Harry at the Dursleys

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 118424


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Kethryn again -
>  Again, I would be willing to lay better than even odds that 
Petunia 
> expected Harry to dodge the frying pan (I'm at school and I don't 
> have my books so Ican't look that passage up and I only vaguly 
> remember it).
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> No, she did not expect him to dodge the frying pan. (I reserve 
the  possibility that I could be wrong, but very small one, because 
I  remember passage well, but don't have the book with me right 
now)<

Pippin:

We don't know what Petunia expected. The narrator says that 
Harry "had to duck" to avoid being hit, but as usual we don't know 
how objective this opinion is. 

What struck me in re-reading the passage is that Harry had, in 
fact, been bullying Dudley for the last month, though lately the fun 
had gone out of it because Harry wasn't getting his letters. The 
narrator doesn't encourage us to weigh this in considering  
Petunia's state of mind. 

I have no beef against considering the Dursleys abusive, 
anyway. My only objection is considering them so abusive that 
any alternative including PamperedPrince!Harry, Dead!Harry,or 
RepeatedlyHavinghisGuardiansSlaughtered!Harry would be 
preferable. 

Pippin