Dumbledore on the Dursleys in OotP (was:Re: Old, old problem.)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 151039

Carol:
<SNIP>

> Opinions on how those first years shaped him, anyone? Is he or is 
he
> not better fitted to be the savior of the Wizarding World by having
> lived with the Dursleys for eleven years? Did he or did he not 
develop
> the qualities I specified an/or other strengths and virtues through
> living with the Dursleys? (And, no, to anticipate a 
counterargument,I
> don't regard his not knowing magic for the first eleven years was a
> handicap. He caught up quickly, and so did Muggle-born Hermione.)
> Again, I'm talking about the *character traits* he acquired through
> sleeping (not living!) in a broom cupboard for eleven years, 
having to
> do chores while his pampered cousin watched or played with his 
toys,
> wearing hand-me-downs, not getting quite enough to eat, and being
> frequently yelled at and ordered around. Not an ounce of timidity 
in
> sight, and, oddly, perhaps, no inclination to become a bully 
himself.
> Whatever faults he may have, I think we allagree that he has some
> noble and heroic qualities, and those qualities must have developed
> either *because of* or *in spite of* his upbringing by the 
Dursleys.
> If there's a third option, I'd be indebted to anyone who points it 
out.
<SNIP>

Alla:

 No, I don't think that his living with Dursleys shaped him to 
become a better saviour of the WW, I really don't. I think that the 
third option is that is who Harry is, the essential part of his 
character.

How he developed his qualities? I suspect that first year and a half 
of being LOVED by his parents played a significant role. Is it 
possible in JKR's world that Harry was born with such qualities? I 
think it is possible.

I think that JKR's world is largely essential in nature. Just look 
at the Dudley,which Minerva describes and Dudley is what couple 
months older than Harry?

"And they've got his son- I saw him kicking his mother all the way 
up the street, screaming for sweets." - SS/PS, p.13.

Dudleys is what? year and half here? A bit older? Not sure, but we 
already see the developing bully, IMO.

And we of course remember Tom Riddle bullying habits of early age.

I think young Harry already had in himself a lot of his heroic 
nature. His sufferings at Dursleys could have strengthen those or 
not, or make Harry like Tom Riddle, we don't know.

So, to answer your question, no, I don't think Harry NEEDED to live 
with Dursleys to develop his nature. It is essential of course to 
make the hero suffer in literature, but besides blood protection, I 
don't see any GOOD things Harry acquired in Dursleys and moreover, 
even if we knew that Harry needed it to become a saviour of WW, I 
think that he should not have be nade to go through that, because 
that was not Dumbledore's decision to make, if he had some shred of 
decency in him and I think Albus IS a decent guy.

Having said all that, of course I think that  the fact that JKR did 
away with fairy tale "orphan" so to speak significantly influences 
my thinking.

I don't see Harry as Cinderella by book 4 probably. He became way 
too "real" and "complicated" character for me to say that Dursleys' 
abuse is what he needed to become a saviour.

JMO,

Alla