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The Dursley's and the Twins StormCrow Send a noteboard - 21/07/2010 02:22:41 PM
Regarding the Dursleys' treatment of Harry, that surprises me a little (again, every time): If they are worried he will hurt them, they should be nicer, shouldn't they? They shout at him for mentioning magic, for example. Then again, I suppose they are being as nice as they can (limited experience etc.), and they do get worse once they realise he cannot use magic. Hmmm.

Another, related, thing that struck me was that the Dursleys' preoccupation with keeping Harry from Hogwarts seems to suggest they actually care for him, in a warped, twisted way -- if not they would just leave him to magical life, surely? It would be less of a liability for them to have him at Hogwarts 10 months out of the year, than locked up in his room in their house (where he might suddenly lose control and start magicking the neighbours?

I also love how the twins have learnt how to open doors illegally the muggle way. They take their mischief seriously. That points forward to their later development, I suppose: their mischief is not an attempt to avoid hard work; it is often a product of it.

And I noted how Mrs Weasley told the twins to take a leaf out of Percy's book. I like how that sets up the later reversal, where the twins are heroes and Percy anything but. The later reversal would not be as effective if this wasn't there to lay the ground.


The Dursleys treat Harry worse in this book (directly) than they did in the first book, IMHO. At least they HAD to let him out to eat, etc. when he was in the cupboard. Installing a flap in the bedroom door so they could lock him in and just hand food through to him? Awful. I don't think they view him as a completely viable threat just yet. They're stradling their fear of the magical world with their need to beat Harry into "normal." Once they start seeing more things happen, a la blowing up Aunt Marge, they start to connect some of other things that happened to them with Harry.

The twins are two of my favorite characters in the series. They do some amazing things in the valiant effort of underachieving! I had forgotten about the "be more like Percy" thing. I've been reading through the later books and I feel for Mr and Mrs Weasley as we see him turn into a boot-licking ministry lackey and completely turn on his family. This earlier praise makes it even worse.
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The Great Harry Potter re-read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 19/07/2010 09:32:22 AM 3223 Views
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I hate Dobby. - 20/07/2010 11:32:58 AM 2146 Views
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Me too. - 20/07/2010 05:56:27 PM 1944 Views
Boo! - 21/07/2010 12:44:33 AM 2095 Views
I hate "movie Dobby." Book Dobby I'm neutral on. *NM* - 21/07/2010 03:42:29 AM 1281 Views
I don't like him either. - 21/07/2010 02:26:47 PM 2088 Views
It looks like all us cool kids hate Dobby - 23/07/2010 07:13:19 PM 2083 Views
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The Dursley's and the Twins - 21/07/2010 02:22:41 PM 2023 Views
The Dursleys. - 23/07/2010 11:35:31 PM 2121 Views
Re: The Dursleys. - 26/07/2010 06:02:14 AM 1967 Views
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Re: The Dursleys. - 26/07/2010 02:58:31 PM 2041 Views
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Another character we love to hate! Gilderoy Lockhart. Plus Weasley vs Malfoy. - 20/07/2010 03:29:39 PM 2145 Views
Yes! - 20/07/2010 09:41:09 PM 2160 Views
Re: Yes! - 21/07/2010 07:05:13 AM 2105 Views
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I can see that and I understand completely. - 21/07/2010 02:06:27 PM 2251 Views
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I really noticed this time around - 21/07/2010 03:10:43 PM 1947 Views
Yeah. - 23/07/2010 10:15:21 PM 2051 Views
This section really brought home to me how well Rowling writes about love and relationships. - 21/07/2010 07:22:43 PM 2090 Views
That last remark made me check out the names in the French translation... - 26/07/2010 05:18:36 PM 2133 Views
Don't get me started on the Norwegian translation. - 26/07/2010 09:52:09 PM 2078 Views
Ahahahahaha! - 26/07/2010 09:55:17 PM 1895 Views
That is indeed genuinely awesome. - 27/07/2010 12:24:07 AM 2096 Views
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It is a plot device - 23/07/2010 10:11:45 PM 1999 Views
Heh. - 23/07/2010 10:16:48 PM 1961 Views
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Re: Mrs Norris. - 23/07/2010 10:17:41 PM 1997 Views
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Re: Yup. - 26/07/2010 03:01:15 PM 2060 Views
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Re: Something I don't like: - 26/07/2010 03:01:54 PM 1898 Views
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Re: "Goodbye friends of Hagrid..." - 27/07/2010 09:08:24 PM 1940 Views
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Lockhart & Dobby get what's coming to them. - 26/07/2010 02:26:42 PM 1968 Views
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Voldemort's (sometimes) hilarious names in translation. - 26/07/2010 06:14:58 PM 4340 Views
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