negative descriptions

[Scully931]

It's been very interesting reading everyone's opinion about the 
descriptions JKR uses. I do worry that we can sometimes 
take "political correctness" too far. Now, PLEASE don't get me 
wrong - I despise people being made fun of soley on looks, social 
status, etc. But, if JKR has to worry about every description she 
writes, then you get into censorship issues. She uses unpleasant 
words to describe unpleasant people. Aunt Petunia is not svelte, but 
bony with a horse face. So, in actuality, all skinny people with 
distinguished jaws could take offense to that. Dudley does not have 
cute baby fat, but is porky. But, I can't help thinking that if she 
used very friendly terms to describe the Dursley's, the effect just 
wouldn't be the same. Although not written in the first person, we 
see this world mainly through Harry's eyes. If we had been tormented 
and mistreated by the Dursleys our whole lives, it's not likely we 
would describe them in pleasant terms. 

I believe JKR redeems herself very well by describing the Weasley's 
not as gorgeous attractive people. They are poor. Their clothes are 
in tatters. They're house is too small for them, etc. Yet, because 
they have such good hearts, we, as readers, along with the core 
characters look past that. I like the comparison someone made on 
here (sorry, can't remember who) which mentioned describing Mrs. 
Weasley as "plump," because we like her. If she beat Ron, I doubt we 
would be so kind with our description. Same with Hermione and the 
frizzy hair, etc. (Which I dealt with terribly as a child myself.) 
Well... that's all. :-)

Deborah