[HPforGrownups] not a caricature; nothing wrong with having been abused

[lrcjestes]

No: HPFGUIDX 1632

> Let me say (again) that the Dursleys treatment of Harry is NOT a
caricature,
> but a very accurate example of child abuse. It, in fact, is a less SERIOUS
> example
> of child abuse because although he gets beat up by the kids at school, and
> punched
> continuously by Dudley and friends, he does not end up in the hospital
with
> broken
> bones.

> I have no clue whether the author was herself abused as a child, but ya'
> know, it's not to her discredit if she had been...it would be to her
credit
> that she survived so well, and is such an outstanding person....People
> jumping to deny that possibility feel to me as if they are saying that
> there's something wrong with the person who was abused.

Absolutely not, and I in no way meant to imply this, and I in no way think
that it would be a discredit for her to have been abused.  I have no idea if
she was abused, but in the few interviews that she has mentioned her
childhood she gives no indication that is was anything less than "typical".

That said I also really don't think, and this is strictly my opinion, that
she did extensive research on child abuse before writing the Dursley scenes.
I think she sat down and said how can I make these people seem truly
horrible and wrote from there.  Unfortunately I think it did come across as
a too accurate portrayal of realistic abuse (maybe more accurate than most
of us realize), but given the other descriptions of the Dursleys (which seem
extreme in most aspects) this situation seems to be intended as "unreal"
which makes the magic world seem more "real" once its encountered.

Maybe I was being blind and JKR really is trying to infuse us with a bit of
social concious raising in that part of the book and stir us to action
(which would be a good thing), but IMO it was portrayed as it was to give a
strong counterpoint to the magic world.

carole