Harry Potter is a young boy that millions have watched grow up throughout seven books, thus far six movies, and 4110 pages. They have rooted for him facing unimaginable evils from a Dark Wizard looking to kill him to the abuse he suffered from his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin (being locked in his closet, not receiving enough food as a growing child, living in a cupboard under the stairs, etc). But nowhere in the story does Rowling point out how connected the two truly are.
On the outside, Harry is the "light" hero of the story-- the one who can do no wrong; Voldemort is strictly evil, focused on killing everyone that does not agree with his perfectionist ideals. However, when you actually stop to look at what we know about Voldemort and Harry, we see that there are a lot of parallels. While they end up growing differently, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry questions whether he belongs in Gryffindor (the house of the brave and strong) or Slytherin (the house of sly, cunning and typically evil) after facing the manipulative teenage Tom Riddle, who would grow up to become Voldemort.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we see that Tom Riddle grew up lonely, detached, friendless and with no family or anyone to care for him while he was constantly teased and mocked at an orphanage. From the very beginning, we know that Harry's parents were killed before he could really know them, and he was forced into his Aunt's unloving arms. As he grew up, his intimidating cousin kept him from ever having any friends, and his guardians forced him into isolation.
In my opinion, this dialectic shows how people in similar situations do not always turn out the same. People who grew up poor do not always wind up homeless or as drug dealers; those who live their childhood and adolescence privileged can end up in shelters and on the streets. I think that the main point of this dialectic is that ones life cannot be judged based on the experiences and opportunities they've had. Albert Einstein was a genius, but he also had several mental disorders. Those diseases could have seriously stunted his opportunities to work and get a job, but because individuals didn't condemn him to a future that paralleled his past he was able to accomplish great things with his mind.
I think that this dialectic is really important because Harry Potter and Tom Riddle/Voldemort grew up in similar, parent and love-less situations but managed to have two completely different futures; one which manifested into a machination that killed many and called for devoted followers who were disposable, and another which blossomed into love and caring friends and family.
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