Aunt Petunia (was Re: Theoretical boundaries)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 120356


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, imamommy at s... wrote:
> 
> --- 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.



Iris, who begs you to forgive her if what she writes sounds like 
fanfiction rather than like analyze; but she has indeed a very 
little material to work on: 

Petunia as a witch who refused to learn magic: I'm not sure it could 
work, but that's an interesting possibility.
I'm not sure it could work because of the way she behaves towards 
Harry and Dudley. JKR shows her giving to her son much more than he 
needs, for example concerning food, as if she was trying to 
compensate for something he doesn't have. Behind the caricature, we 
can also see something like guilt towards her son. Of course, that's 
only a supposition, because we never enter her mind. The way I see 
it, she probably felt very frustrated when she realized that her 
sister had something she would never have herself, and that Lily 
could enter a world she wouldn't know.
When she says she saw Lily as a freak, she probably behaves like the 
fox in the fable. Maybe you know the story: the fox is hungry; there 
is a beautiful climbing vine with very mouth watering grapes, but 
the fox is unable to reach them. So the fox declares that the grapes 
are sour and that only boors can like them. Magic is the grape 
Petunia is unable to reach. Lily was able to turn teacups into rats 
(PS/SS, chapter 4). The only thing Petunia could do was turning her 
own vexation into despise. That's simply a human average reaction.
But see, maybe Petunia thought she would find one day compensation. 
There was a gift in the family, maybe she could reach it through her 
marriage or her descendants. I don't know, but in OotP, when she 
talks about "that awful boy", it could reveal more than a mere 
aversion. 
She finally married Vernon Dursley. And then she had Dudley.
Maybe she was hoping her son would do what she couldn't have done 
herself (you probably know the cliché of the mother who wants her 
daughter to become a ballerina because it was her own inaccessible 
dream when she was a little girl
 hem, lucky Dudley isn't a girl; 
imagine what he would look like with a tutu). After all, there was 
already a witch in the family; maybe she hoped her son would share 
the gift. But he didn't, and maybe she felt guilty towards him. It 
was at the same time a new frustration (she was definitely unable to 
share what had been given to her sister) and guilt.
So she started spoiling her son and she adopted her husband's narrow 
point of view. 
And one day, famous Albus Dumbledore came and left baby Harry on her 
doorstep, with a letter probably saying the precious infant had 
defeated a powerful dark wizard. Poor Petunia. She had by now the 
obligation to care for a little boy who happened to represent 
everything she and her son couldn't have, or couldn't be. She had to 
care for an over gifted little wonder. The kid wasn't able to talk 
or to walk, but he was already stronger than her sister, stronger 
than a dark wizard. He was more gifted than her, more gifted than 
her son. And she had to care for him, with the perspective of 
watching him join one day the unreachable magical world
 Dumbledore 
was requiring more than a duty; he was requiring a sacrifice.
We know what happened next, when the door of 4 Privet Drive closed 
on Harry.

We can understand Petunia, because she finally pictures our own 
weaknesses of average, common people. When you talk about "a grey 
area in the middle", imamommy, you give a very good definition of 
Petunia's situation. She's a Muggle but she doesn't ignore wizards 
exist. That's a big difference between her and other Muggles. Her 
psychological situation isn't comfortable at all. She knows there's 
something else, but she can't reach it, and it's probably very 
frustrating and disturbing. She knows a secret, but she can't share 
it with other people, except with her husband. She's doomed to a 
silent sacrifice, but she didn't choose it. 

 As for forgiving her the way she treated her nephew, that's another 
challenge, and another possible thread. It depends on your own 
capacity to forgive. Personally, I can understand the reasons why 
she acted that way. But I can't give her my support, because of her 
behaviour.
Harry wasn't responsible for what had happened before he was born, 
or for Petunia's Muggle condition and frustration. But she made him 
pay the cost, deliberately, and IMO, that's what makes look more 
monstrous than ridiculous or pathetic. She didn't choose her Muggle 
condition, she probably suffered from it, but on another hand, she 
chose to abuse Harry.
And there, she parallels Tom Marvolo Riddle's behaviour, which 
didn't choose to be Half Blood, to be an orphan, but did choose to 
become Lord Voldemort.

Well, I didn't think that one day I would have so much to tell about 
Petunia. Sorry if it happens to be too far fetched,

Amicalement,

Iris