FAT

[hfakhro at nyc.rr.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20357

This really bothered me too, especially when I was reading GoF. That 
was when Dudley was forced on a diet, and when the twins played a 
prank on him with the toffee. I thought Harry was awful for laughing 
at him then (at least, it keeps us knowing that he's not perfect.) 
Well I hope JKR is going somewhere with this fat thing. I believe her 
point here is to criticize the parenting that he has received from 
the Dursleys. She's said in an interview that she really feels sorry 
for Dudley; that in some ways, he's had just as scarred a childhood 
as Harry. Look at him - he's a bully, he's a glutton. Dudley is 
portrayed as a spoiled kid (doesn't McGonagall say he was screaming 
for sweets in the beginning of PS/SS - and that's when he was a 
really small child!) before Harry comes along, or I might suggest 
that this has something to do with the Dursleys treating Dudley 
better than Harry out of spite. As some other people have mentioned, 
I don't think this will affect overweight children (I hope not) but 
it does raise important questions about the Dursleys and makes me 
wonder about them, especially about their pasts. Petunia strikes me 
as someone who was very lonely and maybe depressed before she got 
married and had a baby. There is no evidence for that, but in the 
beginning of PS/SS, that is just the impression I get.