From the very first pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone we are introduced to antagonistic forces in Harry Potter's life, namely, the Dursleys. Harry's caretakers exhibit extreme strictness on Harry's behavior, at his slightest transgression, or even simply his asking a question, witholding food and confining him to the cupboard under the stairs (25). Harry's cousin, Dudley, as well, is shown to be a malicious force in Harry's life, preventing him from making friends as "nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang" and harrasing him at every opportunity (30). When Harry finally leaves 4 Privet Drive, it seems as though he will be free of constant punishment and bullying, until he encounters the characters of Draco Malfoy and Snape.
Just as Vernon Dursley seems to have an inherent and fixed dislike of Harry, Snape immediately shows his displeasure towards him by goading him in class (138). He also mimicks the Dursley method of revoking items from Harry as punishment, as he does when he confiscates Harry's book on quiddich (182). Draco also serves as a parallel to Dudley, as well as Dudley's gang, by having Crabbe and Goyle to reinforce his bullying (109). And just as Dudley manipulates his parents by crying and throwing tantrums, Draco manipulates Snape and Filch in order to cause Harry to get into trouble (23,159).
Draco and Snape are not perfect parallels to the Dursleys, however, both in style and motivation they are set apart. The Dursleys attempt to repress Harry, and are repulsed by his magical talents, and they use simple, yet cruel, methods to cause Harry strife. Malfoy's motivation to dislike Harry is founded on the train when Harry publicly rejects his friendship, and though his hatred is out of proportion, it is somewhat justifiable (109). Snape's motivations in this novel are not yet revealed, yet in later books his rivalry with Harry's father is pointed to as the main cause for his hatred. Both Draco and Snape display not only intelligence, but also magical talent, something alien to the Dursleys, but in malice, they are two sides of the same coin.
Sarah, I completely agree with your comparison of the Dursleys to Snape and Draco. Think Rowling's use of having Snape and Draco shows that you cannot run away from your problems but you can learn to stand up to them. Harry Potter does not stand up to the Dursleys at all as he quietly takes every punishment they give him. Yet, the moment Harry finds out he is known as someone special, it instills a new found confidence and he uses this as his voice to stand up to bullies like Draco. He immediately turns down Draco's proposal to be friends with "better wizarding families" after Draco picks on Ron Weasley (109). He again stands up to him when Draco takes Neville's Remembrall, even though he could have gotten in trouble for flying on the broom unsupervised (149). Harry does not coward away from Malfoy and his crew's bully personalities like he did with Dudley; however, he does try to stay out of the way of Snape's malicious tones like he did his caretakers. Similar to the Dursleys finding ways to hide Harry from everyone else and degrade him compared to Dudley, Snape found every flaw in Harry to subtract points from Gryffindor and humiliate him in front of his classmates for not knowing magic. Since Harry has had experience with that treatment before, he proves that he does not let it get to his head and continues on with his studies properly to show he will not back down to biased behavior. All in all, Rowling providing characters that display two sides of the same side, add to the growth Harry Potter makes as a person throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your comment. I also believe that these characters are used as a vehicle for Harry's growth throughout the novel and series. His adversity leads him to be a good, true person, because he refuses to be evil or cruel like Snape, Malfoy, or the Dursleys. His fight against evil remains true throughout the novel, mainly with Voldemort, but also with lesser evils like the Dursleys. In class, it was discussed that the divide between muggles and wizards may be a parallel to the divide between class and race, and I believe that is reflected here. Harry is not the Dursleys' son and he is also a wizard, which makes him completely other in their eyes. He doesn't belong to them in either regard-- he's not considered family or even of their same 'race' of non-magicked people. Thus, he is cast out as a horrible inconvenience his entire childhood. This can definitely relate to people who feel they don't belong in a certain area, school, or job. Additionally, anyone who has ever faced adversity due to their race or gender has likely experienced the same feelings of loneliness. Fortunately, Harry's adversity leads him to fight for the people who face prejudice and scorn, such as mudbloods or muggles.
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