How big an influence did family play

Here's an interesting topic for discussion- How much did the kids of Hogwarts' families influence their take on life? For example how much did Ron being a Weasley influence the way he was or how much of Ron's personality was based on his own views and not necessarily influenced by his upbringing or his family's beliefs.

I hope I am being clear.

good topic... so, the hero first-
harry was not at all influenced by durseleys, obviously... n being an orphan must have made it difficult to get guidance and support... but his 'take on life' was mainly influenced by dumbledore n he himself, according to me. dumbledore played a very imp part in shaping harry into what he became. other than that, luna and sirius also influenced him a bit, i think...

A very good topic!
I think it had a LOT of influence as far as the trio is concerned.
We have no knowledge of Hermione's muggle background other than her parents were dentists. I think that her parents being doctors and being well-read influenced her quite a bit in that reading department. My idea of Hermione's house is place full of books and her parents putting pressure on her to keep up with extra-curricular reading. So her insecurity of being afraid of failure and always being on the top  might have been born out of that. Add to that her exacting and critical nature.
As for Harry, I think he would have been a little more arrogant and less humble about him being the only one to survive Voldemort if he would have been raised in the Wizarding World. The unhappy and loveless upbringing with the Dursleys made him realize that love is more important than anything else. And that was preciesly the reason Dumbledore wanted him to be raised by the Dursleys!
It's been obvious in the books that most of Ron's insecurities are born out of him being in a large family where whatever he achieves is nothing extraordinary because one of his brothers has already done it before. Also, when he was destroying the Horcrux the point it makes that he was born when his mother wanted a daughter etc.
So, all in all, I think that their upbringing has A LOT to do with who they are although not exclusively. Of course who they are as a person also comes in to play.



Edited by redhotght - 28 December 2008 at 6:07pm

Ron and his brothers learnt to be helpful and loyal from their family. malfoy learnt to boss eveeryone coz his parents wer like that