Acceptable Abuses?

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 96306

I (vmonte) wrote:

I keep invisioning 2 year old
Harry, unloved, neglected, and crying in a playpen...


Jem responds:

I'm one who doesn't think the Dursleys are all that bad.
 
If we work Harry backwards ie the young man we have before us is a 
product of his upbringing, a kind and sensitive child, intelligent, 
well-balanced, "normal" and we attribute one's personality in great 
part to their nurturing, it bespeaks well for the Dursleys.  They did 
something right.  We have living proof of that.
Perhaps Petunia, in mourning, crying over the loss of her sister (it 
was her *sister* witch or not), needing comfort herself, stole into 
the cupboard when Vernon was fast asleep to hold little Harry, to 
sing him lullabys, to read him stories of brave, true, warriors 
knowing full well what had to await him and terrified that he, too, 
like Lily, would be murdered horribly and there was absolutely 
nothing she could do to prevent it.
During the day, Petunia's cold and remote facade would be in place, a 
woman desperate to maintain the illusion that all was well, that 
there is order in Little Whinging, in the world, but deep in her 
heart, knowing the truth, that one day she could lose every member of 
her family to a madman.
I don't know how anyone could live with that pressure for that many 
years and come away unscathed.
And it is Little Whinging (little whining to we Yanks).  To whine is 
to complain.  And if there is suffering it is in silence in Little 
Whinging because warriors, whatever their guise, do not whine.

vmonte responds to above quote:

Are you saying that Petunia is a good person but treats Harry 
horribly because one day she will lose her "beloved" Harry and 
family?  Does that make sense?  Do you really think she goes to his 
cuboard at night to cradle him and sing lullabys? I'm sorry but your 
post has left me stunned! I guess she also starved him for his own 
good?!  Do you think for one moment that Lily would have treated 
Dudley the same way if things had been reversed? Do you think that 
Petunia's treatment of her own son, Dudley, is helping him face the 
realities of life? 

I agree that Petunia is a desperate woman who is trying to maintain 
her illusion of the world. This woman does not live in reality; and 
she most definitely does not suffer in silence --- everyone else 
around her suffers.