Harry and the Dursleys

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 54672

Gina wrote:
What I wonder (and maybe this was in the letter) is how
soon they knew Harry was magical. Did they only start to hate him 
when his
magical abilities became apparent? Or the second they saw him at the
doorstep? Do they hate him just for his magic? Or for the fact that 
he was
the child of Petunia¹s sister, who she hated.

Me:  
Petunia has a quote in SS that is something like, "How could you not 
be (a wizard), my perfect sister being what she was?"  (Sorry I don't 
have the exact quote)

This seems to evidence to me that the Dursleys *assumed* that Harry 
was magical right from the beginng.  Then the did every thing in 
there power to stifle it.

The Dursleys are hilarious because they have *no* sense of humor.  
One of my favorite scenes is when they are all at the breakfast table 
and Harry tells Dudley to "say the magic word" and they all three 
freak out at him.  I mean, come on!  But in addition to hating magic 
itself, they lack so many of the qualities that Rowling and her 
readers embrace:  imagination, ingenuity, humor, etc.  I mean, most 
of us are common Muggles, and we embrace Harry's story and identify 
with him.  But the Dursleys are so caught up in wordly, tactile 
things that they don't seem to really enjoy anything.  There's no 
point to this, I guess, except that I enjoy reading about them simply 
because they are so absurd.  Kind of like Arthur Weasley's 
fascination with the Muggle community, I suppose.  

imamommy