Petunia

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 41152

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...> wrote:
 
> I don't consider feeding him to make him happy love. Petunia reminds 
> me a bit of those mothers you see once in a while in the news who 
> have made their kids sick so they can "mother" them.
> 
> Dudley's fat butt drapes over the side of the chair. His parents buy 
> him a TV so he can do nothing but eat.
> 
> Petunia, deep down, probably does not want to hurt Dudley and may 
> believe she's doing the right thing. But the next time you're out 
and you see a grotesquely obese child, ask yourself if feeding that 
child is "love.">

I very much agree with you here, Darrin (although I vehemently 
disagree with you about Hagrid, but we all know how I feel about him).  
Petunia (and Vernon) doesn't just spoil Dudley, she abuses him.  
Consistently indulging a child, refusing to acknowledge that child's 
problems, and never setting any rules for that child is not the way to 
raise a child.  If Petunia and Vernon are the sick kind of parents who 
want Dudley to always be completely dependent on them, even when he is 
an adult, then they are doing a very good job.  If they want Dudley to 
succeed out in the world and to take care of himself, then they are 
failing miserably.  Dudley is unhappy and unhealthy and it is only 
because of the nurse at his school that his parents put him on a diet.  
Even then, Petunia can't do the right thing and makes her husband and 
Harry also follow the same diet, even though anyone can see how thin 
Harry is to begin with.  It is as if she is still not quite 
acknowledging how serious Dudley's weight problem is.

As far as the comparison of Snape and Petunia, I can't go there at 
all.  Snape may not be a nice person, but he is brave, self-searching 
(enough to stop being a DE), and a very capable teacher.   Petunia has 
shown us no evidence of real intelligence or ability so far.  After SS 
(and I mention this whenever she comes up), we never quite hear her 
speak again.  Snape is also not a parent and has, as far as we know, 
never been given the responsibility of raising a child.  I find it far 
worse that Petunia has actually chased Harry with a frying pan and has 
allowed him to skip meals, wear broken glasses and hand-me-downs that 
don't fit, etc. than Snape's general nasty comments towards Harry, 
because she *was* given the responsibility to raise Harry.  Somehow I 
don't see Snape treating someone as badly if that person was living 
under *his* roof.

 
> Petunia hates the dog and Marge, though she says she's not 
criticizing Petunia, really insults Petunia's side of the family. 
Vernon tries to get Marge to shut up by pouring more drinks, because 
he knows she's pushing Harry too far. 
> 
Just a thought... maybe those two weren't all together angry that  
Marge got a little comeuppance.>

Of course, this goes against some of what I just said, but it is also 
possible that Petunia is the one who blew up Aunt Marge in the first 
place.

If there is more to Petunia than we have seen so far, I'd love to see 
it and I'd love to find a better explanation for her (and Vernon's) 
treatment of Harry than just bitterness over her sister being chosen 
to be a witch.  If Petunia isn't a witch as well and hasn't been 
working with both Dumbledore and Mrs. Figg over the years, then 
really, she is simply a poor excuse for a mother.

--jenny from ravenclaw ****