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

[Pen Robinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 93216

>>
>> Del answers :
>>
>> Aha ! I completely agree with you, and I repeat what I said in
>> another post : WHY didn't anyone do anything to stop their abusing
>> Harry ? Harry was going to school with unfitting clothes and broken
>> glasses, he was being chased and bullied by Dudley and his gang
>> right in the school and in the street, he must have acted in social
>> situations in a way that screamed "abused kid", he was left in a
>> tree for *hours* with a dog barking at him, etc... And yet we are
>> never told that anyone reported anything, that the social services
>> came to visit, that any teacher had a chat with the Dursleys, that
>> Dumbledore or anyone else came to visit them and check on Harry
>> (even though we know the WW had a way of knowing anything and
>> everything they needed to about Harry, through Mrs Figg), or
>> *anything* !!
>>

When I first read PS I was reminded of Roald Dahl books  (think of 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which the Bucket family is 
incredibly poor and the grandparents live in bed).

Harry's situation, and the Dursleys, are not supposed to be realistic.  
Child protection agencies and social services, and friendly teachers 
who recognise that Harry is being neglected, are as irrelevant to the 
story as... as Cinderella's social security number.  The Dursleys are 
caricatures of suburban petty-mindedness, not character studies.    The 
woes of Harry's life are not intended as a heart-rendingly accurate 
depiction of an abused boyhood; his situation is set up thus so that it 
contrasts to maximum effect with his magical destiny.

It really doesn't stand up to the depth of analysis this thread is 
trying to apply.

Pen