The Mirror of Erised

Question: Choose one object that seems really significant to Harry and his development in book 1 and explore what makes it important.

The Mirror of Erised is an incredibly important object in Harry’s development in Book 1. We learn from the start that he is an orphan. (”Stone” 12) This is a huge part of who Harry is, and it is crucial to his character and development in the books. (”Who Hasn’t Met Harry?”)

The Mirror of Erised is his first experience seeing the family he never knew, and we learn that seeing his parents is the “deepest, most desperate desire” of his heart. (”Stone” 213) As he sees his parents, he experiences “a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.” (209) Rowling has said that this experience is very much drawn from her own experience of losing her parents. (”Harry Potter and Me”)

The experience caused Harry to entirely forget about Flamel and the three-headed dog, and he had difficulty eating. (”Stone” 209-10) He revisited the mirror for the next two nights, until Dumbledore found him, giving him the very wise advice that “it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live,” and informing Harry that the mirror would be moved. (214) Being able to see and remember his parents yet continue live to the point of being able to courageously travel through the trap-door at great peril to find the stone is an important part of his transformation.

It was the mirror, at the end of the book, that recognized his purity of heart in desiring the stone not for selfish reasons, but to keep Voldemort from returning. (300) No longer was Harry looking into the mirror and “dwelling on dreams,” but he was living, courageously and self-sacrificially.

Carey, Joanna. “Who hasn’t met Harry?” Guardian Unlimited, February 16, 1999.
“Harry Potter and Me” (BBC Christmas Special, British version), BBC, 28 December 2001.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, Inc. 1997.