Age

It was a little tough picking out a theme for Harry Potter book 5. It seems to take the themes of the previous 4 (love, family, choices, and good vs evil) and add a whole other layer to each one. However, I feel that there is a new theme that can be found in this book.

First of all, I want to briefly explain the greater depth of the previous themes. Love is very important in saving Harry's life yet again. When Voldemort takes over Harry's body and tells Dumbledore to kill him, it is Harry's thought of love toward his Godfather that forces Voldemort out. He cannot dwell inside him when love is there too. Then Dumbledore gives further insight to Harry on the powerful protection his mother put on him with her love. He explains that when Harry's aunt took him in as an orphaned baby, even reluctantly, the love that was in his mother's blood, is in her sister's blood and will always protect him. This is the reason he must return to his aunt and uncle's every summer. He hates it there, but it keeps that protection strong and has kept him safe all his life.

The theme of love goes even further as we gain a greater understanding of Dumbledore's feelings for Harry. He tells Harry how much he cares for him and how proud he is of his strengths and abilities. He kept vital information from him because he cared too much to burden him even more than he already was at such a young age (which will tie into the new theme in a minute).

Family. Harry learns new things about his parents in this book. He also learns a lot of about his Godfather, Sirius, who seems to be the only family he has left. Except for the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley call him their son. We learn about Neville's parents too and see the relationship he has with them.

Choices is a big one in this book too. First of all, Hogwarts becomes under the strict rule of the Ministry, who refuse to believe Voldemort is back. They don't allow anyone to talk about it and they don't teach how to perform defensive spells, saying there is no need. A lot of their freedoms are taken away, so it is up to those who do not agree with the Ministry to unwillingly obey or make their own rules. Fred and George flee the school all together. They have a business started and don't need to finish anyway. Harry, Hermoine, and Ron start a defense against the dark arts class of their own, teaching students how to perform defensive spells. Dumbledore flees the school instead of being arrested as well as Hagrid. One centuar decides to work at the school which results in him being kicked out of the herd. It seems like no matter what rules are set against them, they still made the choices they felt were right.

The other important aspect of choices is explained to Harry by Dumbledore. Before Harry was born, a prophecy was made about a boy who would be born the end of July to parents who had thrice escaped Voldemort. This boy would be the only one who could defeat him. This was all that Voldemort heard, so he made out to destroy this child. Here is where the choice was made that decided Harry's future. There were 2 boys born in the end of July to parents who had escaped Voldemort 3 times; Harry and Neville. The Dark Lord chose Harry, feeling that he would be the biggest threat to him. The rest of the prophecy stated that the Dark Lord would mark him as his equal and that the boy would have powers not known to the Dark Lord. Because Voldemort chose Harry and he was not able to defeat him, part of him was transferred to Harry, therefore making him his equal. The power he had that the Dark Lord didn't was of course, love. So, it was not merely destiny that made Harry "the boy who lived", but resulted from a choice made by Voldemort.

Since I'm sure you're getting rather bored now, I'll move onto the real theme that this post is about; age. Dumbledore explains a lot of things to Harry and uses age as his reason for waiting so long to tell him. He explains how there were times over the last 5 years that he could have told Harry these things, but kept telling himself that Harry was too young to be burdened with such information. He also uses the excuse "an old man's mistake" a lot when referring to things he did wrong. There is one quote that I really liked when Dumbledore is talking to Harry.

"'For I see now that what I have done, and not done, with regard to you, beats all the hallmarks of the failings of age. Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young...and I seem to have forgotten lately...'"

A child cannot be expected to understand how an adult thinks and feels. It is the adults responsibility, however, to understand how the child thinks and feels, since they have had the opportunity to experience it themselves. I just thought that was a cool thought.

I'm glad I'm doing this, even if most of you couldn't care less haha. I have enjoyed these books so much more this time around as I'm looking for lessons and themes. I've gained a greater appreciation for the characters and I absolutely love the conversations between Dumbledore and Harry. I feel like he's teaching me too. On to book 6! There are only 57 more days till the last movie comes out and I'm right on schedule with my reading. Actually, if I read my 30 pages a day, I'll be done 2 weeks before the movie. Yay!