Perceptions (blog #1)

I am replying to prompt number one because i find that one is more applicable to me. The second prompt isn't because I have read the books before but I was younger so I don't remember what I expected then.
But prompt 1 says that experiences effect how we read and that can effect how we identify with the characters in the book. I think that is true because when I read the books (well 1-2 at least) the first time I was not even a pre-teen so I didn't really see all of the darker elements in the book. But now reading them again I see that things I didn't before and can draw from experiences that I didn't have then.
For example when I first read the books my idea of abuse was purely concentrated on physical but now I see that the Dursleys were doing much worse to Harry by basically making him a slave in the household.
Another thing was the emotional impact of his parents deaths. The death itself happens off page and because of that as a kid I kind of just glossed over it because it was just something that happened and it makes the character a bit sadder. But reading it a second time the emotional impact is stronger because I can identify more with Harry because i have lost people that I cared about and it was worse for Harry because not only did he never know his parents he eventually finds out that they died to protect him and that is hard for anyone to hear at any age especially at eleven.
On a different note I find that the character that I still identify with is Hermione. While I wish that I was as smart as she is I know what it's like to be a female that is pretty isolated from her peers and oddly enough I also had male best friends in school. Now we never fought trolls or anything but I think that we were pretty close. 
Other people have different experiences that might effect how they read the books because different people grow up in different situations and when you have experience with something you can more easily identify with others (characters) that have been through what you have. I'm sure that if I read the books again five years from now I would see things I don't see now do to what has happened in that time,.
-Candis White