The theme of Choice and Chance in Harry Potter:

The theme of Choice and Chance in Harry Potter:

             

                     We first meet Harry on his eleventh birthday; he’s a child about to enter puberty. We watch as he grows, and bear witness to the hardships he faces and his struggles to make the right choices in difficult circumstances. We leave Harry as an adult, with children of his own, having achieved maturity through his appreciation of his humanity. We also learn how Tom Riddle becomes Lord Voldemort. Tom, like Harry, is an orphan who struggles against difficult circumstances. Tom, though, makes very different choices. One of the most significant choices  Tom makes, at the root of his immorality, is his refusal to accept his mortality.

                   Over and over again in the novels it is made clear that it is a person’s choices and actions that are the defining elements of his moral character. It is not our ancestry, social roles, or wealth that makes us who we are.It is, as Albus Dumbledore tells Harry in

Chamber of Secrets, “our choices . . . that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”

(Klein)

Works Cited

Klein, Shawn E. Harry Potter and Humanity: Choice, Love, and Death. 19 February 2018 <https://reasonpapers.com/pdf/341/rp_341_3.pdf>.

(Avogadro)

Avogadro. Choice or Chance? 19 February 2018 <http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/essays/issue19/choice/>.