Script Publication, Fantasy
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Author J.K Rowling
The latest story of Harry Potter is a tale of bravery, redemption and time travel. Albus Potter is a young wizard who is the son of the great Harry Potter. Although for Albus this is no honor, he wants nothing more than to be a normal wizard. As for adventure, it beckons him, just as it did his father. Along with being in the vast shadow of his father accomplishments, he feels the weight of those who have fallen at Harry’s expensive. Albus and his closet friend Scorpius will learn the hard way what happens when you mess with time.
An extremely relatable problem that Albus faces is the complications that come with friendship. When Albus first boards the Hogwarts Express, his destiny is changed forever when he meets Scorpius. Scorpius is the son of Draco Malfoy, but there are rumors that he may have a different origin. Some say that before the dark lord fell he created a child and rumor has it that Scorpius is that child. Although Albus is not bothered by this accusation, Harry is torn between ruining his son’s first real friendship and protecting him from his horrible past. Another friendship incident in the book which is very impactful to the story is Delphi’s betrayal. Albus and Scorpius trust her to guide them into the past and believe that she has good intentions only to have their trust thrown away and the dark lord almost return. Friendship is an invisible rope which holds us together. All through the previous books Harry and his friends scrape at the edges of death and are pulled through by the tight-rope of their friendship. There are millions of friendships across the globe, and this drama has taught me that no matter how hard it becomes, a good friend is something to fight for as they do not come along every day. I have faced hard times were just having the support of a good friend has helped me get through it.
A significant theme throughout the book which helped me create a connection to the character of Albus, and I found myself reliving his actions in my own life, was the idea of expectation. Although the expectation is usually intended as a good thing, sometimes the pressure can result in failure. Albus experienced this throughout the script, as he is laden with reputations of the Potter name to fulfill. Albus is plied with expectations and in the end, it becomes too much. He fails the ultimate test when he is sorted into Slytherin House, the disbelief is felt by everyone including the reader, as Albus becomes the first one in his family to enter Slytherin. The bad decisions that Albus makes, are in my opinion forced by his need to belong and the weight of broken expectations on his shoulders. This causes self-doubt which spirals him into rebellion in an attempt to earn his worth. This is relatable to younger modern readers who constantly face the high expectations of their parents, in and out of their school lives. I have experienced self-doubt and the weight of expectations before entering my mock exams which I had to spend hours preparing for and was expected to perform at a high level. This culminated in me freezing up in one particular important exam, as the pressure of doing well overwhelmed me and ultimately resulted in an unsatisfactory result. Expectation can be a positive force that encourages you to believe in yourself as well to set high personal aspirations. This reminds me of the novel Sixteen Trees of Somme set in Norway. It is a story of an orphan coming of age and going on a journey of self-exploration to discover his inner person and his place in the world just as Albus did in the Cursed Child.