[HPforGrownups] Re: Dudley

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 153750

On 6/11/06, quigonginger <quigonginger at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Rita (Catlady):
> > I remember being shocked when I first read of their pathetically
> > inadequate efforts to be juvenile delinquents (much less gangstas!).
> > These are FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD boys we're talking about, and they beat up
> > ten-year-olds and throw rocks at cars instead of shooting people in
> > drive-bys, vandalize the play park instead of committing armed
> > robberies of convenience stores, and smoke cigarettes instead of
> crack
> > or crystal.
>
> Ginger responded:
> Thanks for bringing this up, Rita. I thought I was the only one who
> thought that Dudders and friends were doing a pretty bad job of being
> Juvies.
>
> When I read it, I thought they just screamed "Wannabe!" (Side: For
> those not familiar with American slang, this means that they "wanna
> (want to) be" tough, but really aren't there. IOW, they think they're
> acting all tough, but aren't really.)
>
> ... snip ...  When I was growing up (good kids from the wrong side of
> the tracks) we smoked and drank and did light drugs, but we wouldn't
> have done any vandelism. That would have been wrong. That was back
> when smoking and drinking were pretty much considered normal adult
> passtimes. We weren't being "bad", just "adult". Or so we thought.
>
> Nowadays, of course, we must be PC. Smoking must be portrayed as bad,
> or the left wing will advance in a wave of fury. Sex and profanity
> are allowed, even encouraged as normal and free-thinking, but the
> higher power of your choice, if any, forbid that anyone should smoke.
> ...
..
Kemper now speaking quickly off-topic:
No doubt!  Leftwingers on Colbert's eagle, Liberty, will swoop down from
soaring the beautiful though Gore-ish ozone-depleted, spacious sky and, with
many a flirt and flutter, snatch the anti-pc, Seussian-red fish.  Damn those
leftwingers!  Oh wait... didn't the very red, strong rightwing US state,
Colorado, pass a Smoking Ban?  And wasn't the Smoking Ban originally
sponsored by a republican (rightwing) legislator and supported by a number
of his republican (rightwing) peers?  And didn't the republican (rightwing)
governor sign-off on the Smoking Ban?  Wow, leftwingers, I'm really
sorry.  Sorry for making such a blanket comment on you guys without
considering all the facts.  It was really silly and divisive of me.  Please
accept my apology.

... Back to topic...
Sex is normal not free thinking.  Profanity is also not free thinking; it's
free speaking.
JKR has used 'hell' and 'damn' in the books.

She has Mr. Dursley slyly using the 'f' word.
>From OP(2), "Enough -- effing -- /owls/," emphasis JKR's.

She has 14 year-old Ron, normal and profane.
>From GF(13),
... from Lavender Brown -- "Oh Professor, look!  I think I've got an
unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"
"It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the
chart.
"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" said Ron.
Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps,
that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class.

It is clear to many readers approaching, in, or out of adolescence that Ron
is being intentionally lewd.

>From OP(35),,
(Luna) "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets, it was a
very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark --"
"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" siad Ron, still giggling feebly.  "Get it,
Harry?  We saw Uranus --ha ha ha ---"

However, Ron was having brain issues at the time and the lewd comment may
have been unintentional (though this, imo, would be ooc for him), but it
does seem obvious that JKR is fond of this particular innuendo.

I guess JKR is pushing a leftwing (or whatever the British equivalent)
agenda.


> Ginger continues:
>
> ... big snip ...
>
> The Dursleys struck me as being really rich and high class, what with
> a 4 bedroom house, a company car and thoughts of buying a vacation
> home. After reading the opinions of British readers, I now see that
> they are more wannabes themselves. I have heard that Majorca is a
> very common place to buy a vacation home, and speaks of them as having
> lower aspirations than a truly high class person would have.
>
> Is the same true with Dudley and his friends? Are they aiming to be
> baddies with no idea of how to really do it, just as their parents are
> trying to be posh with no idea of how it should be done? Remember
> Petunia sticking out her pinkie when she drank coffee? I've heard
> that isn't really proper, just done by people who are trying to be.
> But then what do I know about such things? ;)
>
> So, do we have any British suburbanites out there who care to
> comment? Would Dudley and friends be considered bad, kind of bad,
> trying to be bad, or a lame attempt at being bad? How would the
> adults in the neighbourhood feel about them? How would the kids
> feel? How do you think JKR thought readers would see them? Was she
> writing for kids here, or adults? Or both?
>
> ...
> Any thoughts from cultural insiders?
>
> Ginger, who thought Dudders and the guys were a bunch of sissies.

> 

Kemper now:
You're right.  Dudley and his folks are pathetic.  The Dursley's remind me
of the Loman's from Death of a Salesman: where Willy is Vernon, Linda is
Petunia and Happy is Dudley (though, maybe he can become Biff in the end...
maybe).

I don't recall Vernon expressing a desire for a vacation home, but if so,
then he doesn't want it for the right reason.  He would want it to fulfill a
dream of bragging rights, "Look what I have!  I'm successful!"  His dream is
not to get away with his family, to spend time with them walking the beach
hand-in-hand with his wife or flying a kite with his son.

Dudley's entitlement is encouraged by Vernon.  From PS/SS(2):
...Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.  His face fell.
"Thirty-six" ... "That's two less than last year."
"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under
this big one from Mommy and Daddy."
"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley....
Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, " And
we'll buy you another /two/ presents while we're out today.  How's that,
Popkin?  /Two/ more presents.  Is that all right?"
....
"Oh."  Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel.  " All right
then."
Uncle Vernon chuckled.
"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father.  'Atta boy,
Dudley!"  He ruffled Dudley's hair.

Dudley dreams of a birthday of plenty.  But what we see later is that plenty
of his presents (gifts) are discarded and forgotten in a separate room.

To take a line from Biff, the Dursleys have "the wrong dreams.  All, all
wrong."
How will their storyline end?  I fear tragically, whether by the Death
Eaters or by stale old age.


Kemper, who also thinks that smoking/smokers are demonized, but would think
it odd, yet slightly cool, to have Dumbledore lite up a Dunhill upon his
definite pseudo-resurrection


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