On the other hand (was Re: Disliked Uncle Vernon)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 92459

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" <gbannister10 at a...> wrote:

> I agree completely. 
> 
> It's fear..... of the neighbours, of being odd, not the sort of 
> people we invite round for coffee. 
> 
> The irony is that,because Harry is treated in the way he is -  
> wearing Dudley's castoffs, glasses mended with Sellotape, looking 
> uncared for - that he becomes part of the oddness with which the 
> Dursleys do not want to be surrounded. They are creating their own 
> banana skins.....
> 
Kneasy:
True. They are conformists to the core. 
Harry turning into a local eyesore is not so much of a problem; though
he does not come up to the standards expected on the streets of a
genteel surburbia he can  be pigeon-holed by the neighbours into a
recognisable category - 'rough boy'. The uncontrollable nephew may
even elicit sympathy for the Dursleys."Such a trial, that boy." And he's
much easier to explain away as a potential tear-away than as a budding
wizard. 

 
> Geoff:
> But they obviously recognised the letter; Petunia's memory must have 
> been long enough. And their reaction was not one of regard for Harry 
> but of the need to protect themselves, their conformity and their 
> reputation as "those nice Dursleys at number 4".
> 
> 'I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we 
> took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?'"
> 
> Stamping out. Sounds a bit violent. A good reaction for someone 
> vicitmised, down-trodden and those under the jackboot of the despot? 
> Sounds more like the person on the other end of the jackboot....


Kneasy:
There's jackboots and jackboots. There's always a tendency to take
out frustrations on those less powerful than ourselves - it's a
natural though unfortunate tendency. Harry is victimised by the
victims (the Dursleys) of the victimiser (DD et al). Besides, Vernon's
using the everyday vocabulary of the political and opinion-forming
class. All rhetoric is cast in terms of struggle or violence "Stamp
out benefit fraud; smash poverty; strangle inflation; war on low pay" 
Gross mis-use of hyperbole, if you ask me. Vernon probably watches
too  many politicians on TV; causes brain rot, you know.

Lots of words have been posted pointing out that the books are
mostly written from Harry's viewpoint. Fair enough;  no problem.
Usually, this observation is made when posters want to discuss
how Sirius or Snape or DD feel about a given situation; again, 
fair enough. But in the books we see *one* Muggle family
caught up in the WW through no fault of their own. (Yes, there
are the Mr & Mrs Granger, but they are quickly whisked away
after every mention.) Vernon has without doubt been cast as an
unpleasant part of Harry's existence and we are expected to join
in the universal condemnation of Vernons behaviour and attitudes.
But it seems a valid exercise to consider  how the world looks
from the stand-point of a non-magical person who is used to
a measure of authority but is reduced to impotence in the face
of the WW. We may think "Serve him right." I doubt Vernon would. 

> Geoff:
> "Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into 
> the firelight.
> 'He's not going' he said.
> Hagrid grunted.
> .....
> 'We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish,' said 
> uncle Vernon, 'swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard, indeed!'
> .....
> (Petunia) 'Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got 
> married and had you and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just 
> as strange, just as - as -abnormal...'"
> 
> This doesn't look like saving Harry fom this abhorrent fate. Looks a 
> bit more like the previously mentioned policy of not letting the 
> neighbours think you are anything bother than a decent, respectable, 
> middle-class suburban estate dweller.
> 

Kneasy:
Maybe, but not necessarily so.
Once again the conformist speaks, but this time from a sense of identity.
Conformity is the glue that identifies an individual with a society or sub-
group thereof. If you want to belong, you must conform. Vernon very
much wants to continue in his tight little sociological sub-class, without
it he would be nothing and nobody -  by his own standards. He wishes
that Harry would conform too, it would solve nearly all his problems, and
or so he thinks, it would solve Harry's problems as well. He's got limited
horizons, has Vernon and he sees everything within them as safe and
comprehensible. Outside is dis-order and danger. If Harry goes then
not only it reflect on Vernon but it will not be good for Harry. IMO he
truly believes this. Otherwise why not let him go? He could wash his
hands of him without a second thought.

We  don't know how well Vernon knew Lily and James. For sure it
wasn't as well as Petunia did, so most of his knowledge is hear-say.
But the one thing he does know is that they are dead, and it wasn't
an accident. They were possibly the only wizards he has known (IIRC
the Dursleys didn't go to the Potters wedding) and they died by 
violence, a by-product of their magical activities. How much detail
DD put into  that letter we don't know, but judging from Petunia's
reaction in OoP to DD's howler, it's likely that 'for his own safety'
was mentioned. Not a comfortable thought and one that festered
at the back of Vernon's mind for 9 years or so. Now the WW
has come back to claim its own. 

Vernon is a worried man. I don't blame him. 
 
 
> 
> Geoff:
> ...and in so doing, open Harry to the continued real dangers of 
> Stonewall High with its bullies who have picked on Harry and others 
> similar throughout their Junior School careers. But, of course, he 
> would doubtless say that a little roughing up at the secondary school 
> would help turn Harry into a real man and not a wimp. After all he 
> does possess the sensitivity of a high class pachyderm. But not 
> evil...
> 
Kneasy:
Again true. But are they determined to kill Harry at Stonewall High?
Anyway Harry saw S.H. as a refuge -  Dudders  and his gang weren't 
going there. He might even learn a useful trade - become a snake-charmer 
for example.