PoA Chapter Two

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

That’s Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake, not Harry’s. You might get confused when he starts blowing people up.

So the Dursleys have bought Dudley a happy summer present. A new TV in the kitchen so he doesn’t have to walk too far from fridge to TV. I hope Dudley doesn’t become overweight from such a sedentary, high-fat lifestyle.

Harry has no interest in TV and never misses it when he’s at school. Neither does Hermione. Exploding Snap FTW! (Seriously, that’s how they spend their time instead. When they’re not polishing narrow sticks of wood.)

Dudley has piggy eyes and five wobbling chins and eats continually. All sure signs of a lazy, greedy character.

Vernon shows a rare flash of logic when he complains the TV news hasn’t told anyone where Sirius Black has escaped from, so they have little way of knowing where he might be. Unfortunately this is only to draw attention to it for us so we’re prepared to learn he escaped from Azkaban.

I say a flash of logic because let’s face it, this kind of report would demand telling viewers exactly what this guy did and when and why nobody’s ever heard of him if he’s the scariest criminal ever.

Harry disdainfully thinks that Petunia would love to call the hotline number. You have to give her a break there, Harry. Muggles lives are really boring. We don’t have half as many sticks to polish.

Vernon goes on about capital punishment, being all conservative and setting himself against Harry’s more liberal view of granting people total absolution based on what their choices show him they are, and the cozy knowledge that those who oppose him will be punished forever in the afterlife. Those in between will be punished by Hermione with facial scarring.

Harry’s been forced to call Aunt Marge “Aunt” all his life despite not being blood related to her. On the one hand—so what? Otoh, that’s strange for the Dursleys, isn’t it? Wouldn’t they make a point of not letting Harry call her the same thing as Dudley since Harry’s not actually their child?

Aunt Marge rarely leaves her house because she can’t stand to leave her precious dogs, the adjective there making it clear that she cares about them more than people. Ironically, compared to Hagrid she’s a reasonable pet owner.

Ripper kept Harry treed until past midnight? I’m surprised the dog didn’t wind up strewn all over England via accidental magic. And that no neighbors came by and put a stop to that.

The Dursleys are far too nice to Dudley and far too mean to Harry. If they could only balance the two, they’d be good parents.

I’m impressed Vernon was able to find a Victorian school for Incurably Criminal Boys in the late 20th century to which he could pretend to send Harry. Unless he made up the name himself, in which case I’m impressed by his Dickensian turn of phrase.

Harry is also genuinely impressive in bargaining with Vernon to sign his permission form. Until he forgets to make Vernon sign the form right then and there. D’oh! So close, Harry!

Hedwig looks reproachfully at Harry for telling her to clear off. Get used to getting screwed in this relationship, Hedwig.

Aunt Marge has a moustache. Why am I not surprised?

You know who won’t be growing any moustaches later in life? Ginny Weasley Potter that’s who!

Let’s pause and take a snapshot of Dudley walking—I mean waddling—down the hall. His hair’s plastered to his fat head and his bow tie is barely visible under those many chins. He also has a fat fist. He’s just a big blobby thing jiggling through the house, that Dudley. I’m shocked he never actually fell through the floor.

Aunt Petunia quietly dies inside watching Ripper drool on the kitchen floor. She hates animals, which doesn’t speak well of her. To be fair, I love animals and I’m not so fond of bodily fluids on the kitchen floor either.

Marge owns a dog with an evil-tempered bulldog that chases Harry. The theme of animals and their pet owners who don’t take responsibility for them is starting off strong!

Btw, when Harry got treed by Ripper? It was for accidentally treading on his tail. So we’ve already had one example of a kid accidentally provoking an animal attack by being careless. Only in one case the animal’s a jerk and so is his owner and in the other the animal’s a victim and so is his owner. Guess which is which?

Harry tries to smile at Aunt Marge and gets accused of smirking. Can’t help but make me wonder if this explains why Slytherins are incapable of smiling normally. A smirk is in the eye of the beholder.

Aunt Marge goes off on namby-pamby, wishy-washy nonsense about not hitting people who deserve it. Is this one of these cases where we spend the first couple of chapters criticizing the Dursleys for attitudes we’ll celebrate once we get to Hogwarts? Because Harry et al. totally agree with Marge here.

Speaking of which, Aunt Marge with her Colonel neighbors and bulldogs seems like she’d adore Hogwarts. But since she doesn’t belong there according to her blood, she ought to just stop that.

Aunt Marge on breeding: If there’s something wrong with the bitch, there’ll be something wrong with the pup —” I hope everyone’s paying attention here. This is exactly the type of thing that’s going to be proven so incredibly untrue in the rest of the…oh, wait. That’s mostly true to an alarming degree. Err…Sirius Black! Sirius was the white sheep of his family! Totally proves heredity is nothing! Pay no attention to everyone else!

Maybe I’ve read too much slash, because I wish Harry would find some other way to keep his mind off Aunt Marge than by thinking about do it yourself broomstick care.

Last night of the visit: Everybody has a huge face except Harry. It’s like Harry the teaspoon at a table with three frying pans. And a horse. (That’s Petunia.)

Harry starts to lose it over Marge’s words about his father, though sadly I can’t really empathize with him. Obviously she’s being rude and cruel, but it just feels like one of those moments where you say: Look, you know it’s not true, so don’t let it bother you. Especially since the guy Marge is describing is in some ways an improvement over the real James.

At least Harry’s more recognizable when he’s overcome with rage.

Aunt Marge also has piggy eyes. It must be a Dursley trait. Or a fat people trait. Their eyes are either piggy or gooseberry. Their eyes either sink into or pop out of the fat on their fat faces.

Petunia and Lily, of course, have no resemblance to each other at all. Given the way looks seem to work in this series, I wonder if one Evans parent was really homely and the other really attractive.

Now that he’s started going berserk, Harry figures he might as well go completely psycho and points his wand at everybody. Sectumsempra! Oh wait, he doesn’t know that one yet. Damn!

“She deserved it!” Harry says. Let’s have none of that namby-pamby, wishy-washy nonsense about not blowing up people who deserve it!

Unfortunately this incident will require yet another Ministry scene, because remember, the government only exists to irritate YOU.

Btw, Vernon has been bitten by Ripper, so we’ve also already had our first animal attack.

It is a very nice image of Harry leaving the house with his ridiculous bird cage and broom, dragging his trunk with him, probably huffing angrily down the street and getting no further than half a block before he has to stop.

Things that happen twice:

Harry and Vernon would both like Marge to control Ripper. Later we’ll see similar problems with Crookshanks (and Buckbeak). Aunt Marge refuses to believe her pet could do wrong, the same attitude taken by Hagrid, Hermione and Ron in the book.

The book starts with Harry resenting having to call Aunt Marge family when she’s not. He’ll end the book by meeting his only real family in canon, a guy who isn’t actually related to him.

The Ripper incident remembered here will again appear in OotP when Snape teaches (or tries to teach) Harry Occlumency.

Aunt Marge’s thoughts on dog breeding, and the resemblance of the 3 biological Dursleys, are setting up a book that introduces backstory about James where Snape will see resemblances between him and Harry.

Aunt Marge falsely accuses James of being a good-for-nothing—false accusations will be a theme throughout the book (Crookshanks, Sirius, and everyone keeps claiming Buckbeak).

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!

Azkaban
The Wizard prison, Goyle. Honestly, if you were any slower you’d be going backwards.
Status: Misfire. It comes up a lot, but we never go there. We hear it will drive anyone mad, but people keep returning from it no worse for wear.

Sirius Black
Status: Fired and missed! He turned out to be an important guy from Harry’s past, but had no part to play in Dumbledore’s plan, so got shoved out of the book through a curtain—which is also a dud. The veil, that is.




The Borgnine Proviso
He’s playing Aunt Marge.

Informed Attributes
This chapter is a great early example of the kind of violent love Harry will become known for in later books.

Jason’s Rule of Explosive Endings
Well, eventually he had to blow something up to get out of the house, after all. Might as well be Marge.

Jabootu Score: 3

Comments

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

Joking aside, yes, telling kids to not let every little stupid thing that people say get to them is, like, one of the basic things you tell a kid.

***No wonder Americans need therapy all the time, if that's what you're taught as children.

[octopuspatronus.livejournal.com]

Americans "need" therapy for a lot of different reasons. But I doubt being taught that you don't have to let words hurt you is one of them, and it's not an American thing. Oh boy, is it not an American thing. Plenty of Americans can't handle being insulted, even if the insult isn't true.

As a kid I was told not to let the false things others might say get to me. I'm not in therapy. I'm also not hurt when people I don't care about, as Harry doesn't care about "not-Aunt" Marge, insult me. I'm not out getting into fights with (or blowing up, or turning into unrecognizable slugs, or torturing...) everyone who insults me or someone I like. And if I have kids-- er, if my sister has kids, I'll gladly tell them the same thing.

Thank you for bringing this up, actually. It's made me think a lot about why I felt the way I did about this scene, and much of the way I feel about Harry as a character, compared to other characters. I think the biggest thing is that I just don't really get why he cares what "not-Aunt" Marge says about his parents.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

I just don't really get why he cares what "not-Aunt" Marge says about his parents
Well,he's a child, without adult self-control / perspective and like many Gryffindors, Harry doesn't exactly have the calmest temper.

Other, more interesting for me, reasons:

3) Personally, I am calm and Ravenclaw-ish in this, but would feel better about completely ignoring personal insult, than an insult about my relatives, like Harry gets here. (Not talking about blowing up reaction, but more like "never say it again" remark.)

4) Being in a hostile environment for months creates constant tension, a sense of bad psychological well-being, which manifests even among calm people as anger, among other things. It's one thing to bite your tongue once, twice, 10 times, but if it's for weeks without the end seeming near, it is very wearing and hard. In "Professor Dowell's head" (good sf) constant music is used to drive people insane; Chinese water torture uses drops of water, which iirc become insufferable after a while... Unsure whether the analogies are good, but hopefully you'll understand me. Blowing up Marge isn't one time occurrence, but rather a culmination of weeks of suffering with Harry finally reaching his breaking point after hearing his dead loving parents insulted. Aka, "the straw that broke the camel's back".

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

To Marge the things she says are true, does it change anything?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Why should that matter? Harry hasn't seen her in years, he won't see her at least until next summer and she has no power over his life anymore. Why should he care what she thinks?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes, for me it's not that Marge isn't clearly in the wrong here. Harry's just sitting there while she intentionally tries to humiliate him--and the Dursleys are allowing it. If I were in his shoes, frankly, I'd probably be far more angry at them for that than I was at Marge.

But the woman's been there for a week and done nothing but insult him. Most of those insults he reacts to the way we're takling about. He knows they're not true. He just tries to hold out until she leaves.

On this last night the whole thing's leading up to her saying something that he *can't* let roll of his back. Yet it's to me the exact thing the whole series sets him up to feel the most superior about. She's obviously supposed to be hitting a sensitive spot here. I just can't really feel the sensitivity. I get it intellectually--Harry doesn't want anybody talking smack about his parents--but I don't *feel* it because it's one person proving she doesn't know what she's talking about and everyone in the room except Marge even knows that.

It's not even like, say, with Hermione in GoF where she *does* laugh off Rita's attempts to paint her as a scarlet woman and only gets angry when she starts having to deal with hate mail over it. Whether or not you sympathize with him in this scene there's no way teaching Harry not to rise to the bait without thinking would be unhealthy for him psychologically. In fact I could even imagine it the other way, where somebody constantly feeling attacked gets to therapy and for the first time realizes this!

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

***No wonder Americans need therapy all the time, if that's what you're taught as children.

Actually, that isn't taught so much any more. :( If it were, people would be less quick to jump on others and to imagine slights that were not meant. A child is, or used to be, taught that "sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never harm me" but it took a while for it to sink in.

Harry might still get angry at Marge for what she says in this scene because he's about twelve. A reminder from Petunia as his care-giver would have been appropriate - "Harry, remember, she's speaking out of ignorance" or "She can't know any better, remember the Statutes of Secrecy." The problem there is, it's Petunia and Vernon who fed Marge's ignorance. They're also not going to teach Harry a thing if they can help it, including social skills like overlooking insults. Harry's family life is dysfunctional.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

A child is, or used to be, taught that "sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never harm me" but it took a while for it to sink in.

***Being called names doesn't hurt? Being insulted doesn't hurt? Bullying isn't bullying as long as you don't get beaten up? Racial slurs are nothing to care about because they're just words?

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

I think most people with this attitude stop at racial slurs. From what I understand the idea is to ignore and put distance between yourself and the other person, instead of fighting with words or physically. (Or first with words and then it quickly may become physical). Imho sometimes ignoring is the best option and trying to look at the situation as an observer, not as a participant, can't hurt.

I think you and seductivedark talk about different things. She - about jumping at others (= being very aggressive) at the smallest (possibly wrongly) perceived slight (=overreacting), you - about not going to authority or reacting in the best way to solve the problem (at school/work) in cases of bullying/racial slurs.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

Harry blowing up Marge was his subconscious reacting on his anger. He didn't throw a hex on her.

What I'm trying to say is that yes, words can hurt, and hurt very deep. Even words written on the Net by a total stranger can nettle you, and words said to your face even more so.

"the best way to solve the problem (at school/work) in cases of bullying/racial slurs."

But if words can't hurt, there is no problem. It's up to you not to be over-sensitive.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

No, no no. It wasn't a sticks and stones point. Of course words hurt. It's that when someone teases you by saying "Your dad's in prison" when your dad is actually the Prince of Wales, it's, imo, perfectly healthy to teach a child to think about why the words are hurting him.

Harry has every right to be angry at people who are his guardians happily letting this woman insult him. But he's ignoring some of his own power to let her get to him like she wants to do. If this conversation happened later in the series, in fact, Harry would probably agree with me. Snape's cracks about his father upset him because he's speaking from truth. Marge by definion is talking about a James who doesn't exist and would probably be amused by her misconceptions about him.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Hurt and harm are two different things. The idea is to not allow a situation to escalate until someone is harmed. The responses I imagined for a more diligent Petunia are about the right idea for the situation - Marge is talking from an ignorance that can't be done away with because of the Statutes of Secrecy. Harry's best defense would be to enlighten her, but he can't.

This isn't the same as threats and taunts with an underlying threat like racial slurs or playing with a knife while you tease someone. Marge is showing her ignorance and her bad breeding, not threatening him. This is the difference kids need to learn.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

In this very situation you have a rude as well as drunk adult harassing a thirteen-year-old whith the caretakers nodding agreement. OK. not literally, but they certainly did agree with Marge.

The only response Harry was likely to get from Petunia would be a severe telling off for being rude to a guest.

Most people saying foreigners (=immigrants) are a bunch of wife-beating, daughter-killing Muslims that doesn't even try to adapt to Our Ways and should be sent back to Foreignia ASAP are totally harmless. No threats, but most definitely insulting - and hurting.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

But if a child grows up believing that name-calling and outright lies are fodder for retaliation, it'll be very hard for them not to react the same way as adults.

I agree that the Dursleys are remiss in this. Marge is drunk and should be isolated from both children. I know Petunia feels the same way about her sister and James but when Marge says it, it's a reflection on Petunia's own family. If Lily was a bitch, then what was Petunia's mother who bore her? And what does that make Petunia? Why isn't she standing up for the honor of her own family?

Yeah, authorial fiat.