In the first chapter, when McGonagall is aghast that Dumbledore plans to leave Harry with the Dursleys Dumbledore responds by saying "Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that before he's ready to take it?" (13). I would argue, that sending Harry to live with the Dursleys over any other wizarding family may have not been the best decision on Dumbledores part.
For one, the Dursleys were neglectful of Harry when he stayed with them. Surely, Dumbledore should have checked in on Harry once or twice to make sure that the Dursleys were suitable people for Harry to live with. Dumbledore's trusting in the Dursleys to explain everything properly to Harry is something that represents how Dumbledore will always try to see the good in people, which makes him a little naive sometimes. For instance, with Snape, Dumbledore continuously trusting him and allowing him to be a professor at Hogwarts, even though Snape repeatedly is genuinely hateful towards students and facors his own house undeniably.
McGonagall is also appalled that Dumbledore chose to explain everything to the Dursleys in a letter rather than in person. It makes the reader wonder if Dumbledore chooses to leave Harry on their doorstep with a letter because it allows there to be no way for the Dursleys to try to refuse their duties. However, only writing a letter is mostly likely not going to have the end result of explaining the full reason for Harry's situation which Harry would deserve to grow up understanding.
While I can see how through Dumbledore's perspective that Harry growing up famous would result in Harry growing up to be spoiled I think the alternative of Harry growing up abused and unknowing of who he is and who his parents are is not any better. McGonagall seems to have a more practical approach to the situation in the first chapter, and Harry's childhood could have been much improved if Dumbledore had listened to her.
I do not think that Dumbledore made the right decision either. However, I don't think it is inherently bad for him to be in a muggle family. While it is unclear in this book why Dumbledore makes this decision, in a later book he does explain it to Harry. Likewise, we learn eventually that Dumbledore did have people keeping an eye on Harry through all of this. Do I think Harry should have been left with an abusive family? No, not at all. In fact, I think Dumbledore should have made of point of letting the Dursley's know that they were being watched and how they treated Harry was very well known to him and others. Aside from Dumbledore, I find it curious that no one else said anything else, none of the teachers or neighbors for example. They can see both Harry and Dudley (at least until Dudley goes off to private school). So they are aware that Harry is being treated at least questionably just by looking at his clothes and appearance in comparison to Dudley. Also, it is hard to believe that other adults were unaware of the bullying going on. While Dudley's gang loved to pick on Harry, I'm sure they picked on other kids too. It seems weird that no one caught upon this ever. I do think McGonogall had a better idea than Dumbledore. I think a good compromise could have been with the Dursleys for his protection while Dumbledore made sure the Dursleys were disciplined.
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: Everything I'm about to say takes only the first book into account.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand Dumbledore's line of thought when he says, "Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that before he's ready to take it?" (Rowling 13). He does not want Harry to grow up hearing about his fame for something he did as a baby. He wants Harry to grow up to be a humble, kind person, and this might not happen if he were to grow up in the wizarding world. However, I completely disagree with his choice in Muggles. Professor McGonagall voices her concerns about the family, which are promptly shut down by Dumbledore, despite being entirely valid. Needing Harry to grow up humble is not an excuse for leaving him with people Dumbledore has reason to believe are terrible people. This is just conjecture, but with how nice of a wizard Dumbledore is and with how worldly and old he has become, I find it extremely unlikely that he does not know any other Muggles that could possibly take in Harry. Wizards pull a shade over the eyes of Muggles all the time, why couldn't they have left Harry with a regular, kind Muggle couple struggling to conceive? Plenty of witches and wizards are born to Muggle parents so it would not have been weird for him to be raised by a couple who knows nothing of the wizarding world. Harry did not have to be abused to grow up to be a humble and kind person.
I disagree with Dumbledore's decision. Harry's time with the Dursley's is miserable and seems to bear little impact on his time at Hogwarts (it neither has a positive nor negative impact on him in the books). Harry's parents had many friends in the wizarding community at the time of death, so it would not be difficult to find a wizarding home. And the reasoning given in this book seems reasonable at first, but fails to live up to scrutiny. As Elsbeth mentioned, Dumbledore claims this was done to protect him before he was ready, which we are to interpret as dealing with the fame and attention as The Boy Who Lived. Yet, this issue at Hogwarts is minimal, and while the people at Diagon Alley were attracted to him, this was also his first ever appearance in the wizarding world. Wouldn't being in a loving, caring family be more sensible than suffering to deal with his fame?
ReplyDeleteI believe we discussed this in a previous class discussion that perhaps Harry is the character he is because of his upbringing with the Dursleys. Dumbledore wants to shield Harry not only from the fame of being the “boy who lived” but also worries that he’s too young to know of his tragic childhood. Regardless of Dumbledore’s reasoning for sending Harry to live with the Dursleys, I think that his time in the muggle world keeps him from becoming overcome with fame or naïve to the fact that there are bad people in the world. An example of this is his first encounter with Draco Malfoy. The first time Harry meets Draco, he “was strongly reminded of Dudley” (77). This thought occurs after Draco tells Harry, “I don’t see why first years can’t have their own (broomstick). I think I’ll bully Father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow” (77). Draco, in Harry’s eyes, seems to be just as spoiled as his cousin, Dudley, and when Draco attempts to become friends with him, he is wise and knows to avoid him. Harry refuses the offer and says, “I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks” (109). This is an example of how his time living with the Dursleys allows him to see the bad in a person and guides his relationships in the wizarding world.
ReplyDeleteI do not wish to beat a dead horse here, but growing up not amongst muggles, but completely divorced from the wizarding world may have been one of the worst decisions for Harry's long-term safety and health. Think about if Dumbledore's plan had failed, if the idea to hide the most important wizard child in obscurity and relying on the assumption that anyone who had designs to harm him would never think to look there were wrong, what would Harry's options be then? Even without considering that the Dursleys are a cowardly bunch, what could even great people do if, say, some servant of Voldemort, not even a powerful one, sought out young Potter. THey would have been ripped limb from limb.
ReplyDeleteon top of this, consider just how ready Harry is to throw himself head-first into danger, even when it is in now way heroic. Consider how many ways there are to get hurt that any novice would know. Harry has none of this knowledge; I understand teaching the boy humility, but it seems it would be child's play to set him up in a mixed muggle-wizard family, and have there be that crazy uncle who could give him some lessons in disguise. All-in-all, a wasted opportunity.