GOF Chapter 3: The Invitation
Jan. 17th, 2011 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockThis is the obligatory Dursley chapter, in which we are treated to the home life of this family and learn how inferior they are to wizard families.
Dudley takes up a whole side of the square kitchen table. Ahem, I doubt a square kitchen table (as opposed to a dining room table) was designed to seat 8 people, 2 on a side. His parents excuse away his teachers' accusations of bullying. As opposed to the Weasleys who never receive reports making such heinous accusations against the twins (we'll see the school does occasionally owl their parents, but I don't see any awareness that some of what the twins do is bullying behavior). (This starts the theme of parents dealing with wayward sons in this book.) Dudley is forced into a diet of fruit and vegetables rather than his favorites. From the descriptions we get of the food Harry eats at Hogwarts I get the feeling Harry's favorites are closer to Dudley's than to the health foods, nor does he limit his intake. But somehow Harry remains thin, regardless of whether he gets starved by Petunia or stuffed by Molly or the House-elves.
Changing the food choices of the entire family is a good thing! However adjusting Harry's serving size to Dudley's (perceived?) emotional needs isn't. I don't begrudge Harry for working around a diet he doesn't need, but then I also sympathize with Dudley who does. Changing eating habits of years is hard.
This is also the place to say Dudley must have grown up as an emotional wreck. Knowing that his parents were capable of such physical and emotional deprivation of someone in their care - what if he ever failed to please them? I think a big part of his misbehavior is both making sure his parents know he *isn't* Harry as well as wanting the reassurance that they still love him, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Of Harry's 4 sources of help only one sends food he appreciates. Odd that even Hagrid managed to send an edible birthday cake. But how edible is it (or any of the others) 3 weeks later?
Harry is surprised that the Weasleys wrote directly to the Dursleys. Vernon is embarrassed that they didn't know how many stamps to use. But really, how hard is it to find out? Didn't they go to the post office to buy the stamps? What does it say about the exchange rate between Galleons and pounds that a family so poor finds it reasonable to spend on so many stamps for one letter? Molly's letter sounds as if she is trying too hard to make the Quidditch World Cup sound special and to make Arthur sound important. And of course she doesn't have enough imagination to realize that sending a letter by owl isn't normal for the Dursleys.
Harry is offended on Molly's behalf when Vernon calls her 'dumpy'. Since Molly likes Harry nobody is allowed to notice she is overweight.
I must say that the scene where Harry threatens Vernon with Sirius looks a lot less humorous now that I have seen Harry enjoy torturing a man for punishment, and Sirius engaging in Muggle-baiting.
If I am correct in my understanding that Ron is claiming that he and Molly wrote their respective letters at about the same time, then I am impressed with the UK post. Molly's letter arrived on Saturday morning. Pig arrived the same morning. Considering the speed of owls elsewhere, it looks as though Ron's letter was sent earlier that morning. So a letter got delivered the morning it was sent?
I am less impressed with the Weasleys. They plan on taking Harry regardless of the Dursleys' consent. One could argue that eventually Molly and Arthur realized their sons were not exaggerating when they said Harry had been imprisoned and starved, but seeing how Arthur views the treatment of Muggles, both in this book and in COS, I doubt this made a difference.
Harry is happy specifically because Dudley is suffering and he isn't. The seeds of the bully of HBP and war criminal of DH.
Dudley takes up a whole side of the square kitchen table. Ahem, I doubt a square kitchen table (as opposed to a dining room table) was designed to seat 8 people, 2 on a side. His parents excuse away his teachers' accusations of bullying. As opposed to the Weasleys who never receive reports making such heinous accusations against the twins (we'll see the school does occasionally owl their parents, but I don't see any awareness that some of what the twins do is bullying behavior). (This starts the theme of parents dealing with wayward sons in this book.) Dudley is forced into a diet of fruit and vegetables rather than his favorites. From the descriptions we get of the food Harry eats at Hogwarts I get the feeling Harry's favorites are closer to Dudley's than to the health foods, nor does he limit his intake. But somehow Harry remains thin, regardless of whether he gets starved by Petunia or stuffed by Molly or the House-elves.
Changing the food choices of the entire family is a good thing! However adjusting Harry's serving size to Dudley's (perceived?) emotional needs isn't. I don't begrudge Harry for working around a diet he doesn't need, but then I also sympathize with Dudley who does. Changing eating habits of years is hard.
This is also the place to say Dudley must have grown up as an emotional wreck. Knowing that his parents were capable of such physical and emotional deprivation of someone in their care - what if he ever failed to please them? I think a big part of his misbehavior is both making sure his parents know he *isn't* Harry as well as wanting the reassurance that they still love him, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Of Harry's 4 sources of help only one sends food he appreciates. Odd that even Hagrid managed to send an edible birthday cake. But how edible is it (or any of the others) 3 weeks later?
Harry is surprised that the Weasleys wrote directly to the Dursleys. Vernon is embarrassed that they didn't know how many stamps to use. But really, how hard is it to find out? Didn't they go to the post office to buy the stamps? What does it say about the exchange rate between Galleons and pounds that a family so poor finds it reasonable to spend on so many stamps for one letter? Molly's letter sounds as if she is trying too hard to make the Quidditch World Cup sound special and to make Arthur sound important. And of course she doesn't have enough imagination to realize that sending a letter by owl isn't normal for the Dursleys.
Harry is offended on Molly's behalf when Vernon calls her 'dumpy'. Since Molly likes Harry nobody is allowed to notice she is overweight.
I must say that the scene where Harry threatens Vernon with Sirius looks a lot less humorous now that I have seen Harry enjoy torturing a man for punishment, and Sirius engaging in Muggle-baiting.
If I am correct in my understanding that Ron is claiming that he and Molly wrote their respective letters at about the same time, then I am impressed with the UK post. Molly's letter arrived on Saturday morning. Pig arrived the same morning. Considering the speed of owls elsewhere, it looks as though Ron's letter was sent earlier that morning. So a letter got delivered the morning it was sent?
I am less impressed with the Weasleys. They plan on taking Harry regardless of the Dursleys' consent. One could argue that eventually Molly and Arthur realized their sons were not exaggerating when they said Harry had been imprisoned and starved, but seeing how Arthur views the treatment of Muggles, both in this book and in COS, I doubt this made a difference.
Harry is happy specifically because Dudley is suffering and he isn't. The seeds of the bully of HBP and war criminal of DH.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 01:42 am (UTC)I really don't want to offend anyone, but this thing about being proud and not accepting 'charity', I will never get. If you can't afford something and you really need it, why not just accept if someone not totally repulsive is offering? Of course if it's someone who's gonna lord it over you, that's a totally different matter, but otherwise, why let pride stand in the way?
But I can see the Weasleys refusing to avail themselves of any hand-outs 'coz they're an ancient pureblood family and have standards, kthxbai.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 02:04 am (UTC)Also... Ron's the one who makes the most noise about being poor. Well, he's also the one we hear the most from, but the twins don't complain -- they're strongly focused on making money, but they don't complain about their current situation. Percy doesn't complain. *Ginny* doesn't complain.
I don't think we've heard Arthur or Molly bemoan their poverty, either. Molly complains about Arthur's lack of ambition, which could be an indirect way of mentioning it, but all in all, they manage.
That isn't necessarily just a flaw on Ron's part, because he probably got more hand-me-downs than anyone else in the family, including Ginny. Still, the Weasleys may not *be* quite as poor as Ron's complaints and Draco's insults would lead us to believe. Not at all well-off, of course, but perhaps not so poor that the fund was a possibility for them.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 03:17 am (UTC)The wand thing is a bit too much, though. It's not that huge an expense and is the most vital part of a student/wizard's magical equipment. That seems a bit like authorial fiat to me.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 03:41 am (UTC)Okay, I can buy that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had misplaced pride and might not want charity.
But if the fund exists, why would anyone even have to tell them? Why couldn't McGonagall have just mentioned to Dumbledore that Ron Weasley was in desperate need of a wand, and that she was going to utilze the Hogwarts Charity Fund to see that he got it.
Or why couldn't Ron have done that himself? Surely he wasn't so proud of all the problems his broken wand was causing him! Why didn't he just go to McGonagall and say, "Gee, my parents won't buy me a new wand, but it's really affecting my coursework! Do you think I could use some of the Hogwarts Charity Fund to get myself a new one?"
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 08:37 pm (UTC)Or not even you, what if your *child* needs it? There's this one scene in "The Brothers Karamazov" which really bugged me for this reason. In the scene, Alyosha Karamazov, who's a really nice guy, is giving back this other guy's money back to him (long story short: one of Alyosha's brothers got into a fight with the guy which led to the money being taken). This man's son is very ill and the man needs the money in order to help his son. So, Alyosha is giving the money back to him. At first, the man accepts it. But then he changes his mind and decides to reject it. Why? Because he doesn't want his son to know that his father was in anybody's debt.
...Yeah, never mind that his son was on the verge of dying. Never mind that money is money, no matter who it comes from, and that it could have been used to save his son. No, nothing is more important than his pride and sense of self-worth, and if his son dies, so be it. It's better that his son die than grow up knowing that his father once had to accept money from a stranger in order to save his life. Great priorities there, Dad. -_-