Kripa Shah Literature Review: Becoming Voldemort Terms: Voldemort: One of the main characters of the Harry Potter

series, Voldemort is considered the antagonist. According to Shah, killing is nothing to him because he is full of evil and is obsessed with gaining power/being the most powerful wizard (pg. 2). Voldemort has no family throughout the entire series; he only has his army along with a close group of sidekicks. He has many people that believe he can conquer power, but he does not care for anyone but himself. The one and only living thing he cared about was his snake, Nangini, and that is only because it carries a part of Voldemorts soul. Wizard: A wizard is someone in the magical world of Harry Potter that is able to cast spells and will attend Hogwarts at some point to master wizardry. Harry Potter: He is the main character of the entire series and is considered the protagonist. Shah (2014) says he is considered the one due to the fact that he survived as an infant against the enemy, Voldemort (pg. 1). Harry Potter receives a lot of attention from not only the entire wizard world, but also gets a lot of concern from Professor Dumbledore and the Weasley family (along with a few others). His two best friends, Ron and Hermione, always stay by his side and they accomplish everything together. The only person left in his family was Sirius who was later killed by Voldemort. Horcrux(s): There are seven of these objects and each one is part of Voldemorts soul. He wanted to be immortal; therefore, he split his soul into seven parts and locked them inside of horcruxes. Ben (2011) gives the definition by stating that it is an item of dark magic that holds a

piece of soul, used to attain immortality (p. 1). In order to defeat Voldemort, Harry Potter must find each Horcrux and destroy it to protect the magical world from being corrupted. Muggle: A human from the real world; never considered a wizard. Pureblood: A wizard who is purely a human of the magic world; created by two parents who are purely wizards. Halfblood: A wizard who is half muggle, half wizard; still considered a wizard because they have the ability to cast spells and perform magic. Childhood Development This paper traces a narrative concerning how family helps specific characters to accept their own mortality. In contrast, Voldemorts characters lack of family love causes him to seek out a way to control death. There are many concepts that are involved in the development of a child and many aspects that affect the childs future. Parents are a tremendous impact on a childs life, without them the child can be considered incomplete. A parent is a key provider that supplies not only necessary nutrients, but also love and protection. LaFortune agrees by saying (2014), having their parents show an interest in their activities develops a strong sense of self in the child (pg. 1). This quote shows that parental interest goes a long way in a childs life. This is something Voldemort lacks. Although Harry also lacked parent involvement, he still had people taking good care of him starting at the age of eleven. Voldemort never had anyone pay heed to him in a loving and affectionate manner. Children need their own guide that shows them what is right and wrong; they need someone to lead them into a positive lifestyle. A child needs someone that devotes even a little attention to him/her self. Seifert states that, A child who is part of a stable family environment develops a sense of belonging -- which leads to a healthy self-esteem, confidence and individuality (pg. 1).

I feel that this comment explains why Voldemort is overly confident and is obsessed with power. His lonely childhood leads to him wanting to rule the world and conquer total power control. The Anti-Hero Voldemort grew up as an orphan; automatically you know that he will feel lonely and unwanted. The Newsweek Staff (2011) states, Young Voldemort was an orphan and denied any kind of parental affection or love, so hes been an isolated figure from a very young age (p. 1). According to Adrienne (2013), The orphanage workers considered him a strange child, and is it hard to imagine just how little affection (never mind love) they might have given him (pg. 1). This statement shows that even at the orphanage, Voldemort received little to no affection from the staff; therefore, he was not well-nurtured or taken care of. This lack of care from family or family-like figures leads to Voldemort completing negative (evil) deeds and he ends up full of negativity. Voldemort is considered the anti-hero not only because he is the protagonist, but also because he simply does not perform heroic deeds. Bunting says that anti-heroes are what society detests: cruelty, cowardice, self-interest, and dishonesty (pg. 1). Voldemorts childhood development was not much of a development. Finnes (2011) says Voldemort doesnt know what love is; its a language he doesnt understand (p.1). This statement is referring to the love you receive from a family. As mentioned earlier, love is not the only ingredient children acquire from parents, they also from an attitude that is shown to others around them. Unfortunately, some parents are full of negativity and that causes their child to have an egotistical or rude attitude. Malfoy is a great example of this; his family teaches him bad things and that is clearly shown through his attitude toward the protagonists. Husain states (2009), There are some

wizardslike Malfoys familywho think that they are better than everyone else because their people are all pure blood (Rowling 1998: 89) (p. 7).