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How does Harry mature in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? Is it a coming-of-age story?
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In "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Harry matures significantly through his introduction to the wizarding world, where he learns about his heritage and develops courage and confidence. This coming-of-age story sees Harry choosing to be brave and good, despite his difficult past with the Dursleys. His placement in Gryffindor reflects his desire to forge his own identity, and by the story's end, he is more confident, no longer intimidated by his cousin Dudley.
Harry's first year at Hogwarts is possibly the most significant time in his life. The latter years get darker and more complicated, but it's the introduction to the wizarding world that builds the foundation of the person he'll become.
I believe that the most profound change in him has to do with courage. In Harry's life, it has both a positive and negative effect on him. He finds he will to stand up to people much more powerful than he is, but he also grows to be very foolhardy. All this begins on the day he arrives at Hogwarts and is sorted into his house. At that point, Harry has been rescued from the Dursleys by Hagrid and has met Ron Weasley, who will become one of his best friends. As a reader, it's important to understand exactly how receptive Harry was to these new influences. Having been bullied, abused,...
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and generally put down all his life, he was suddenly thrust into a world where he was viewed as a hero and a boy with great potential.
In that regard, I believe that everything that made Harry took place from the moment he met Hagrid until the moment the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor per his request. During that time, he found out that he was a wizard, that his parents had died fighting Lord Voldemort and that he was alive thanks to something miraculous. All of this had happened in mere weeks when the Sorting Hat was put on his head, and I do think that this is the most important moment in his development.
After everything that had happened to him, Harry could have easily been vengeful. The anger was there in him. In later years he often showed its colors, but it would have been very easy for him to choose a dark path then—to get the power to hurt the Dursleys back, to achieve the "greatness" the Hat promised him. However, Harry wished to be put in Gryffindor. With that, he became who he chose to be. Dumbledore emphasized the importance of that many times during his school years. He chose to be good, and since Gryffindor was the house of bravery in his eyes, Harry also chose to be brave.
You could say that the potential was in him all along, and that is true, but the Sorting Hat didn't lie either. We don't know what would have happened to Harry in Slytherin if he'd been sent there. But he had a lot of qualities that Slytherin valued, just like the Hat said. The difference was that Harry wanted to be good, to be brave, and to live up to the memory of his parents. Everything else that happened during his first school year affirmed that. He came out of his shell, Quidditch boosted his confidence, he made strong friendships, and so on, and when no one else would, he decided to stand up to Voldemort.
The lessons Harry learns in the first book mostly have to do with choices. His maturing takes the form of finally seeing that he doesn't have to be the person Dursleys made him out to be. He doesn't have to be the Boy Who Lived either, since it wasn't really he who stopped Voldemort when he was a baby. He could be who he chose to be and could shape his own destiny.
In my readings of Harry Potter, I have found that Harry was always more mature for his age because of all of his hardships (living with people who did not like him and treated him poorly) and responsibilities (the chores and tasks his aunt and uncle required him to do). However, I believe that it was Harry's confidence that matured in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. At the beginning of the story, Harry does his best to minimize his presence, to stay out of the way; of course, that does not always happen, as the various strange incidents that he had experienced can attest. He runs away from his bullying cousin and knows not to ask questions, claiming that as the first rule to a peaceful life with his family (page 21 in the UK paperback edition published in 2014); and when he does speak up, he is either shot down harshly (such as when he suggested staying at home while the Dursleys went to the zoo, pg. 24) or he wishes he had not even said anything (such as the conversation about his dream involving a flying motorbike, pg. 27).
At the very end of the story, when Harry is saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione, Harry shows that he no longer needs to run away from Dudley because he has magic; and even though he cannot use it outside of Hogwarts, the Dursleys did not know that, so he could use it to protect himself (pg. 332).