Protection-Abuse / Patron-Client (was:re:Blood protection/ Dumbledore and Harry)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 158560

> Ceridwen:
> Bowls of soup are certainly not enough for a growing teenaged boy, 
> but it isn't starving him.  It's giving him the minimum, or near 
the 
> minimum, to survive.  He is expending less energy being locked in 
his 
> room.  Or, maybe not.  Dudley doesn't get a lot of exercise even 
> though he's not locked in his room.  Kids don't play outside any 
> more.  Pity.

Alla:

I am sorry, but I really don't see much difference. You are arguing 
that Dursleys are giving him enough in order not to make him die of 
starvation? Maybe they do, but Harry still feels hungry and it is 
still starving him maybe not to death, but still starving IMO.

And in GoF when Harry sends food to Sirius, he says he knows what it 
is to feel hungry all summer. I happen to believe him.


Ceridwen: 
> What is bothering me about this entire line of thought is the 
> automatic assumption that staying out of reach of 
Vernon's "grasp/" 
> equals out of reach of Vernon's "/fist".  The debate over abuse v. 
> discipline won't be solved by a series of children's books and the 
> discussion over them, but children who are properly spanked (flat 
of 
> hand across gluteus maximus) will dance out of the way as well, 
and 
> children who are marched to a corner for "time out" will have 
learned 
> to avoid that same grasping hand.  There is no overt mention of 
> abuse, and to me, no covert mention, either. 
<SNIP>

Alla:

The automatic assumption I indeed make that Vernon was hitting ( not 
properly, no) Harry is because of how I see Dursleys through the 
entire books. If this was indeed the **one** isolated remark and we 
would have seen Dursleys act as loving parents do through the entire 
books, maybe indeed couple other reasons for Harry stay out of 
Vernon reach would come to mind. Otherwise in line of Vernon and 
Petunia not stopping Harry hunting, in line of Petunia trying to hit 
Harry with frying pan, I don't see a possibility that Harry would 
want to stay out of Vernon reach because Vernon would want punish 
Harry for proper reasons.

Maybe because I don't remember Vernon ever punishing Harry because 
Harry deserved to be punished.

So, yes, to me this means that Harry wanted to stay out of Vernon's 
hands because Vernon was giving his hands too much freedom. Vernon 
IMO is depicted as a bully and an abuser and it is no wonder to me 
that Harry wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

I was also glad to see this remark by the narrator in HBP, because 
the arguments were made in the past that the older Harry gets the 
easier it is for him to resist Dursleys and the better his life 
gets .

So, to me that meant that while Harry indeed can threaten them with 
magic and we see it in the books, his life is still bad enough that 
he wants to stay out of reach even in HBP.

IMO,

Alla