[HPforGrownups]Abusive behavior and water quality

[lrcjestes]

No: HPFGUIDX 1613


> Penny Linsenmayer wrote:
>
> > I have to agree with Peg.  I've read nothing to suggest that JKR had
> > anything other than a happy childhood.  That's not to say that she
*wasn't*
> > abused, but every indication is that she was not.  She's a powerful
writer,
> > and I don't think it's necessarily true that she would have needed to
> > experience child abuse first-hand in order to write about it
effectively.
>
> Afterthought to my previous message: when you think about it, it's really
> strange for us to assume that JK Rowling, of all people, would have to had
> experienced ANYTHING in order to write about it.  I mean, JK Rowling?  How
many
> Quidditch matches do you suppose has she actually played in?  How many
students
> did she turn into ferrets when she was a teacher?  How many hippograffs
has she
> met?  How many dragons has she fought?
>
> I think it has already been established that this is a woman with a vivid
> imagination.

I agree with the above that Harry's treatment by the Dursleys was wild
imagination and intended to be so horrible as to be a bit charicature.  I
hope this comes across right and not disrespectful of those who have
actually suffered abuse like this...but my point is coming from a "normal"
childhood, could JKR have thought she was relating something so horrific
that people would surely take it as not possible....What I'm trying to say
is that I don't think the Dursleys treatment of Harry is intended as
documentary and therefore would not require first hand experience to write
about.

Plus her descriptions of the Dursleys are intended as cartoonish, and while
I don't doubt that there really are children in as horrible circumstances as
Harry was at the beginning of SS, and not to take their plight lightly,
Harry's abuse, I believe was intended as exagerated.....intended to provide
the reader with a sense of relief that Harry is escaping from them.  If they
had been a warm loving family it would not have provided that counterpoint.
The Dursleys abuse also gives Harry an empathy that counters his fame, once
he learns about it.  He knows what it feels like to be bullied, alone and
definitely *not* special...which helps him deal better as he learns just how
special he is.

Hope this makes sense...its been so long since I posted, as I have been in
awe of the depth of discussion (re: character traits...pride, ambition,
etc....not to mention the quantum mechanics and what-his-names cat...and I
thought I had a good scientific education...went to a science and
engineering college...but never ran across the cat...I was in oceanography
however, so the cat would have drowned)  am I rambling tonight or what!  And
don't get me started on water quality issues...I was a environmental
consultant (told companies how to clean up their groundwater problems) for
10 years.

carole

PS.  I am laughing as I write this comment on the Dursleys, not about the
subject matter (abuse)  as it is very serious, but my very first post to the
Yahoo board (#1012...April 8) was on this very subject....I happened to come
across it the other day doing research fro the FAQ on Sirius.