Mothers and their Children: Harry Potter and Melanie Klein

Authors

Kristina MurFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

English

First Advisor's Name

Andrew Strycharski

First Advisor's Committee Title

Instructor

Second Advisor's Name

Bruce Harvey

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Associate Professor and Program Director, School of Environment, Arts & Society

Third Advisor's Name

Paula Gillespie

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Associate Director and Director for the Center for Excellence in Writing

Keywords

Harry Potter, Melanie Klein, mothers, psychoanalysis, fantasy, children's literature

Date of Defense

3-26-2014

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the mother-child relationship in the Harry Potter novels by using Melanie Klein’s object-relation based theory. I argue the mothers and their relationship with their offspring represent fragments of a whole complicated psyche. The characters are not analyzed as individuals, but instead as pieces, sometimes multiple pieces, of a whole psyche. When these characters and novels are taken together, a whole, multi-faceted person comes into view. Rowling depicts both good and bad mothers, and children who characterize different positions according to Klein. These positions are the paranoid-schizoid position with Harry Potter and the depressive position with Sirius Black and Rubeus Hagrid. Although the series suggests a developmental arc or a coming of age story within fantasy literature, there is no linear progression; instead, there are disruptive positions without development.

Identifier

FI14040843

Recommended Citation

Mur, Kristina, "Mothers and their Children: Harry Potter and Melanie Klein" (2014). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1268.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1268