Harry and starvation

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 123300


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Janet Anderson" 
<norek_archives2 at h...> wrote:

> Betsy said:
> >I have problems with the word "starved" too.  (snip)> 

Janet said:
> I wonder if there is an echo here of the protagonist in C. S. 
Lewis's book  *The Horse and his Boy.*  (snip)
> The fact that the character's foster father doesn't treat him as 
he should is not glossed over. BUT the fact that the character is 
tough, wiry, and able to endure hardships does help him in his 
adventures.  The bad intentions of the callous foster father don't 
invalidate the long-run benefits the character received.
> 

Tonks now:
This reminds me of the training that monks (of XC and Buddist 
Religion) go through. They live is small cells, basis needs and 
nothing else. Lot of fasting, etc. This makes them better able to 
fight the forces of evil within themselves and elsewhere. So Harry 
gets some of this type of training at the Dursley's. 

I think the reason others on this list think this is so terrible is 
that they are seeing Harry as just an ordinary boy and comparing him 
to Muggle kids in middle or upper middle class homes. But Harry is 
not an ordinary boy, or an ordinary wizard either. He is a very 
powerful wizard. The only one that can take on LV, once as Hagrid 
said he has been "trained up a bit".

Does this point of view change anyones thoughts on this? (Just a 
minute, let me hid behind the statues first...);-)

Tonks_op