[HPforGrownups] Chapter Discussions - Chapter One, Dudley Demented [Part 1]

Thu Jul 10 03:30:22 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 68927

<i> Pip!Squeak wrote: </i>

  First, let me add my compliments to the others on the excellent summary, 
Pip.

<i>This chapter starts with Harry hiding under a flowerbed.</i>

Surely not under the flowerbed. Despite Voldy's best attempts, 
Harry isn't ready to be buried yet.

Is this a choice of Harry's? Previously his clothes have been 
secondhand and too big for him, but there was no mention of their 
being worn out or dirty.

  I think this is the first hint of a big theme running through the whole 
book.  Harry's typically teenage boorish behavior.  He is totally unconcerned 
about his appearance, wearing worn out, torn, or shabby clothes.  Partially 
because of the reaction they get from parents and neighbors, but mostly because 
they are comfortable.  And clothes don't stay clean when you spend your evenings 
lying in a flowerbed.

Is this a change in the relationship between Harry and his foster 
parents? In PoA Harry is eating with the family and watching TV with 
them.

  Harry ate with the Dursleys largely because he did a good part of the 
cooking, and he watched TV with the family largely because Dudley had the TV on 
constantly, even to the point of putting a TV in the kitchen so that he could 
watch and eat at the same time.  We see from the events in this chapter that 
Dudley has moved out of his "couch-potato" phase and into a "malicious mischief" 
phase.  Harry probably still helps with breakfast, but I don't recall a 
breakfast scene in OotP.

<i>And Wendy added: </i>

I actually didn't understand at all the
Dursley's suspicions about Harry wanting to watch the news. I honestly
can't imagine what they thought he was up to if he'd been pretending to
watch the news. So maybe they were expecting something to happen. Vernon
specifically states that "your lot don't get on our news." When Harry
responds with "that's all your know," Petunia accuses him of lying -- rather
forcefully, actually. Almost as though she really doesn't want it to be a
possibility.

Petunia probably recognizes what Harry is referring to -- the escape of 
Sirius Black in PoA. Aunt Petunia certainly knows more about the WW than she 
lets on, but you would expect that from Lily Potter's sister (surely they chatted 
during Summer breaks ... or at least Lily chatted and Petunia listened). 
Vernon is adamantly anti-magic, and Petunia is supportive of his "No magic will 
even be discussed in this house!" rule. But that's for later 
discussion.

<i>back to Pip!Squeak</i>

Harry sees Mrs. Figg, and the reader is told that she has recently 
taken to asking him round for tea. Harry wants to avoid her. Is this 
a foreshadowing? Is Harry unknowingly avoiding support and help 
that he could have been given?

  Good old cat-loving Mrs. Figg.  She of the cabbage-smelling house.  Mrs. 
Figg's inviting Harry to her house for tea is her way of acknowledging Harry's 
moving toward adulthood, and her moving from "baby-sitter" to "friend".  Harry, 
as he does throughout the book, returns rudeness for concern.  Of course, as 
has been discussed at length on this list, Arabella Figg, mentioned by 
Dumbledore in CoS, and Mrs. Figg the baby-sitter, are one and the same, and Harry has 
been under wizardly surveillance all his life.  And yes, this is very much a 
foreshadowing of Harry's constant failures to seek help.

Is this lack of knowledge about their son a development of the 
Dursley's? Or a continuation of a previous theme?

  The Dursleys have had a blind spot where Dudikins is concerned for a long 
time.  They never noticed his greediness, his gluttony, his constant beatings 
of Harry, or his lack of proper respect for them.  Despite the fact that Dudley 
and his friends are just one step removed from a street gang, they think he 
is constantly over at friends houses "for tea".  Doesn't Petunia the gossip 
ever speak to the other boys parents?

Harry hears a loud crack, his aunt screams and he leaps to his feet, 
pulling his wand out. Did Petunia recognise the crack as the sound 
of someone apparating?

Unfortunately, he hits his head on the open window. Uncle Vernon 
grabs him and demands that he puts his wand away. Suddenly he finds 
Harry impossible to hold. 

Why?</i>

Petunia might have recognized it (we don't really know if Lily ever 
apparated when Lily was around to "overhear"), or she might simply have been 
startled by a loud noise outside her window. If [certain things that happen in 
Chapter 2] hadn't happened, we might not have thought twice about it. The 
noise came from outside, and they both rush to the window, only to find a stunned 
and injured Harry hiding under the window with his wand out. Vernon, 
naturally, responds with anger. Harry, hurt, angry, a little embarrassed, and now 
physically assaulted may have done a bit of unfocused magic here to shock Vernon. 
 Or....
I hate to go all "Star Wars" here, but Harry seems to be closer to Voldy when 
he is angry -- which he was for most of this book. Perhaps, even in the 
Potterverse, anger leads to the Dark Side. However that may be, right at this 
point, Harry's scar is bothering him, which presumably means that he has some 
minimal contact with Voldemort. Vernon's little shock may have been a "Don't 
touch me!" message more from Tom than Harry. (And I wish I had a Richard to work 
into that statement!)

On a side note, just how does one jump up and hit their head on an open 
window, rather than the windowsill?  I can only assume that the Dursleys have the 
kind of windows that open out rather than straight up (Casement windows?).  
They're far more popular in Europe than here.

Another thing that bothered me is: Why didn't Vernon order Harry into the 
house to be yelled at? Instead, he lets Harry stand outside in plain sight of 
the neighbors (where Petunia has to remind him twice to keep his voice 
down), and then stalk off without so much as a proper scolding.

They demand to know 
what news the Owls are bringing him. Harry has to admit that the 
Owls aren't bringing him any news. Harry loses his temper and stalks 
off. He knows he'll be in trouble later.

Is this a signal that Harry's temper is going to cause him a lot of 
trouble this year?

Gee.  Ya think?  :-)

<i>Wendy added</i>

This is something which really confused me, especially on my second
reading. Not because Harry gets angry, but because he really is *lying* to
the Dursleys. The owls most definitely ARE bringing him news -- we learn a
page or two later that he's getting the Daily Prophet delivered every
morning. The paper may not be printing the news he wants to see, but the
owls are bringing him the news. So that whole paragraph about how it cost
him something to tell the truth this time to his aunt and uncle just makes
no sense to me. It's as though Harry is lying for no good reason without
even knowing he is telling a lie.

<i> and mariahisabel replied: <i>

I assumed that Harry wasn't lying. His response, IMO, was more of a 
statement 
of his viewpoint/opinion rather than reality. The only news he is interested 
in and therefor referring to is any news relating to Voldemort or his Death 
Eater's action.

I'm with mariahisabel here. Harry isn't lying to the Dursleys. He isn't 
getting the news he wants to hear. The Daily Prophet has no news 
about Voldemort and the Death Eaters (I suspect he glanced at the paper, and 
when he didn't see the headline LORD VOLDEMORT HAS RETURNED!!! went back 
to feeling sorry for himself.), his letters from Ron, Hermione, and Sirius 
have no real information in them, he's probably not gotten anything from Hagrid 
(no birthday present was mentioned), and even the muggle evening news hasn't 
given him anything to indicate that the Dark Forces are gathering.
This post is long enough as it is, so I'll continue later.

  --  Ray

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