Kelley Pujol Writes: The Portrayal of Gifted Children in the Harry Potter Book Series

The portrayal of gifted children in the Harry Potter book series

Dr. Maria Montessori states in her book The Absorbent Mind, “The child has a different relation to his environment from ours. Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it; but the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear. In us the same things produce no change, but the child is transformed by them” (Montessori 1995, 61-62). These words take on special meaning when read in the context of the Harry Potter book series. The crux of the story involves the fact that as Harry witnessed Voldemort murder his parents and Voldemort’s failed attempt to murder him, Harry inadvertently absorbed a piece of Voldemort’s fractured soul. Yet Harry’s life is spared because his mother loved him so much that she sacrificed her life to save him. Although Harry has no conscious memory of this, his mother’s love, Dumbledore explains to Harry at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “…leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us protection forever. It is in your very skin” (Rowling 1997, 299). While all children crave and deserve such love, gifted children are especially susceptible to being overly sensitive both to their environments and to the subtle emotional overtones of their relationships (Pagnani 2008). Author J.K. Rowling does an excellent job in the Harry Potter book series of creating characters who are gifted children and portraying their individual traits and situational reactions to their life circumstances. Two such characters are Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.
It is a common misconception that the term “gifted” refers only to children who are academically gifted. While this can certainly be one aspect of giftedness, it is not the only area in which a child can be gifted. There are also varying degrees of giftedness even when speaking strictly of intelligence quotient measurements. For example, a child with an IQ of 140 would be considered gifted, but that child would be a very different case than a child with an IQ of 170 or above – as different as a child with an average IQ of 100 is from a child with a low IQ of 70 (Webb et al 1994,4-6). Add to this the fact that there is a higher incidence of Attention Deficient Disorder and spelling/handwriting disabilities in the gifted population verses the normal population, and one can begin to see what a chameleon the idea of a “typical gifted child” can become (The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee 1997).
The character of Hermione Granger is the type of child most individuals would think of when asked to point out a gifted child. Hermione is academically superior to just about all her peers. The character Remus Lupin tells Hermione towards the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that she is “the cleverest witch” of her age that he had ever met (Rowling 1999, 394). When in that same novel, Hermione nearly gives herself a nervous breakdown by overextending herself academically, she is given some help by Professor McGonagall who procures permission for Hermione to use a “Time Turner” in order to enable Hermione to go back in time and do several lessons at once (Rowling 1999, 395-396). While this magical invention is helpful to Hermione in achieving her goals and in later allowing Hermione to help Harry save his godfather Sirius Black from having to return to the prison of Azkaban, it does not address the root of the problems that Hermione shares with many other gifted children. Those problems are dealing with the trait of being a perfectionist, of feeling emotions more intensively than others, and of having trouble relating to and fitting in with less gifted peers (Meckstroth 2007, 311-322).
This preoccupation with being perfect is demonstrated when Hermione is taking her exam for Professor Lupin in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Rowling writes, “Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart (a shape-shifter which reveals one’s greatest fear) in it. After a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming… ‘P- P- Professor McGonagall!’ Hermione gasped, pointing at the trunk, ‘Sh –she said I’d failed everything!’ It took a little while to calm Hermione down” (Rowling 1999, 319).
When Harry and Ron first meet Hermione on the train taking them all to their first year at Hogwarts, neither of the boys like Hermione at all. They see her as a girl with “…a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth” (Rowling 1997, 105). Hermione’s litany of the background reading she has done in preparation for school, her opinion on how she would have handled being “the boy who lived,” and her analysis of the sorting system at Hogwarts causes Ron to remark to Harry after Hermione has left their train car, “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” (Rowling 1997, 106), and later after Hermione has outperformed the boys in class, Ron remarks, “ It’s no wonder no one can stand her,…she’s a nightmare, honestly” (Rowling 1997, 172). It is only after the three share an adventure that involves defeating a troll in the bathroom that they begin to bond as friends, as Rowling notes, “There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them” (Rowling 1997, 179).
As the three friends develop over the course of the Harry Potter book series, the boys are frequently both stupefied and amazed by Hermione’s emotional intensity. One example of this is her preoccupation with the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While Harry handles her new passion by largely ignoring it, Ron’s brothers George and Fred mock her efforts (Rowling 2000, 366-367). Ron dismisses her efforts by proclaiming, “Hermione – open your ears…They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!” (Rowling 2000, 224). This strong identification with social justice issues and deep empathic feelings such as Hermione experiences are baffling to her friends, yet they are very common occurrences among gifted children (Roeper 2007, 285). It is not until the final novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that Ron begins to catch up to Hermione emotionally as he listens to the elf Kreecher reveal the ordeal that Voldemort caused the elf to endure (Rowling 2007, 192-200).
It is not only common for gifted children to have difficulty relating to their peers due to their accelerated development, but gifted children also frequently run into problems with teachers as well (Reis 2007, 130). An example of this occurs when Draco Malfoy’s Densaugo curse causes Hermione’s already somewhat large teeth to grow to comical proportions in Professor Snape’s Double Potions class. Rowling writes:
He [Ron] forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape’s back.
Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, “I see no difference.”
Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heels and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight (Rowling 2000, 299-300).
Not all gifted children are academic achievers, though. Frequently, gifted children are actually underachievers. Common causes of underachievement in gifted children can be serious physical, cognitive, or emotional issues that have not been dealt with, a mismatch between the student and his or her school environment, or from the fact that the child is suffering from low self-motivation, low self-regulation, or low self-efficacy (Reis 2007, 130). Many times, this situation can be turned around by the discovery of one key person with whom the child can communicate freely and by whom the child feels accepted (Webb et al 1994, 131). Often once this relationship is established, the child will gain the confidence to use his giftedness to discover and explore an area of passion in which the child can grow and then flourish and expand his understanding of who he is and who he can become (Reis 2007, 131-136). Such a gifted child in the Harry Potter book series is Neville Longbottom.
After having first witnessed Neville and his exasperated Grandmother on platform nine and three quarters, Neville again appears to Harry and Ron as he searches miserably for his pet toad, Trevor. Rowling describes Neville as “tearful” (Rowling 1997, 104). It does not take long for Hermione to champion Neville’s cause and help him look for the toad he seems so desperate to recover. While adults may not always recognize gifted children, gifted children tend to identify and gravitate towards each other (Webb et al 1994, 14). In fact, throughout the beginning of the series, it is frequently Hermione who understands Neville’s intense emotions although none of the children yet understand how much Neville has already lost and endured in his short life. One example of this occurs after Quidditch practice in the novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:
At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone’s guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.
Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the countercurse. Neville’s legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling (Rowling 1997, 217).
By the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Neville has earned ten extra points for the Gryffindor house, because in Dumbledore’s words, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” (Rowling 1997, 306). The real turning point for Neville occurs, though, when he meets that one key person who enables him to see himself differently, and that person is Professor Remus Lupin.
Perhaps it is because Professor Lupin has carried the burden of not fitting in himself for many years, or perhaps it is because he is aware that Neville has lost his parents not to death but to an even greater cruelty that Lupin singles out Neville to be his assistant on his first day as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor after Professor Snape has insulted and embarrassed Neville in front of Lupin’s entire class. Neville had just barely escaped being forced by Professor Snape to poison his dear pet toad Trevor due to the fact that Hermione helped Neville remedy his potions. Rowling describes Neville’s experience in Potions lessons, stating that “Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions class; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made it ten times worse” (Rowling 1999, 125). Just as one compassionate teacher can make a huge difference to a gifted child, having to perform under a cruel or ineffectual teacher is frequently a burden that a gifted child can not compartmentalize and the child’s frustrating feelings of inadequacy bleed over into all areas of the child’s life (Tolan 2007, 262-267).
Professor Lupin begins the class by allowing Hermione to explain that a boggart is a shape-shifter that can take the shape of whatever it believes will frighten its viewer the most. Lupin then coaxes from Neville that his greatest fear is Professor Snape. Lupin then establishes the fact that Neville lives with his grandmother – and that Neville is also rather frightened of her – and asks Neville to clearly picture his grandmother’s clothes. Rowling writes, “ ‘When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the shape of Professor Snape,’ said Lupin. ‘And you will raise your wand – thus – and cry “Riddikulus”– and concentrate hard on your grandmother’s clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag’ ” (Rowling 1999, 135).
Neville succeeds in his lesson and by the end of class, Neville has “charged forward looking determined” and finished off the boggart for the class (Rowling 1999, 139). Neville’s character continues to develop throughout the series. He begins to display great ability in herbology in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By the time it is necessary to form Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Neville has developed into a more than competent wizard and even saves Harry’s life during the battle in the Department of Mysteries (Rowling 2003, 802). It is in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though, that Neville fully develops into the gifted young man he always had the potential to be.
The Neville who was once paralyzed with terror when confronted with Professor Snape’s mocking disapproval is the person who dares to charge Lord Voldemort himself when it appears to all others that the battle of Hogwarts is lost. Rowling describes Neville’s response to Voldemort’s invitation to join the Death Eaters: “ ‘I’ll join you when hell freezes over,’ said Neville. ‘Dumbledore’s Army!’ he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing Charm seemed unable to hold” (Rowling 2007, 731). No longer is Neville the son of defeated, insane wizards, nor is he is the victim of Draco Malfoy’s gang, nor even in the shadow of Harry Potter. Neville emerges by the end of the Harry Potter book series as a gifted young man who no longer looks to his grandmother or to his father’s shadow for approval but to his own unique abilities and gifts. Perhaps he is the man that Dumbledore describes when he explains the Mirror of Erised to Harry, stating that “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is” (Rowling 1997, 213).
Dr. Maria Montessori said, “In the same way, the caterpillar and the butterfly are two creatures very different to look at and in the way they behave, yet the beauty of the butterfly comes from its life in the larval form, and not through any efforts it may make to imitate another butterfly” (Montessori 1995, 195). Neville could not fulfill his destiny or Hermione hers by fitting into a cookie cutter image of what a gifted child should be like. The Harry Potter book series does an excellent job of portraying gifted children as individuals with unique talents and needs. These children are brought together from varying backgrounds and each must develop their own special gifts in order to have a positive impact on their world and the people around them.
If there is any single lesson to be learned from the Harry Potter series concerning children and their gifts, it is that each child is special and every child is a gift. Dr. Maria Montessori also stated, “The child is the well-spring of love. Whenever we touch the child, we touch love. It is a difficult love to define; we all feel it, but no one can describe its roots, or evaluate the immense consequences which flow from it, or gather up its potency for the union between men” (Montessori 1995, 289). This is the love that Dumbledore attempts to explain to Harry. It is the love that exists in Harry’s and every child’s very skin.
Reference List

Meckstroth, Elizabeth. 2007. Abnormally brilliant, brilliantly normal. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Montessori, Maria. 1995. The Absorbent Mind. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Pagnani, Alexander R. 2008. Fantasy and science fiction: New world for gifted minds! Compass Points: Igniting Ideas and Innovations in Gifted Convention Recap, National Association for Gifted Children. Winter 2008. www.nagc.org
Reis, Sally M. 2007. The underachievement of gifted students: Multiple frustrations and few solutions. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education. 1997. Characteristics and behaviors of the gifted. http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html . Accessed March 10, 2008.
Roeper, Annemarie. 2007. Giftedness is heart and soul. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Rowling, J. K. 1997. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic Press.
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--. 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press.
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Tolan, Stephanie S. 2007. The problem of pain. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Webb, James T., PhD., Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, M.S.W., Stephanie S. Tolan, M.A. 1994. Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc.