Respecting the Dursleys( was:Re: Hi everyone -- banning the books)

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 159604

 
> Jen:  
> Where was this concept in books 1-5? I'm not talking what I believe 
> in real life but what was actually written on the page. Weren't we 
> meant to laugh at the jokes about Dudley's size? Cheer when Harry 
> discovered he could threaten him with magic? Roll our eyes at the 
> Dursleys' stupendously poor parenting?  

Hickengruendler:

I'm not sure how much in the minority I am, but I felt sorry for 
Dudley from the first chapter in PS onwards, when we saw him as a 
baby/toddler. His behaviour wasn't that bad at this time (obviously, 
given his age), even though he undoubtedly showed already first signs 
of what he would become. But then was still the time for Vernon and 
Petunia to correct this, in not giving their son everything he wants. 
Personally, I was already apalled by their parenting skills even 
before I knew how they would treat Harry, simply because by the 
glimmer we saw of them raising Dudley.

Another reason, why I think JKR encourages us to have some sympathy 
for Dudley, is the regular come-uppances he gets, starting in chapter 
2 of PS, with the birthday trip to the zoo and practically continuing 
over the whole course of the storyline. In many ways, despite his 
horrible behaviour, Dudley is still an innocent. At the very least he 
was so in the first couple of books. And yet he always gets the worst 
punishment of the Dursleys. Compare what happened to him to what 
happened to Vernon and Petunia, and it's obvious that he always has 
the worstd eal of all the Dursleys. In fact, *nothing* bad ever 
happened to Vernon and Petunia personally within the storyline, 
except for the bouncing glasses in HBP, (which was the most harmless 
Dursley-magic incident of them all). The destroyed Living Room does 
not count, as Arthur repared the damage at once. IMO telling is the 
scene, where Hagrid fetches Harry from the Dursleys. Dudley, nasty as 
he may be otherwise, did absolutely *nothing* wrong here, and was 
just cowering in the corner. And yet he is the one, who gets the 
pigtail in the end, because Vernon insulted Dumbledore. So Dudley 
literally had to pay for the "sins" of his parents. The movie 
producers seem to have their problems with the scene as well, as they 
invented Dudley eating the cake, so that Hagrid had a better reason 
to hex him. There are other scenes pretty similar to this in course 
of the books.  

Of course the counter argument would be, that the scenes are mostly 
comical, except for the Dementor attack. We are not meant to feel 
sorry for Dudley, but rather laugh at him. But I'm not sure, if this 
is really the whole truth. We for example know now after the climax 
of HBP, that some of the twins' pranks lead to Fenrir Greyback 
entering Hogwarts and to Bill's face being disfigured forever. (In a 
way, Fred and George's storyline in HBP mirrors Percy's in Goblet, in 
that all of them aid unwittingly the Death Eaters Eaters, simply by 
being themselves and because of their flaws). Therefore the TTT scene 
with the nearly choking-to-Death Dudley can easily interpreted as 
foreshadowing, that the Twins recklessness and carelesness might have 
much bigger consequences, then they themselves intend, even if the 
main character doesn't agree with this, and despite of the overall 
grotesque tone of the scene. And from this point of view, it's only 
one more step to feel sorry for the victim of the prank.