Harry's eyes was Re: The colour "Purple"

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 91051

snipping out the first half of the post to answer this one: 
> 
> Also, I have read that Harry's eyes are weak, and that JKR stresses
> the importance of his glasses. I wonder what is so important about
> ordinary, and probably cheap, muggle glasses. Why and how are they
> important? Why are Harry's eyes so weak? Is it just a normal muggle
> optometry problem? 
> 
> Sawsan

Well, I think there are three reasons for the stressing of the 
glasses. A: It shows that magic is not a cure all, even for 
something as simple as nearsightedness (or whatever it is that Harry 
suffers from). If wizards as powerful as DD and McGonagal can't just 
point their wands at their eys and say a spell and be good as new 
then how can magic be expected to cure more complicated ills, like 
death? B: Glasses give our great hero, Harry, a weakness than a lot 
of kids (myslef included) can relate to. I had a pair of thick 
plastic specs when I was in elementary school and was taunted for 
them, so I get why Harry is made fun of in his pre-Hogwarts days, 
and I am sure a lot of kids out there do, too. (I am pretty sure 
there is a quote to the effect of, "no one liked that wierd Harry 
with his baggy clothes and taped up glasses" at the end of the 
Vanishing Glass in SS). And C: That Harry wears glasses shows that 
despite the general lack of care given to him by the Dursleys, there 
was enough attention paid there for his eye problem to be diagnosed 
and dealt with. I know that my eye problem was caught in my pre-
Kindergarten physical, so Harry clearly had at least that 
rudimentary medical check. Whether Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did 
this only to keep the muggle authorities off their backs, or because 
back when Harry was five the threat of intervention by a pack of 
wand brandishing wizards was for more real than later in Harry's 
life, I leave to JKR to explain. 
Meri