Aunt Petunia (was Re: Theoretical boundaries)

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 120339


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "iris_ft" <iris_ft at y...> wrote:

> Iris :
>Snip


> In PS/SS, Aunt Petunia calls her sister a freak and says Harry is 
> abnormal (chapter 4). They are different from her. However, she 
> behaves herself as a freak and as an abnormal person towards her 
> nephew (she's ridiculous, I agree, but at the same time rather 
> monstrous as a woman, IMO).

Snip
> Iris

I'm sorry to snip such a beautiful post, but this is the only part 
that relates to the point of my post.

Let me set this up:  In my chosen religion, people tend to either be 
very active in church, and follow all (or most) of the tenants of the 
doctrine, or else they shy away from the church nearly completely 
(there is a gray area in the middle, of course, but bear with me.)  
Sometimes, if a person feels hurt or offended by someone in the 
church, they will shun the church and even speak out against it in 
anger and hatred.  

Aunt Petunia's behavior reminds me a lot of people in that last 
category, and so I started thinking:  could she be a witch who 
*refused* to learn magic?  

Now, JKR is quoted as saying:

"Is Aunt Petunia a Squib?"

"Good question. No, she is not, but—[Laughter]. No, she is not a 
Squib. She is a Muggle, but—[Laughter]. You will have to read the 
other books. You might have got the impression that there is a little 
bit more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye, and you will find out 
what it is. She is not a squib, although that is a very good guess. 
Oh, I am giving a lot away here. I am being shockingly indiscreet."
(from the World Book Day Chat)

According to this, Petunia is a muggle, but is it possible that she 
*chose* to be a muggle?  Could she have been born into a part-
wizarding family. and decided not to go to Hogwarts?
What is the "more" to her?

Uncle Vernon's ignorance, I think, is largely supplicated by his 
wife's opinions.  I often find that people are intolerant to the very 
idea of my religious faith because of some rumor they have heard, 
that is either completely false, grossly overexaggerated, or taken 
completely out of context.

Is it possible that Petunia got in so far, saw something that 
offended her, and decided to get out?  Or wanted to live in the 
(muggle) world and not change her whole lifestyle?

I would find her character immensely interesting if this turned out 
to be the case.

imamommy
Who begs you to forgive her religious bias; it's a big part of who 
she is.