Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenthood
Time, Mistakes, and the Past
Friendship, Family, Love, and Bravery
Reputation and Expectation
Death and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Albus is sitting in his room as his siblings pack chaotically—James talks about his Invisibility Cloak and Lily insists on wearing her fairy wings to school the next day. Just then, Harry appears in Albus’s doorway; it’s awkward between them. Harry gives Albus a love potion that Ron sent before pulling out a small blanket.
Albus and Harry’s awkward interaction shows how Albus’s time at school has taken a toll on their relationship. This is true not just in public, when Albus is forced to confront Harry’s reputation and his inability to live up to his father’s legacy, but also in private in their home.
Themes
Harry explains that Albus is 14 now, and he wanted to give his son something of significance. This blanket is the only thing he has from his mother, Lily—he was given to the Dursleys wrapped in it as a baby. Growing up, anytime he needed luck, he would hold the blanket, and he hopes that Albus wants it, too. Albus says callously that he certainly needs some luck, but he insists that Harry should keep it.
The blanket represents Harry’s connection to his parents and the love that they showed him, and so in giving it to Albus, he wants to extend that love to Albus as well. However, Albus’s rejection of the blanket indicates his rejection of Harry’s love and attempts at connection.
Themes
Harry is hurt, explaining that he thinks his mother, Lily, would have wanted Albus to have the blanket, too. Harry can also come visit on the anniversary of his parents’ death and he and Albus can be together. Albus dismisses Harry, saying that he has a lot of packing to do and that he doesn’t really know what he’d do with the blanket. Harry is heartbroken and desperate to connect with his son. He offers to help Albus pack, saying that he always loved packing because it meant he was going back to Hogwarts.
While Harry continues to try and use the blanket as an extension of his love, it also shows how Harry isn’t fully understanding Albus’s perspective. While it is a meaningful object for Harry, it doesn’t carry the same weight for Albus and therefore it is difficult for Albus to find a meaningful connection to Harry within it.
Themes
At this Albus gets frustrated, saying that he doesn’t love Hogwarts in the way that Harry does—he wasn’t an orphan traumatized by his relatives and he didn’t become a hero. Harry gets frustrated, knowing that Albus is trying to push his buttons. Albus wonders what Harry thought giving Albus a “moldy blanket” would accomplish, mockingly suggesting that Albus would say he always loved Harry and that they would hug and everything would be okay.
This exchange highlights the crux of Albus and Harry’s problems. Initially, their struggles are based on the fact that students compare Albus and Harry. But here it also becomes clear that Harry is trying to evaluate Albus’s experiences based on his own childhood. For Harry, Hogwarts was an escape from a terrible life with the Dursleys. For Albus, though, Hogwarts is the terrible place, and it’s a terrible place because of the ways that he can’t measure up to Harry’s reputation.
Themes
Get the entire Harry Potter and the Cursed Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
Harry loses his temper, saying that he doesn’t want to be responsible for Albus’s unhappiness—he didn’t even have a dad growing up. Albus implies that he wishes he didn’t have a dad—or he wishes that Harry weren’t his dad. Angry, Harry quickly responds that sometimes he wishes Albus weren’t his son.
This exchange is a serious breaking point in Albus and Harry’s relationship. Whereas Albus meant that he wishes Harry weren’t his father because of the comparison made between them, Harry’s outburst is much crueler because it suggests that Harry doesn’t love Albus because Albus is so unhappy or, worse, because he is disappointing to Harry.
Themes
There’s a horrible silence between Harry and Albus, and Harry says he didn’t mean that. Albus says he doesn’t blame Harry, picking up the blanket and throwing it. It collides with Ron’s love potion, which spills all over the blanket. Albus says he doesn’t get any luck or love, and he runs out of the room.
Throwing the blanket and ruining it reflects Albus’s rejection of Harry as a parent, and it symbolizes the severe break in their relationship as a result of this conversation.
Themes
