Of cliches and characterisation

[banjoken at optonline.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 20460

As one of my high school English teachers once said, you bring your 
own baggage to whatever you read. Some people are going to latch on 
to how much Dudley's weight is emphasized, some are going to take 
note of how gender is used, some are going to wonder about the bad 
parenting of the Dursley's, and some are just going to relax and 
enjoy the story. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I 
didn't notice any of those issues that have been brought up here when 
I was reading. I just like a good story and a world I can lose myself 
in for a few hours. I've never really gone for deep analysis of those 
kind of issues, or looking for symbolism, or anything like that (I've 
also never done well in English Lit classes). I guess I'm not the 
most critical of readers, but I find digging to much into anything 
will take some of the fun out of it. On the other hand, I love 
talking about the story, and the world JKR has created. I've really 
enjoyed the Snape/vampire discussion. I don't know how likely it is, 
but it sure is fun to talk about!

Ken