The Sins of the Father: James’ Impact on Harry’s Rivalries
By Katie Majka
Although Lily and James Potter are dead long before their son’s adventures begin, Harry’s life is often overshadowed by James’ old run-ins with Vernon Dursley and Severus Snape.
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More often than not, any protagonist who can claim the title of “The Chosen One” has a tough time shouldering their destiny and making good on it. Harry Potter is no exception, facing down one struggle after the next, pushed by friends, enemies, and mentors alike to do the right thing when he’d much prefer to do the normal, less thrilling thing, because at least then he might be allowed some peace in an otherwise tumultuous life.
Of course, Harry—like any other prophesied hero—has no such luck, and his struggles are only exacerbated by others’ perceptions of him, however false or self-involved those perceptions may be. This is especially notable throughout Chamber of Secrets and Order of the Phoenix, when his peers and the wider Wizarding world assume him power- and fame-hungry and consequently dangerous, but such experiences are not tied exclusively to these two books.
Throughout the series, Harry faces the challenges of others’ pasts as he attempts to navigate his own present, and bears the brunt of his father’s indiscretions against two men who weren’t liable to treat Harry well regardless. Truly, Vernon Dursley’s prejudices against all things abnormal and Severus Snape’s teenaged feud with James Potter were enough to disincline both from properly caring for Harry, all because he happened to look like his father.
In Rowling’s exploration of the Dursleys on Pottermore, the author writes that “Uncle Vernon’s dislike of Harry stems in part, like Severus Snape’s, from Harry’s close resemblance to the father they both so disliked.”
“Uncle Vernon’s dislike of Harry stems in part, like Severus Snape’s, from Harry’s close resemblance to the father they both so disliked.”
Vernon’s distaste for James is less complex than Snape’s, as it comes as little surprise that “James was amused by Vernon,” the latter of whom fans know can’t take a joke, and as a result Lily and Petunia’s relationship hit its final snag. Years of bitterness, resentment, and an inability to overlook that in favor of whatever sisterly bond they may have had, reached their breaking point, and the sisters’ ties were severed for good. Although James promised to set things right, he and Lily attended Vernon and Petunia’s wedding only to be ignored, as Lily was shunned from the bridal party and Vernon refused to speak to James, only referring to him as “some kind of amateur magician.”
With so little information on the characterization of Lily and James—for while we know them to courageous, selfless, and on some level carefree, we know little of what makes these characters fully-fledged and multi-faceted people—it’s difficult to say after whom Harry took the most. It’s often said that he favors James so much in looks that they’re nearly identical, but personally I think his penchant for sass was inherited from his mother, Lily “I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid” Evans.
Indeed, there’s no way to tell whether a shift in Harry’s quick temper and smart mouth would have saved him from the ire of Vernon and Snape alike. As Rowling said, the rift between them all was solidified by Harry’s resemblance to James—whenever Vernon or Snape looked at him, they saw James more so than Harry. They saw the boy who had mocked them rather than a boy who needed their care and guidance, and so the grudges of their youth bled into their adulthood, their frustrations at the past taken out on a boy who had nothing to do with those old rivalries.
One of the central themes of Harry Potter is the impact of choice—who you align yourself with, what you’ll do for them, how you treat your inferiors and whether you consider anyone to be your inferior at all, whether you follow a predestined path or power through to make your own—and Vernon and Snape alike made theirs when they sneered at Harry and locked him in a cupboard. Vernon’s general prejudices compelled him to egg James on, and the ensuing foolishness infuriated him enough that it would influence his choices years after the fact. Snape’s schoolboy feud with James, their wartime run-ins, and Snape’s obsession with Lily (which set off the events of Harry’s life on this trajectory) prevented him from protecting more than Harry’s physical well-being.
Petunia’s relationship with Lily was perhaps too damaged to ever be truly reconciled—indeed, they lived most of their lives with a tenuous hold on their sisterhood, and I don’t doubt a man like Vernon Dursley would have neglected, abused, and otherwise mistreated Harry no matter what. James’ adolescent missteps should have no impact on how grown men treat a child, and yet Harry is put through the ringer by those who should be caretakers, all because his father made them look like the fools they prove themselves to be. Fans agree that Vernon Dursley is pompous and ridiculous at best, but Snape too shows his true colors where Harry is concerned; both men may have (reluctantly) kept Harry alive, but their respective grudges were more powerful than any love they might have had for a boy who had done nothing to deserve their hate.
Considering Harry’s upbringing and what he continued to suffer during his time at Hogwarts, it’s something of a miracle that he grew up to be the brave, kind-hearted hero fans have come to love and admire in equal measure. And yet such character development speaks to the inherent goodness left to him by his parents, who may have made their mistakes, but never had the chance to rectify them. Meanwhile, those who had the opportunity chose instead to turn their backs on it, preferring instead to uphold a feud with a dead man, using his son as a vessel.
“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be,” Dumbledore tells Cornelius Fudge in Goblet of Fire, in a sentiment that perhaps should have been shared elsewhere as well.