Fred and George: The Bullies You Do Know + Hagrid

[morganmuffle]

No: HPFGUIDX 43304


As I've been reading this thread I was thinking about some of the 
children I work with in a summer camp. Fred and George's tricks have 
always seemed fairly harmless to me- the sort of behaviour I would 
deal with by a telling off explaining that its not nice but no real 
punishment because they mean no real harm. Of course some of they're 
tricks could cause harm (the toffees for starters) but as it is only 
meant as a harmless joke then I don't classify it as bullying but 
thoughtlessness. 

Some people in this thread have mentioned Hagrid's treatment of 
Dudley as bullying- again I have to disagree. Hagrid- in my opinion 
is trying to do the same as the twins however his trick has more 
consequences (the operation to remove the tail). He is the classic 
example of someone who simply does not know his strength- or does 
not know how to react in scale. Some children do this- I split up a 
fight today where one boy saw someone knock his brother in a game 
and so punched him- now that is unacceptable as we told him but it 
is not bullying. Hagrid overreacts but he does not deliberately set 
out to harm Dudley maliciously.

Now I accept the children I work with and so know are younger than 
the characters (particularly Hagrid) but they are about the right 
age for reading Harry Potter, between 5 and 13, and I think that a 
lot of the characters act beneath their ages in the books because 
JKR has written them so children can understand how a character 
reacts.

In conclusion I think maybe someone needs to explain to the twins 
just how bad a consequence some of their tricks could have but to 
call them bullies is an exaggeration and unfair to them.

Morgan