Literature Review: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone"
Literature Review: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone"
J.K.Rowling’s first book in the serious of the record breaking book series Harry Potter began with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” The book starts the reader on a journey into Harry’s earlier part of life when he was just a baby. In a horrible fight with the evil Lord Voldemort, Harry’s parents are killed, but somehow he manages to survive Voldemort. This becomes a very big sign for those in the Wizarding world who celebrate Voldemort’s defeat against Harry. Unfortunately Harry is left with no parents, only an aunt (his mother’s sister) her husband and their son Dudley. The Dursley’s are the polar opposite and similar to spoiled uptight couple who indulge in their son’s every demand. Meanwhile Harry is entirely neglected in his upbringing from the day he is left at the Dursley’s door by Dumbledore all the way to his departure to the Wizarding world. The following review of the book is going to be aimed at the parenting style that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon present in the way that they raise their son Dudley versus the way that Harry is treated.
The Harry Potter series has been rather controversial in its incorporation of wizards, witches, and the use of dark magic that some have deemed satanic. It is not surprise then that the way that Harry is treated by those who initially raised him also includes a controversial style of parenting. According to an article in The Guardian written by Allison Flood regarding the relationship and issues that Aunt Petunia and the Dursley’s have with Harry has a lot to do with Petunia’s jealousy of her sister who had magical powers that she lacked (Flood, 2015). Her jealousy added to the overly conservative grumpy attitude of Vernon encouraged her to mistreat and allow the neglectful interaction with Harry Potter as he grows up. Most people would consider forcing a child to live in a cupboard below a staircase could easily be considered child abuse.
Of course putting Harry in those conditions where one feels badly for him help the reader to connect with the main character as a method of empathizing with what he goes through. The lack of love and support that Harry has in his years in the Muggle world are an important part of his struggle filled story. It was unfortunate enough that his aunt and uncle lacked the decency in their guardianship of Harry, but what makes things worse is the way that Dudley behaves, which only adds to Harry’s misery. What is it about Dudley that has him acting like a complete jerk to his cousin who is so quiet and obedient? Perhaps it’s the parenting style that the Dursley’s use in their raising Dudley to have everything he wants while Harry sits by and receives only hand me downs. Clearly they are confirming a message to Dudley that he is “extra special” and can be or do anything he wants to do.
It appears that a correlation exists of Dudley’s underdeveloped self-regulation skills and has led to undercontrolled behaviors (Cole, Zahn-Waxler, Fox, Usher, & Welsh, 1996; Aunola & Nurmi, 2005). Without even deeper analysis it is easy to assume that it has a lot, if not everything to do with the way his parents treat him. Rather than there being any repercussions about the way he acts and the bullying that Dudley is responsible for, they are almost afraid to ruffle his feathers at all. It seems that maybe a need for some therapy exists due to the externalization of bad behavior that his parents cannot accept (Aunola & Nurmi, 2005, 2005). According to Aunola & Nurmi (2005), “a high level of affection compensated for the negative effects of psychological control,” which makes one question if the negative treatment towards Harry all these years has harmed Dudley in a way they were not expecting to (p. 1145) Rather than raising the boys equally and as siblings possibly, they made such a dramatic distinction that as a young child Dudley was getting mixed messages and eventually lacked any decency towards others by what he saw his parents do as they neglected Harry.
Dudley victimizes his cousin Harry every chance he gets and it does not seem that there is any interference on the Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon’s part to stop it. Ask a matter of fact they seem to condone and encourage this isolation and subservient position they have placed Harry into. It is fascinating that this little boy Harry is capable of keeping a good attitude despite his very unfit living circumstances. He is not loved by the only people he knows to be his family and there is no sense of regret that can be seen by the Dursleys. Despite these harsh realities, he has something really special about him that stands out and shows the reader that he is special and important.
One of the most entertaining parts about the little bit Harry can do in retaliation against his cousin, aunt, and uncle are extremely entertaining and well deserved. For example, the trip to the zoo where Dudley and Uncle Vernon are obnoxiously tapping at the class in the snake exhibit to get the snake to move ends so perfectly. Thanks to Harry’s magical powers he somehow manage to cause the glass to disappear resulting in quite a fiasco for the Dursley’s on Dudley’s birthday. Of course Harry gets in trouble for how that event occurs, because they know that his parents had the magical powers, which Harry inherited as well. There is a degree of fear that exists with the Dursley’s as far as Harry is concerned and this seems to make them even more neglectful and harsh with their treatment of harry.
When looking at how the neglect affects Harry, one can see a very withdrawn boy who has unfortunately accepted his lot as an orphan who is stuck with family that do now value nor respect him as an equal individual to his cousin Dudley. It is surprising that the school authorities never stepped in to check on Harry’s living condition with the Dursleys. Considering he would come to school in old raggedy clothes and broken glasses that are fixed by duct tape, it would seem that the fact that Dudley was completely spoiled while Harry was hardly noticed should have been something for the authorities to look in to. Here is an excerpt found in a published article regarding children who are neglected-
This is an unhappy group of children, presenting the least positive and most negative affect of all groupsThese same children were also the most dependent and demonstrated the lowest ego control in the preschool and in general did not have the skills necessary to cope with the various situations (Egeland et al., 1983, p. 469; Daniel, 2015, p.84)
Needless to say Harry’s time living with the Dursley’s was heavily neglectful living in a home with no real love or affection. To add to this already difficult problem, he had his cousin Dudley who further made things worse by bullying and beating up on Harry, while he watched Dudley go without punishment, but rather was praised all the time for things that he did not deserve praise for.
When the moment finally arrives that Hagrid has come for Harry, the reader is especially excited and happy for Harry to finally be away from this awful house and the mean people who he has been forced to live with for all these years. The joy and celebration of his exit from the Dursleys and onto the Wizarding world was very rewarding for the reader who is left disgusted with the Dursley’s selfish nasty way of treating an innocent boy.
References
Aunola, K., & Nurmi, J. (2005). The Role of Parenting Styles in Children's
Problem Behavior. Child Development, 76(6), 1144-1159.
Daniel, B. (2015). Why Have We Made Neglect So Complicated? Taking a Fresh Look
at Noticing and Helping the Neglected Child. Child Abuse Review, 24(2), 82-94. doi:10.1002/car.2296
Flood, A. (2015). JK Rowling reveals why the Dursley’s dislike Harry Potter so
much. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/24/jk-rowling-reveals-history-dursleys-harry-potter
