On Letters (was Re: Hmmm. What's your favourite *now*?)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 183046

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "montavilla47" <montavilla47 at ...> wrote:

Potioncat:
> > But all this lays the ground work for imformation we'll need to know 
> > later. We need to see that Harry is a mediocre kid--who can't seem to 
> > get even one of the letters. 

Montavilla47: 
> My only problem with the beginning of the first book was with the 
> first chapter--which stopped me the first time I tried to read the 
> book.  
> 
> But I disagree with the idea that we needed to see Harry as unable
> to read a letter in order to make him an Everykid.  Every kid in the
> world would emphasize with a boy who wanted to read a letter
> addressed to him--and, with the hundreds of chances and days 
> that the letters kept arriving--even a mediocre kid should have
> been able to get hold of one.

<snip>

> But, I can't quite see other kid characters waiting around that 
> long for Hagrid to come rescue them.  Lyra would never have 
> rested until she and Pan had stolen that letter.  Likewise any of 
> Frances Hodge Burnett's heroines, or Joan Aiken's.  
> 
> Although any attempt on that letter would have been preceded 
> by a four-way debate, Amy March would have knicked it within
> a day (probably with Laurie's help).  There'd also be a four-way
> debate with the Pevensie kids, but once they realized that the
> letters were sent by a higher power, they'd be on it like dragons
> on gold.  

<snip>

Geoff:
Just in passing, I think you meant "empathise".

I don't see Harry as a mediocre kid. We don't see how Uncle Vernon 
dealt with all the letters but he seemed to make it very difficult 
for Harry to obtain one of them...

On the first day:

'That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did 
something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.
"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had 
squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"
"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon 
shortly. "I have burned it."'
(PS "The Letters from No One" p.32 UK edition)

On the third day:

'...He (Vernon) shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then 
told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off 
into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the post had arrived, 
right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters 
addressed in green ink.
"I want-" he began but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into 
pieces before his eyes.'
(ibid. p.34)

On the fourth day of posting, my true love sent to me:

'On Friday, no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Harry....
...Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, 
he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up all the cracks 
around the front and back doors so no one could go out.'
(ibid. p.34)

'On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters
to Harry found their way into the house....
..Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in ]her food mixer.'
(ibid. p.34)

'On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table 
looking tired and rather ill but happy.
"No post on Sundays," he reminded them happily as he spread 
marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today-"
Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke
and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment,
thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. 
The Dursleys ducked but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one-
"Out! OUT!"
Uncle Vernon seized Harry round the waist and threw him into the 
hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms
over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could 
hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls 
and floor....
...Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded
-up doors and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway.'
(ibid. pp.34-35)

And finally, when they were at Cokeworth:

'They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to 
their table.
"'Scuse me but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred 
of these at the front desk."
She held up a letter.....
...Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand 
out of the way. The woman stared.
"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following 
her from the dining-room.'
(ibid. p.36)

Now, where would Harry get the opportunity to (a) get hold of one of 
the letters and (b) get it away to read it?

On a couple of occasions, there is a melée involving Harry, Vernon 
and Dudley and in the last incident at Privet Drive on Sunday, Vernon 
physically removes Harry from the room.

In other cases, if Vernon gets his hands on the letters in time, he 
rapidly  destroys them.  Harry is not physically strong enough to take 
on other of the other two so I feel that suggesting he wimps out
is grossly unfair. Comparison with the Pevensies is not feasible. Four 
of them - Peter certainly older and bigger than Harry - could mount 
a much better campaign of diversions and attack than a small eleven 
year-old on his own.

You write, 'I can't quite see other kid characters waiting around that 
long for Hagrid to come rescue them. ' How the heck does he know 
that there is a Plan B? He probably hasn't realised that Plan A /is/ 
Plan A at this point.

After the publication of DH, my well-known organisation the IWHTLC 
(I Want Harry to Live Club) was disbanded since its aims had been 
successful :-)

I think I must launch it successor the QHBC (Quit Harry Bashing Club).

To misquote the timeless words of a great American, 'Ask not what 
Harry can do for you, - ask what you can do for Harry.'