[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 2: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

[No Limberger]

No: HPFGUIDX 189458

>Megan wrote:
>1. Seriously - what is wrong with Aunt Marge? What kind of person hits a
>5-year old in the shins?

No.Limberger responds:
There are several things that I would suspect about Marge. First, she
was probably never married and never had any children of her own.
Instead, she raised dogs. In other words, she was probably a
spinster. Second, anything that she heard about Harry would have
come from Vernon, who hated Harry. Thus, any opinion that she has
about Harry is going to be highly biased against him. While it's not
clear how Marge & Vernon were raised, they likely came from a working
class family; so the notion that Vernon & Petunia placed in Marge's
mind that Harry's father didn't work likely only increased Marge's hatred
for Harry. Marge is cold, unsympathetic, authoritative and inflexible.

>Megan wrote:
>2. Given the little glimpse of Harry's life with the Dursleys that we see
at
>the beginning of each book, what do you think the Dursleys' neighbors
>believe to be the reason that Harry attends St. Brutus's Secure Center
>for Incurably Criminal Boys? And do you think they are concerned that
>he is allowed to come home every summer?

No.Limberger responds:
Given how unpleasant the Dursleys are, it seems unlikely that they would
have developed very good relationships with their neighbors and, unless
being friends with the neighbors could elevate their own social status, I
doubt that developing relationships with the neighbors was even a goal
for the Dursleys. That being said, whether they knew about or cared about
whether Harry was home from school is unclear.

>Megan wrote:
>3. Back to Aunt Marge - would you have been able to control yourself
>as long as Harry did? How about when you were his age?

No.Limberger responds:
Probably, but my patience has limits as anyone's does.

>Megan wrote:
>4. Do you think that students from wizarding families are watched as
>closely by the ministry to see if they perform magic during the summer?
>Why or why not?

No.Limberger responds:
I would guess that Harry is watched more closely than most given his
history, but at this time, Harry isn't hated by the minister as during
OotP.

>Megan wrote:
>5. OK, one more about Aunt Marge - can you think of any way in which
>she could have been written to be more unlikeable?

No.Limberger responds:
Possibly, but she's so unlikeable from what we know about her already
that adding more to make her even more unlikeable seems unnecessary.

-- 
"Why don't you dance with me, I'm not no limberger!"


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