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
In a dream that night, Harry, his Uncle Vernon, his Aunt Petunia, and cousin Dudley escape to an island in a storm on Harry’s 11th birthday and Hagrid arrives out of thin air. Hagrid gives Harry a birthday cake and introduces himself as the Hogwarts groundskeeper. When Harry doesn’t know what that is, or about magic at all, Hagrid is furious and tells Harry that he’s a wizard—the most famous wizard in the world. And then, out of thin air, Voldemort’s voice chillingly says, “Haaarry Pottttter.”
This dream—which pulls from one of the opening scenes in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—reminds the audience of Harry’s own struggles in his childhood. Up until his 11th birthday, he was entirely without love from parental figures, and from that point on, he also had to contend with being a savior figure among the wizarding world. That he continues to have nightmares about his childhood, and about Voldemort, shows how he hasn’t yet worked through this childhood trauma.
Themes
