Dudley FROM Chapter Discussions - Chapter One, Dudley Demented

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 68447

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pennylin" <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:

Pip!Squeak originally asked (in the Chapter Discussion Summary: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/68149 )

> Why doesn't Harry explain the nightmares to Dudley?>>>>>>>>>>>
> 
Penny replied:
> I agree with Marina that it would have been completely jarring if 
Harry had tried to explain the nightmares to Dudley.  Dudley 
couldn't possibly have the framework necessary to even begin to 
understand the terror and trauma Harry experienced.  And, let's face 
it: two males in mid-adolescence aren't too likely to come to any 
real emotional understanding of each other, given their past history 
especially.  Harry is lashing out because he realizes he *has* been 
upset in his sleep and it's no doubt humiliating to him to realize 
Dudley overheard his terror.  
>>>>>>>>

I agree that Harry wouldn't have had the time to do a complete 
explanation of the graveyard to Dudley. But suppose instead of Harry 
saying 'You're lying,' he'd replied to Dudley's 'Who's Cedric? Your 
boyfriend,' with 'He's dead.'

That would have been a very jarring note. Possibly jarring enough to 
stop Dudley in his tracks, so that when the Dementors came Harry 
wouldn't have had his wand out ready to attack Dudley. So Dudley 
might have believed Harry when he said it wasn't him doing this...
[From OOP CH.1]

Penny:
And, interestingly, we see that Dudley is capable of more than just 
physical bullying, when push comes to shove.  He's *not* as stupid 
as he looks if he was able to use the psychological bullying in this 
manner.
>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is the second time in the books that Dudley's used 
psychological bullying on Harry. The first time is in CoS Chapter 
One, when Dudley notices that Harry hasn't received any birthday 
cards from his schoolfriends.

There's a pattern here. OK, it's concealed by the fact that Dudley 
has been, quite literally, brought up to bully Harry. [See PS/SS Ch. 
3, where Vernon *tells* Dudley to hit Harry. Or PoA where Marge uses 
Dudley to torment Harry.]. But Dudley is the *only* person in the 
Dursley household who shows signs of being aware that Harry might be 
having problems.

Strip away the (carefully taught) bullying, and you get Dudley 
knowing his cousin doesn't seem to have friends at his new school, 
and Dudley knowing that his cousin is having terrible nightmares. 
His parents, meanwhile, completely ignore (or worse, don't even 
notice) these things.

So is it straightforward psychological bullying? Or is there some 
teeny tiny redeemable part of Dudley who wants Harry to say that 
yes, (in CoS) he got birthday cards, and yes, (in OOP) it was just a 
nightmare, nothing really happened. And now we can go back to 
fighting with each other like we always do. As Penny says, Dudley 
just hasn't got the framework to really come to any emotional 
understanding with Harry yet.

Wendy said:
Now, however, after experiencing the Wizarding World for himself (in 
the form of the Dementors), perhaps Dudley would be able to 
understand, and it might give the two boys something to share - a 
place to start building a more "adult" relationship. I would love
to see something like this happen at the beginning of Book 6.
>>>>>>>>

I think the two boys already do have something to share - the fact 
that they are both abused children. It's not something they 
understand as yet because they've been quite deliberately set 
against each other by their parents/foster parents.

The thing that makes me seriously angry at Vernon and Petunia is 
that their only child *could* have had a brother, when Harry was 
orphaned. He *could* have had someone to race on his bike, to have 
fun at the zoo with, to play computer games against...

Yes, fine, they'd have probably fought like crazy. But brothers 
do. ;-)

Instead, Harry's got memories of being horribly bullied, and Dudley 
has a deep desire to hit people. Dudley's taken up boxing? Who 
exactly *is* it that he wants to hit so hard?

I don't know. But I wonder. Is Dudley getting more aware of what his 
parents have done to him? Is Dudley out of the house every evening 
because he, too, is angry at his parents?

It could all change in a moment. That sudden moment of reconcilation 
could be Vernon hitting Harry - and Dudley suddenly punching Vernon 
right out the door [grin].

I can dream, can't I?

Pip!Squeak