Character Development And Symbolism In Harry Potter By J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling grows in her skills as a writer during the Harry Potter book series. All of the books carry the same basic plot order with few exceptions, but the reason the writing gets better as the books go on is the character development and characterization with symbolism. In the first two books, the focus is on magic and world building whereas the third is about filling in details about the past; specifically about Harry’s father and his friends. Harry’s father, James, and his friends are Animagi and Rowling is careful to pick animals that represent their personalities and roles in the story. Remus Lupin arguably turns into the most dangerous animal out of all his friends especially since he can not control it, but to the audience he is meant to be seen as a character to feel pity and sympathy for. Lupin is a werewolf which technically makes him not an Animagi but since he is the reason the rest of the group become Animagi, the animal he turns into is still significant. “‘He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn’t he?’”(Rowling 83) From the moment he appears on the train to Hogwarts, he seems to stick out as someone who needs help because he is a professor but he is wearing tattered robes. However, this is contradicted at first by his position at Hogwarts; Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher which seems to be the only job for secretly evil people to get at Hogwarts. The significance of Lupin being a werewolf comes also into play when the other students