Fear of Magic (was why do people dislike this scene)

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 158139

<snipping most of Debbie's excellent points about the
Dursleys >

> And to make a brief comment on the topic that started it all (old-
timers on
> this list already know my views)Dumbledore's actions in HBP with the
> wineglasses played to the Dursleys' fears.  Even if they know in 
their heart
> of hearts that Dumbledore isn't trying to poison them, they must 
feel
> humiliated.  Someone on that thread mentioned that Dumbledore is 
sometimes
> childish.  But this is not childish playfulness, as in
> "Nitwit!Blubber!Oddment!Tweak"; he means it to have a message.
> 
> And further deponent saith not.
> 
> Debbie
> 

Julie:
I very much agree with most everything you've said. I've 
always assumed there is a degree of protection afforded
Petunia and her family along with Harry, and that part of
the reason Dumbledore was able to persuade Petunia to 
take Harry in "grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly"
was because he advised her of that danger--Big, bad, really
bad wizard killed Lily and James and tried to kill Harry,
and big, bad, really bad wizard's Death Eaters are still
on the loose looking to find their missing leader (who
BTW will return some day) using whatever means necessary
on whoever *might* have information (as they soon will on
Neville's parents). "Now, did you say you don't want to 
take in your nephew, the boy right in the middle of it 
all? Because if not, well, don't come crying to me when
those Death Eaters come to the door and torture you and
your family--yes, including your baby boy--until you're
begging for death even though you have no information to
give them. What's that? Oh, you *will* take Harry in after
all? Excellent. I knew you'd make the right choice!"

I do sympathize with Petunia (perhaps less so with Vernon)
because I suspect she knew exactly what was going on, and
was basically forced into an untenable situation that she
in no way brought upon herself. I can sympathize because
if I was in her position, I'd be pretty resentful too if
the lives of myself and my family were in jeopardy from a
highly dangerous group of people armed in a manner I could
never be, who otherwise wanted no part of me. (I do have
nephews, whom I love very much, and certainly I would love
and protect them no matter what, but I might still harbor
some very unpleasant feelings about the WW, especially if
they treated me as cavalierly as wizards treat Muggles in
the HP books).

This sympathy does NOT excuse Petunia's treatment of Harry,
and, yes, sympathy for Petunia's very reasonable fear of the
WW, and disgust at her resulting treatment of a child who
was also in no way to blame for the situation can coexist.
At least it can in me ;-)

Regarding Dumbledore humiliating the Dursleys, this has been
a problem since PS/SS. Again, NOTHING excuses the Dursleys'
treatment of Harry. But their first contact with the WW is
via Hagrid, who in a snit at Vernon's rudeness, hexes 
*Dudley* and gives him a permanent pig's tail. No one in
the WW bothers to rectify that outright physical abuse of 
a Muggle--a child!--and the tail must be surgically removed.
(I know the first book was set up as more of a "fairy tale"
situation, but as the other books grow more realistic,
so the events of the first book must eventually be taken
at face value when discussing the series as a whole, IMO.)
Can this situation do anything BUT solidify the Dursley's
hatred, fear and distrust of the WW? And it's just the
first of a number of instances where wizards continue to
use magic against the Dursleys who are helpless against
it, and can only resent and fear wizards and magic more
with each passing year.

How different might the Dursleys have been if the WW 
treated them as equals rather than consistently using 
magic to take them down a peg or two? Maybe they wouldn't
be much different at all, but they certainly wouldn't be
worse! And the WW would come off in a much better light
(again, to me). Instead the WW frequently comes off in the
same bullying light as the Dursleys.

Julie, sympathetic to the Dursley's fear and helplessness
while condemning their horrible treatment of an equally 
helpless child.