Harry's questions ... parents - Dangerous Questions

[Julia]

No: HPFGUIDX 117421


> SSSusan wrote:
> I don't know, Julie.  What do you make of this line from PoA?
> 
> "Watching Harry being bullied by Uncle Vernon was Dudley's 
favorite 
> form of entertainment."
> 
> How can it be Dudley's favorite form of entertainment if it 
doesn't 
> happen?  
> 

Julia replies:

Yeah, you've got me here. I haven't known about this quote. But 
still I think that Harry can't be qualified as an abused child. 
Mayabe it's not because of Dursley's attitude towards him (which, 
you're right, was sometimes abusive) but Harry's attitude towards  
the Dursleys. If they were his parents the whole case would be 
different but Harry knew that they aren't. So it wasn't hard for him 
to keep a distance between them. I really don't know how to describe 
this difference but you should see it. 
For example:
A child when abused feels guilty about what s/he has done and 
because s/he has made parents angry. 
Harry didn't feel guilty because 1) he didn't know what he had done 
wrong 2)he didn't feel emotional bond between him and the Dursleys.
And - I just thought about it - he maybe even knew that they 
couldn't have sent him to orphanage... so he didn't fear them... 
Harry was very smart kid then... And he hadn't an 'abused' 
personality - he was able to resist that abusive behaviour. And 
that's what IMO doesn't make him an abused child...

I agree whith Magda who said that:

"The Dursleys are nobody's nominees for "Guardians of the Year" but
they're not abusive in the sense that Steve refers to above. Their
utter paranoia about Harry if nothing else would have prevented them
from doing anything that would be likely to attract the attention of
school or social worker authorities to the boy. Also it's clear from
Harry's inner thoughts during the first chapters of PS/SS that while
he's not happy, he's not beaten down mentally and hasn't surrendered
to any kind of self-blame."

This is Harry's attitude and character which prevent him from being 
an abused child...

Julia