Harry's Understanding of Bullying

Bullying is a major theme within the Harry Potter series, perhaps because the books were written for a young audience. After all, books 1-4 represent the protagonists at ages 11-14, ages at which I remember bullying being the most rampant. Rowling originally focuses on school yard bullies, using them in the earlier books to provide clear enemies for Harry and “bad guys” against which the audience can root; however, as the series progresses and the audience gets older, Rowling matures the idea of bullying and allows for her characters to understand that the subject is more complex than they might have once thought. Harry, in particular, has been a focus of intense character development, and we see through his eyes how his idea of bullying changes as he ages.

In the first book, we see young Harry as a victim of bullying. He is referred to as his cousin Dudley’s “favorite punching bag” and not only is Harry physically abused by his cousin but he is also verbally abused by his aunt and uncle –he has always been the victim of bullying.  However, despite his awful childhood, he keeps his courage and smarts, which allows him to stand up to bullies once he arrives at Hogwarts.

One such instance involves Harry’s newfound nemesis, Draco Malfoy, picking on Harry’s house member, Neville Longbottom. During flying class, when Madam Hooch and Neville leave to get medical attention, Draco steals Neville’s Remembrall and Harry goes to great lengths to get to back, which ultimately leads to Harry being instated on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. This event demonstrates the simplicity of bullying as seen through Harry’s young eyes: bullying is wrong and must be opposed.

As I understand it, it is not until year four that I see this black-and-white image of bullying questioned; perhaps good characters can be bullies as well. The first instance of a “good” character being a bully is when Mad Eye Moody transfigures Draco into a ferret and bounces him off the tile in punishment for attempting to curse Harry ‘s turned back (The Goblet of Fire). Moody is inflicts pain and humiliation on Draco, bullying the student as a form of punishment. This scene shows a maturation of Harry’s ideals, since what was once black and white now has grey areas. He did not stand up for his nemesis, but he must understand that something is “off” about the situation; I certainly questioned why a “good” character would be bullying a student. Of course, we find out later that this Moody was indeed an evil character, but I believe that Rowling was using this scene as a way to add grey area to the theme of bullying, in addition to hinting about Mad Eye Moody’s character.

        While the Moody scene in The Goblet of Fire did progress the theme, the real turning point for Harry comes in the chapter entitled "Snape's Worst Memory" (The Order of the Phoenix) when he sees his sainted father cruelly bullying a young Snape.  This draws into question Harry’s preconceived notions about Snape, his father, Sirius, and about good and evil as a whole. This scene brings about great growth for Harry, as he no longer has a childlike view of his father, but instead begins to understand that good people sometimes do bad things. Rowling takes advantage of Harry and her audience’s growing maturity to demonstrate through bullying that “the world is not split into good people and Death Eaters” (The Order of the Phoenix), as Sirius told Harry earlier in the year.