HBP post DH look chapter 3

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 184310

Alla:
> But Dumbledore talking about rudeness? Dumbledore talking about 
> Dursleys not treating him as a son, when he was treating him as a 
> weapon to be killed?
> 
> Oy, Dumbledore you are hypocrite, me thinks.
> 
> So anyways, I am just wondering now what was the purpose of this 
> chapter again?
> 
> I mean, I get that we needed to see Dumbledore's injury, but what was 
> the purpose of scene with Dursleys theme wise, because I really am not 
> sure anymore. I mean, yes there is that matter of Kreacher's ownership, 
> but was there something else about Dursleys we needed to hear?
> 
> Because really carmic justice as delivered by Dumbledore of all people 
> really paled to me after book 7.

Montavilla47:

Welcome to the Dark Side, Alla!

I think that the purpose of this chapter was to deliver that Karmic justice
you were looking for.  And I can understand, in an abstract way, why 
it would be satisfying for most of the people reading the books.

It wasn't for me, because I found Dumbledore hypocritical the first time I
read it.  The glasses knocking against the heads of the Dursleys struck me
as particularly obnoxious, perhaps because I don't enjoy drinking alcohol 
and people are always pouring me larger glasses of wine than I want--and
then demanding that I enjoy them.

And, there was the hypocrasy of Dumbledore lecturing them on their 
neglect of Harry, when he was the one who left a baby on their doorstep
in the first place.  Without even ringing the doorbell.  For all he knew, 
Harry could have been eaten by the neighborhood schnauser before Petunia
even opened the door.

Also, he could have looked in once in a while to make sure they were treating
the kid okay.  

But the main thing was for me that I didn't think the Dursley's really needed
any big Karmic humiliation.  I felt like they pretty much got their 
comeuppances along the way.  In PS/SS, Dudley was cursed with a pig's
tail and had to undergo a surgical procedure to get it removed.  And, at the 
end of the book, Harry is told by Hagrid to pretend he can curse the Dudleys,
giving him the upper hand.  Until Dobby comes along to make Harry's life
miserable again (which isn't the Dursleys' fault).

They gain the upper hand once they realize that Harry isn't allowed to do 
magic, but things keep backfiring on them.  They lose that important client
in CoS.  Aunt Marge is blown up in PoA.  And then Harry gets the upperhand
again at the end of PoA when he can use the threat of his "murderous" 
Godfather to threaten Vernon.

>From that point on, the Dursleys have no power over Harry at all--the worst
they can do to him is make him join Dudley's diet.  Even when Sirius dies,
the threat of one murderous wizard is simply replaced with the threat of
four or five wizards.  

In PS/SS, a single owl-delivered letter gets the Dursleys to move Harry out
of the cupboard and into Dudley's spare room.  At the end of OotP, a gang
of wizards openly threatens Vernon.  So, by HBP, the Dursleys (in terms of
danger or harm to Harry) have shrunk to ant size.  Dumbledore's just the 
boot that finally squashes them flat.

Montavilla47