Moral Messages and Hagrid

[Marilyn Peake]

No: HPFGUIDX 128862

catkind: 
I too love the realistic touches. (Harry getting to know Ron 
over chocolate frogs; Harry's disastrous date with Cho.) On the other 
hand there are other times when Rowling throws realism for her 
characters out of the window.  A realistic Vernon Dursley would never 
have ended up in the Hut on the Rock in the first place, and wouldn't 
have a clue what to do with a gun. It would be far too exotic and 
dangerous for him. A realistic Hermione couldn't possibly be so 
stupid as to think SPEW a good acronym.  I think it can be fun and 
dramatic when characters act like caricatures of themselves too.
 
This combination of realism and caricature seems to me to be unique 
to HP.

Marilyn: 
You're absolutely right.  Overall, J.K. Rowling's world in 
the Harry Potter books is realistically portrayed, as if all of it 
could truly exist, from muggle to wizard to unicorn.  Yet there are 
those fantastical elements that don't fit like Vernon Dursley 
escaping to the Hut on the Rock.   

 
catkind: 
I'm not sure. There *is* a large degree of evil coming 
dressed up in black cloaks, so far at least.  The dark side comes 
neatly labelled: Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, Dark Arts, the High 
Inquisitor. In real life, it's not half so easy. 
 
I don't see the Dursleys as shade-of-grey at all.  They're 
absolutely and stereotypically all that is wrong with dull suburbia, 
combined with being nasty bullies. 

Marilyn: 
Within the Harry Potter books, the Dursleys are indeed 
caricatures, very black-and-white "bad guys".  What I meant by the 
Dursley characters representing shades of gray is that they can teach 
children who read the Harry Potter books about shades of gray.  As 
children read the books, they get to absorb the idea that not 
everyone who protects their standing and outward appearance as 
a "good guy" is truly a "good guy".  Looking at the Dursleys from the 
outside, they are successful, neat, etc.  However, looking at them 
from inside their home, they are clearly the "bad guys".  I think 
that J.K. Rowling's hilarious portrayal of the Dursleys is like a 
spoonful of sugar for the bad taste lesson that a regular person can 
be a bad guy.  And J.K. Rowling explores evil on many different 
levels within many different characters.  I believe that she's a 
master at this.

Cheers,
Marilyn

~~ Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once.~~
>From THE FISHERMAN'S SON Trilogy 
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