Disliked Uncle Vernon (was: More on the chat=

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92253

Tj:
JRK's reply to this question [which character she most dislikes]
struck me as simple but true. Vernon has abused his power/control over
Harry to a frighting degree.  Vernon Dursley had/has a great deal of
power over Harry's early years.  He is Harry's (was) father figure. 
He mentaly and physically abused Harry for 11 years... with
uninterupted spite.  He tells Harry in so many ways that he wished
Harry had never been born.  Vernon has done more damage to Harry than
one can dream of.  He has locked him up, STARVED him, hit him, used
him as a slave, (working in yard, house, kitchen..on and on) demeaned
his every word ... Harry's has said in EVERY book that "don't worry
they'll just be mad I had all of those chances to DIE and didn't." 
This is not a joke Harry really means these words. 
 
I don't like Vernon either.  

Carol:
While it's true that Vernon has abused Harry, he hasn't been alone.
Petunia has either condoned the abuse or engaged in it herself--and
with less excuse than Vernon because she has some understanding of the
magical world and why Harry is as he is. Vernon, however, is not
simply a power-hungry bully like Delores Umbridge (the person I would
expect JKR to dislike most), nor is he a coward like, say, Karkaroff,
as he at least tried to stand up to Hagrid (and later Mr. Weasley) in
an effort to protect his wife and son. In other words, he isn't wholly
contemptible (as Karkaroff and Umbridge are, IMO). He does, I'm almost
certain, love his wife, and it must have taken courage of sorts to
marry a woman he knew to have "abnormal" (magical) relatives.

To me, Vernon is the essence of Muggle misunderstanding of the magical
world. He fears what he doesn't understand, tries to deny its
existence or, failing that, to snuff the magic out of Harry very much
like a nineteeth-century father who wanted to beat the disrespect and
mischief out of his son to prevent him from becoming a criminal. The
more he fails to make Harry "normal" (like himself), the angrier and
more frustrated he becomes. He is the kind of terrified Muggle who, in
earlier centuries, burned or hanged witches (or at least turned in
suspects to the authorities and gleefully watched them hang or burn,
thinking he was seeing demons or corrupters of youth receiving their due).

In other words, he's the flip side of Salazar Slytherin, the reason
that some Wizards and Witches hate Muggles. It's interesting that JKR
takes the trouble of putting us inside his head in the very first
chapter of the first book--our own Muggle perspective slightly
distorted but not yet turned to near-insanity ("Daddy's gone mad,
hasn't he?") by fear. Vernon fears what he can't control, and that
includes both the magical world and its representative in his own
house, Harry.

Carol, who isn't trying to justify Vernon's behavior, just to
understand him--and figure out why JKR would dislike him more than she
does Umbridge