[HPforGrownups] OOP: Harry's bullying was Favorite Lines...

[marilyn at gehennom.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 63279

On Tue, Jun 24 at 2:44pm, Mary <Mhochberg at aol.com> wrote:
> karenkyla writes:
> > p.14 "Not this brave at night are you?" sneered Dudley.
> >    "This IS night, Diddykins.  that's what they call it when it 
> > goes all dark like this." (Harry)
> 
> If you clipped the first part of the scene in the alleyway and put it in a 
> Pensieve, how different would it be from James's bullying of Snape?  Harry is 
> picking on Dudley. We are so used to Dudley picking on Harry, do we realize how 
> cruelly Harry is behaving? 

There's another part of this scene that I thought was especially harsh:
	
	"'Yeah?  Did he say you look like a pig that's been taught to
	walk on it's hind legs?  'Cause that's not cheek, Dud, that's
	true...'

	"A muscle was twitching in Dudley's jaw.  It gave Harry enormous
	satisfaction to know how furious he was making Dudley; he felt
	as though he was siphoning off his own frustration into his
	cousin, the only outlet he had."

The whole sentiment throughout this scene of Harry picking on Dudley
even though Dudley isn't currently doing *anything* to Harry struck me
as much more mean-tempered than Harry has ever been.

Certainly, he's got plenty of history to hold against Dudley, but I just
couldn't believe that Dudley was just walking along and Harry runs to
catch up with him just to give him crap.

--marilyn

-- 
http://marilyn.suburbanjihad.net/
        "Listening to the news!  *Again?*"
	             "Well it changes every day, you see," said Harry.