It is not hard to hate Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. Their treatment of Harry throughout the first few chapters borders on behavior that that would require Child Protective Services to step in nowadays. Yet, there is something that the Dursley's taught Harry that no one else could: his bravery.
It is no secret that Harry ends up in Gryffindor, a house marked by bravery. Harry encountered enough tough love and adversity in his first eleven years of life to last him an entire lifetime. But I'm here to tell everyone that the bravery he gained from this horrendous time spent in the Dursley house prepared him for the rest of his life. It set him up to become the man the wizarding world wanted, the one they needed. Harry's childhood was filled with the Dursley's not trusting him as they wouldn't leave him at home alone because they were afraid they'd "come back and find the house in ruins" (23). In the same breath they discussed leaving him in the car instead of bringing him along for Dudley's birthday, but "that car's new, he's not sitting in it alone" (23). Harry never did anything to deserve this treatment, but received it anyway on a daily basis. Lucky for him, he is the son of one of the greatest witches and wizards the world had ever known, so his patience and persistence was second to none. From all of this came bravery. Maybe not obvious bravery like many may imagine such as fighting to the death or sacrificing yourself for another, but the kind of bravery that never gives up. The type of bravery that marches on through the roughest of times, not complaining once.
The tough love that Harry grew up with seemed awful at the time, but every single unfortunate circumstance just better prepared him for the future. Even at school, Harry was ostracized because "Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses" (30). It was not enough for him to have a poor home life, he also had a poor life at school. Yet, every single day Harry woke up and went about his business with the most professional of attitudes. I truly believe that for all the hate the Dursley's get, they deserve a little bit of recognition. Not because they were good parents to Harry, they were absolutely dreadful. However they were so bad to Harry that he grew up developing essential life skills. Skills that the coddled Dudley did not posses in the slightest.
In summary, the Dursley effect is not the culmination of fortunate events for Harry, but the culmination of terrible ones. He was treated like trash, lied to, and bullied by his own 'family' for almost eleven whole years. Thankfully, the Dursley's only marked the beginning of Harry's magical journey as Hagrid would soon bring him to his new home.
I think Harry’s terrible upbringing also made him humble, one of his most prominent character traits. Dumbledore knew that if Harry was brought up in the wizarding world, his fame “would be enough to turn any boy’s head” (page 13). Rather than knowing every witch and wizard cheered his name, Harry grew up mistreated and abused by the Dursleys who “often spoke about Harry as though he wasn’t there” (page 22). Harry’s humility is his most important trait, because it makes him the kind boy willing to be friends with the very poor Ron, even after finding out he is incredibly rich. Had he not grown up living off hand-me-down clothes from Dursley and never receiving any notion of wealth, Harry might have become friends with someone like Malfoy instead. In addition, Harry’s kindness allows him to teach Hermione how to be humble as well. When he first meets her, Hermione is very pretentious and disliked by most people; however, upon befriending Harry, she learns to be modest and respectful. She realizes “books! And cleverness! There are more important things—friendship and bravery” (page 287). Harry teaches Hermione to be humble as he is, making her a better person overall.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Dursleys unknowingly teach Harry to be brave at the beginning of his life. They also teach him modesty by suppressing his ideas in favor of their own. They almost never let him speak his mind, instead preferring to talk about him “as though he wasn’t there” or “as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug” (22). Although the Dursleys are very rude to Harry, he learns to speak when needed during the time he lives with the Dursleys. He feels as though he has nothing to brag about, and thus differs from students such as Malfoy. In addition, because the Dursleys treat Dudley much better than Harry, Harry begins to realize there will always be people that won’t like him. Because he understands this, he can deal with Malfoy and Snape in a more composed manner at Hogwarts. Harry believes that Snape “[doesn’t] dislike [him]” but rather “[hates] him” (136). However, although Harry dislikes Snape as well, he is able to either avoid Snape or act cordially when he runs into Snape. Thus, by raising him the way they did, the Dursleys actually help Harry by contributing to the development of some of the traits that allow him to excel at Hogwarts.
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