Dahl and the Dursleys (was:Re: Cruel, Mean, and Nasty/Follow the Owls...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 158873

> >>Magpie:
> But I agree the Dursleys are often exaggerated. 
> <snip>
> I think they do count.  Dahl-esque they may be, but that's they   
> can't just be surgically removed from the story.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I've completely butchered your post, Magpie, to focus in on one 
thing: The Dursleys and Dahl.  You call them "Dahl-esque" and they 
*kind of* are, but in a really watered down way, IMO.  Dahl-lite, if 
you will (all the comedy, less of the evilness, maybe?).

When I first started reading SS, it was with a bit of trepidation.  
(I worried it'd be a bit boring and, well, childish.)  But as soon 
as I hit tiny little Harry getting stuck in the cupboard, I perked 
up.  *Here* was a hero who was facing something.  Just like a Dahl 
character, he'd have these horrible, nasty relatives to overcome.  
Totally my cup of tea.

Except... The Dursleys weren't really that bad to Harry.  
*Especially* compared to Dahl's evil relatives.

(For an example of Dahl, check out this link:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Giant-Peach-Roald-
Dahl/dp/0141304677/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/102-6933025-2838526?ie=UTF8
and take advantage of the "Search Inside!" option)

I figured that JKR didn't really mean for the Dursleys to be *evil* 
so much as *boring*.  Which is an entirely different thing. It's a 
difference I was fairly confident JKR was aware of.  (I cannot 
imagine that JKR hasn't read Roald Dahl.)  So I felt JKR wasn't 
*trying* to write the Dursleys as typical Dahl-esque villains.

And when she introduced us to Aunt Marge in PoA, I was *certain* JKR 
conciously went with boring rather than evil.  Aunt Marge showed me 
that JKR could write evil or malicious if she wanted to.  Obviously 
(IMO, anyway) she didn't want to go that route with the Dursleys.

(I read SS, CoS, and PoA over the course of a weekend, IIRC.  So I 
knew about Aunt Marge with relative speed.)

Umbridge sealed the deal for me.  No one writing Umbridge could 
possibly have decided to be coy about how bad the Dursleys really 
were to Harry.  I mean, she has them giving Harry old hangers as 
Christmas presents.  JKR isn't doing subtle here, IMO. 


> >>Ken:
> <snip>
> They would be your worst nightmare if they moved in next door to   
> you.

Betsy Hp:
See, I doubt that.  Oh sure, they wouldn't be an asset.  No one 
you'd eagerly invite into your bridge circle.  But in many ways the 
Dursleys could help you feel a bit better about yourself.  You'd sit 
back in your suburban home, listen to Miles Davis, and congratulate 
yourself on being *so* much more hip and cultured than the Dursleys 
could ever *hope* to be.  (And that doesn't even cover the smugness 
you'd feel comparing your little darlings to that lumpish Dudley 
Dursley.)

Now a *Dahl* version of the Dursleys would be your worst nightmare.  
They'd take over your neighborhood and have you quivering behind 
closed curtains.  JKR's Dursleys have neither the power nor the 
aggressivenesss to achieve nightmare-neighbor status, IMO. 

Betsy Hp (*really* tired of flood clean-up and glad it's mostly over)