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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling has several models of childhood as discussed in Hintz
and Tribunella’s chapter, “Historicizing Childhood”. Their concepts of the romantic child, sinful child, working
child, child as radically other, and developing child can be applied to several characters. Some of the
characters encompass one or two of these concepts as the perception of these children by adults is radically
different that how the child is perceived by their peers. For example, the romantic child can be found in the
Aunt Petunia’s perception of her son, Dudley. She thinks he is the best, most wonderful, purest of children.
This is laughable at best as the readers and Harry know he is quite the opposite of this ‘ideal’. She treats him
as a child to be shielded from anything that is upsetting or difficult for him. Hintz and Tribunella write, “This
conception of children as somehow purer and more virtuous than adults, closer to nature and God, and
beautified by their naivete persists in contemporary times, both in literary and filmic representations of children
and in public policy debates involving the "protection" of children and childhood ignorance.”(Hintz and
Tribunella, page 17). Truth be told, Dudley is better described as falling into the category of sinful child or evil
child. Dudley’s intentions are centered entirely on his wants and needs; he does not care for the well being of
his cousin and gets upset when Harry is moved from the closet under the stairs, to the extra bedroom that was
being used to house Dudley’s broken and forgotten toys. Another model, the working child, is found in our
protagonist, Harry. Being orphaned as a baby and left to the whims of his jealous Aunt Petunia, Harry is
immediately delegated to roles that are servant-like in nature. All of the love, attention, hope, resources, etc.,
are given to Dudley while Harry is left to help with household chores and treated like an after-thought. Harry is
put into a position where he is held to the same responsibilities of an adult and his focus is on survival – not
being a child. He is also the held responsible whenever something goes wrong, even if it was obviously not his
fault.
These are just a few examples of how Hintz and Tribunella’s models of childhood are represented in the first
Harry Potter book. How do other characters fall into these categories? Are there other adults who perceive a
child one way while their peers perceive them to be something else?
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