as I opened them. “I heard they’re good.” For a while, the books remained dormant on our table in the dining room until the day when a boy in my class offered to have a contest with me: who could finish Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone first? At the start, he was winning, but then I was able to pull ahead and finish first. Immediately after, I started Chamber of Secrets. Later that year, when I was in third grade, a family event forced me to grow up a bit faster than the rest my classmates. The only friend I felt comfortable turning to was Harry. He knew what is was like to be alone and scared and friendless. The Harry Potter books were my childhood, but, even more than that, they became my life. I was present at the midnight releases for the last three books, and, when I closed Deathly Hallows at 9 a.m. on Saturday 21 July 2007, I was finished. I had completed the book in nine hours. All I could do was lie in my bed and stare at the vibrant orange cover knowing that it was all over. My childhood had finally reached its end. In October 2013, I gave a presentation at my church on Christianity in Harry Potter. As I looked out at my friends, I said that my whole life, even the fact that I was an English major, was because of Harry Potter. As soon as I said it, I knew it was true. Reading Harry Potter made me want to learn. It made me hungry for information. Where 1 2 did Rowling get those names? What were her favorite books? Oh, wow, I want to read that, too! The rest is history. 2 3 Introduction: Making Sense through Books Every time I read the Harry Potter books, I discover something new about them, things I did not pick up on during my 100th reading but noticed during my 200th. It can be easy to dismiss Harry Potter, as it is to dismiss most children’s books, of just being “kid books” of no literary merit. However, Lanes disagrees saying, “Books encountered in childhood are often remembered with affection throughout life, and some of them color the child’s response to many subsequent experiences” (Lanes 3). I had a debate with a friend once regarding the question, “Should adults read books for kids?” His argument was no, because there comes a point when a person must grow up, and, in taking that step back and embracing childhood, one forgets that there is a future ahead. While I understand his point, I strongly disagree. For a children’s book to be a good, lasting one, it has to pass the “adult test”: does an adult enjoy the book as much as a child? In my own experience, the books I love most from my childhood are the ones that I can read as an adult and still enjoy. Though I try to branch out and read other books, I naturally gravitate to children’s books when looking for something new to read. While it can be easy to forget what it was like to be a child, our childhood experiences shape us into the adults we become. In my present life, the pastimes I enjoy and the literature that captures my attention most is, in some way, related to my childhood experiences. So, what exactly makes the Harry Potter books so special? To start, the books are scary. Harry’s parents are dead, and he is an orphan. While not all of Harry’s readers will empathize with Harry for being orphaned, everyone knows 3 4 what it feels like to be along and unwanted. No person grows up without experiencing some sort of psychological trauma. As Greenspan says, Certain basic emotional foundations for security are laid down in the early years of life and reworked and solidified during the grade school and adolescent years. If these foundations are not in place, children may run into problems during both early and later development. When they are firmly established, they constitute a base upon which all future emotional development is grounded and a sense of inner security can be built. (Greenspan 45) Not all children experience all these emotions at once, or at the same time, but some do. Some are like Harry, born into a world of lies, violence, and heartbreak. There is a line from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that always brings tears to my eyes. When Harry and Hermione visit the Potters’ ruined home in the village of Godric’s Hollow, they see a sign that says the ruined home has been “left as a monument to the Potters and to the violence that tore apart their family” (Hallows 332–333). Upon my seemingly hundredth re-read of Deathly Hallows, I stared at the end of that sentence: “the violence that tore apart their family.” That struck a chord with me because, while in the midst of reading the Harry Potter books, it is hard to see Harry as an orphan or even as a victim of violence because he seems so like us, yet he is a victim, and so are his parents. Naturally, these experiences shape him and define him, particularly as he grows up and learns more about the world of which he was not a part for ten years. 4 5 Many children in the Harry Potter universe have destroyed lives. There are few “traditional” families, and in many cases, even the traditional families are broken for some reason or other. There is no perfect family. The Dursleys can try to say “that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much” (Stone 1), but, in Rowling’s world, appearances are meant to be destroyed. Nothing is ever as it seems. The heroes are not always the strong and powerful. These include children, as well as other “lesser” creatures, who are “given roles with initiative and courage” (Wolosky 153). Elves, teenagers not old enough to join the Muggle military, centaurs, imperfect wizards such as Tonks and Neville who have difficulty mastering spells, half-bloods such as Hagrid struggling to integrate themselves into society, and werewolves such as Remus Lupin are summoned to fight together for the betterment of the wizarding world. These people are embraced by a calling higher than their own. Despite humble beginnings and past histories of loneliness and sadness, these characters rise above their traumatic origins and emerge, like the phoenix from the ashes, as the heroes and leaders who bring the wizarding world into the next generation. Childhood Trauma The Harry Potter books are about life, death, sacrifice, and love. When Harry’s parents are murdered, he lives with his aunt and uncle who do not want him.