PS Chapter Two
Sep. 20th, 2010 05:18 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock- The manner in which Dursleys abuse Harry is so over the top, it is hard to take seriously.
- Harry can't understand why would Dudley want to get a bicycle, since he apparently hates sports and is fat. Clearly, Dudley is morally deficient.
- Harry's glasses are held together only by Scotch tape, because Dudley punches him into nose so often. In the previous paragraph, it was stated that Harry is so fast, Dudley can't often catch him. These two sentences don't mesh together well.
- Not only is Harry not afraid of spiders, but also likes his scar. A true Gryffindor.
- Dudley is so fat he is like a pig. Hahaha, fat people are pathetic. Unless they're matronly of course.
- Okay, Dudley has no trouble while counting his gifts one by one, but when he has to add two at once, he is suddenly having problems?
- Harry find it hard to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg has broken her leg. The power of love at work, ladies and gentlemen.
- Petunia "looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this" is actually pretty interesting. If I remember Deathly Hallows correctly, Snape had some measure of control over his magic even before he entered Hogwarts and Petunia knew about it. As far as she knows, Harry may have caused Mrs. Figg to break her leg.
- Dudley is so spoiled he knows he only needs to pretend to cry to get all he wants.
- Again, Vernon warns Harry about doing anything weird. This and all the accounts of Harry's mishaps really reinforces the idea that the Dursleys are scared of Harry and think he is in control of his magic.
- Now that's Harry's school is mentioned, how come nobody noticed him being abused by the Dursleys? I don't mean classmates, I mean the school administration. They should know that both Harry and Dudley have the same address and they should know that Dursleys are Harry's legal guardians. Why didn't anyone the teachers notice that Harry's probably malnourished, wears only old clothes and his glasses are constantly getting broken, while Dudley's fat and owns only new things? I don't know that much about British educational system, especially in the eighties, but it probably wasn't that bad.
- In the zoo, Harry feels compassionate towards the snake. At this point, he's still a sympathetic kid.
- Now, after the snake incident, Piers claims that Harry was talking to the snake. Okay, but Parseltongue is apparently just hissing. So is Piers saying that Harry was talking just a simplification to avoid the revelation that Parseltongue is hissing? Or, if Harry was using human speech, why did the snake understand him?
- The Dursleys reaction is actually completely understandable. From their point of view, Harry was using is magic and from all the incidents that were mentioned, this one is the only one, where Dursleys could reasonably think that Harry was trying to attack them.
- And at the end of the chapter, we are again reminded that Harry is lonely and abused and that there's something mysterious about him.
- Harry can't understand why would Dudley want to get a bicycle, since he apparently hates sports and is fat. Clearly, Dudley is morally deficient.
- Harry's glasses are held together only by Scotch tape, because Dudley punches him into nose so often. In the previous paragraph, it was stated that Harry is so fast, Dudley can't often catch him. These two sentences don't mesh together well.
- Not only is Harry not afraid of spiders, but also likes his scar. A true Gryffindor.
- Dudley is so fat he is like a pig. Hahaha, fat people are pathetic. Unless they're matronly of course.
- Okay, Dudley has no trouble while counting his gifts one by one, but when he has to add two at once, he is suddenly having problems?
- Harry find it hard to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg has broken her leg. The power of love at work, ladies and gentlemen.
- Petunia "looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this" is actually pretty interesting. If I remember Deathly Hallows correctly, Snape had some measure of control over his magic even before he entered Hogwarts and Petunia knew about it. As far as she knows, Harry may have caused Mrs. Figg to break her leg.
- Dudley is so spoiled he knows he only needs to pretend to cry to get all he wants.
- Again, Vernon warns Harry about doing anything weird. This and all the accounts of Harry's mishaps really reinforces the idea that the Dursleys are scared of Harry and think he is in control of his magic.
- Now that's Harry's school is mentioned, how come nobody noticed him being abused by the Dursleys? I don't mean classmates, I mean the school administration. They should know that both Harry and Dudley have the same address and they should know that Dursleys are Harry's legal guardians. Why didn't anyone the teachers notice that Harry's probably malnourished, wears only old clothes and his glasses are constantly getting broken, while Dudley's fat and owns only new things? I don't know that much about British educational system, especially in the eighties, but it probably wasn't that bad.
- In the zoo, Harry feels compassionate towards the snake. At this point, he's still a sympathetic kid.
- Now, after the snake incident, Piers claims that Harry was talking to the snake. Okay, but Parseltongue is apparently just hissing. So is Piers saying that Harry was talking just a simplification to avoid the revelation that Parseltongue is hissing? Or, if Harry was using human speech, why did the snake understand him?
- The Dursleys reaction is actually completely understandable. From their point of view, Harry was using is magic and from all the incidents that were mentioned, this one is the only one, where Dursleys could reasonably think that Harry was trying to attack them.
- And at the end of the chapter, we are again reminded that Harry is lonely and abused and that there's something mysterious about him.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-22 06:55 pm (UTC)Children with mysterious magical powers in a culture with changeling myths have a ready-made explanation. Just because we don't have anything needing such an explanation in real life doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth considering if magical children started appearing.
And anyway, even if you would, don't tell me you'd hurt him just because he might be a species you previously knew only from fairy tales? How about trying to talk to the kid and see how this 'magic' works?
Of course I wouldn't. But not everyone is nice and accepting, and there's undeniably room in the human psyche for prejudice against the different. Just because neither of us would abuse our hypothetical magical children doesn't mean others wouldn't.
People who would hit their 'special' offspring would probably hit their up-to-Dursleys'-standard normal children too, if they displeased them in any way. In a world where magic exists, same would go for magical children. Most people would learn how to live with them, some would hate them for being different or even for existing. Nothing to do with magic.
For these people, it's not magic in itself that would prompt abuse, just unwanted difference. But just as some people might be homophobic but not sexist, or transphobic but not racist, some people will see magic as an unwanted difference whereas they wouldn't see dyslexia, blindness, or being gay as such.
As always, despite what Rowling says, the text clearly shows that wizards are much more inclined to crimes of prejudice and hate than Muggles. What a surprise. :)
Depends where said Muggles are and against whom they're prejudiced, really. And who knows - maybe foreign wizards are enlightened and tolerant, and the real reason so much diplomacy was needed for the Triwizard Tournament is that every other wizarding nation looks down on Britain.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-23 06:21 pm (UTC)