[HPforGrownups] Re: Petunia and Lily

[Samaporn Teeravechyan]

No: HPFGUIDX 17175

At 09:08 PM 4/19/01 -0000, you wrote:
>Usually they spoil him rotten, but when 
>it comes to magic, I don't think the Dursleys behave in character. I 
>wonder why..

I think they are perfectly in character. The Dursleys are portrayed as
being very provincial and narrow-minded. Their intense fear of magic is not
that different from some people's reactions to the Harry Potter books and
their presumed promotion of 'witchcraft'. The Dursleys may spoil Dudley
rotten, but there's no way Vernon is going to let witchcraft taint him or
his family.

Incidently, I wonder why it's Vernon, as opposed to Petunia, who's so
fanatically against magic. Perhaps it is, as some people mentioned earlier,
that the family has had a lot of contact with the wizarding community over
the years. Or maybe JKR really meant for his conventionality to explain his
behaviour entirely. 

Samaporn