Muggles (The Dursleys’ Household)

In case you don’t know who the Dursleys are, here is a little background information. The Dursleys are Muggles. The family members are Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their *cough*spoilt*cough* son, Dudley. Aunt Petunia is Harry’s mother’s sister. Harry was placed in their care after his parents were murdered. Due to their hatred of all things unusual, abnormal and bizarre, they are not keen on the wizarding world. As a result, they have an immense dislike for Harry, which they make sure he knows by treating him extremely poorly.

Photographs of the Dursleys' taken by my brother at the Harry Potter Studio Tour

As Harry has no other relatives, he has no choice but to live at the Dursleys’ home. Most of the novels begin at the Dursleys residence. From the scenes with this family, it clear that they see themselves as superior to Harry. This is seen straight away in the first novel, when Harry has to cook breakfast on Dudley’s birthday. Yes, it’s all well and good that an 11 year old knows how to cook, but when you compare this to Dudley’s brat-like behaviour and Dudley not having any chores to complete (ever!), well, it shows their different statuses in the house. Harry is seen as the help, rather than their family. Furthermore, everything revolves around Dudley and his behaviour affects everybody else. This is shown by

“Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over” (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, p21).

Harry knows that if Dudley starts throwing things around and the food accidently falls on the floor, Harry will not be served more food. His first helping is his only helping.

Food is an interesting viewpoint to illustrate how the boys are treated differently. Firstly, in the Philosopher’s Stone, Uncle Vernon buys Dudley and his friend “large chocolate ice-creams” (24) each when they visit the zoo for Dudley’s birthday. Harry, on the other hand, would have gone without this treat, unless the server had spotted him, which leads to Uncle Vernon reluctantly buying Harry a “cheap lemon ice lolly” (24). In this instance, they were forced to buy him something so that the server did not think anything unusual of the situation. Furthermore, the difference in the ice-creams and ice lolly illustrates the difference in care and love that the aunt and uncle have for the boys. A similar incident occurs later on the same day when Dudley is not content with his knickerbocker glory as it isn’t as large as Dudley wanted. Uncle Vernon buys Dudley another one without any questions, and gives Harry the first one, so not to waste it. Harry is given a treat, but it is Dudley’s leftovers. Even though, Harry is more than happy to eat both treats, the Dursleys clearly do not treat him as equal to their son or even his friends.

In The Chamber of Secrets, Uncle Vernon is hosting a business dinner in his home. He has made it clear that it is important, and he has also made it clear that he wants Harry nowhere near the guests or downstairs. As a result, Harry is fed before the guests arrive. His meal is a stark contrast compared to what Aunt Petunia is cooking for the guests.

“On top of the fridge stood tonight’s pudding: a huge mould of whipped cream and sugared violets. A joint of roast pork was sizzling in the oven… ’Eat quickly! ...’ snapped Aunt Petunia, pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table… Harry… bolted down his pitiful supper. The moment he finished, Aunt Petunia whisked away his plate” (p13).

Harry is served a poor man’s meal, or what can even be compared to a servant’s meal, after completing gardening. It does not sound appealing at all, especially after doing some tiring work. He is also forced to eat quickly so he can disappear upstairs and so Aunt Petunia can dispose of the evidence that he was even there. (This is actually what Uncle Vernon makes Harry recite when he is telling him the ground rules for the evening.) The Dursleys’ and their guests, on the other hand, are fed a rich and filling meal. Rowling makes it known that Aunt Petunia sees the cake is her “masterpiece”. It should be noted here, that the Dursleys did not make or buy Harry a cake for his birthday, or even remember his birthday. She has made a cake for her husband’s business dinner, but did not make one for her nephew’s 11^th birthday. This shows where her priorities lie. It also makes it reiterates that Harry is not seen as part of the family (he’s not even allowed to the dinner), and is therefore treated unequally.

Here is Aunt Petunia’s “masterpiece”. It is pretty extravagant. Skip to 3.40.

After this incident in the video (that is entirely Dobby’s fault but Harry is blamed) the family treated Harry even more poorly. I did not think that this was possible.

“The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunia’s hand appeared, pushing a bowl of tinned soup into the room. Harry, whose insides were aching with hunger, jumped off his bed and seized it. The soup was stone cold, but he drank half of it in one gulp. Then he crossed the room to Hedwig’s cage and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray. She ruffled her feathers and gave him a look of deep disgust. ‘It’s not good turning your beak up at it, that’s all we’ve got,’ said Harry grimly. He put the empty bowl back on the floor next to the cat-flap and lay back down on the bed, somehow even hungrier that he had been before the soup” (p22)

The opening of this quote illustrates that he is being treated as an animal and is trapped in his room. He has lost the little freedom that he had, and his meals have further reduced in quality. Aunt Petunia does not care enough to heat up the soup, or even provide a slice of bread to accompany the cold soup. His reaction to seeing the terrible meal demonstrates how much he is suffering for that incident. He may not have been fed much food before, but it was a slightly better than this situation. Despite Harry’s hunger, he isn’t selfish or greedy. He shares his meal with his owl, who (unsurprisingly) does not want to try the “soggy vegetables”. Hedwig would rather starve than eat a poor meal, whereas Harry knows that he has no choice but to accept this treatment, especially since he is unable to use magic to heat up the soup.

Another guest that the Dursleys entertain is Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon’s sister (the Prisoner of Azkaban). They make a huge effort on the final night of her stay and cook a three course meal for her (p25).

Starter: Soup

Main: Salmon

Dessert: Lemon meringue pie

They end the meal with coffee and brandy, the latter of which Aunt Marge drinks a lot of. Once again, the Dursleys serve their guests with better food than they do with family members living in their house. They made an effort to impress Marge, and to show her that they care, which is shown by the simple fact that it is a three course meal. This is also seen by salmon as the main meal, which is a dish that is not cooked very often, thus making it special.

In the first few books, the Dursleys eat rich food and they eat a lot, particularly Dudley. Unfortunately, his greediness for food has become a pitfall – he cannot fit into the school uniform. The Dursleys protest his school nurse’s claim that he is unhealthy. His parents called Dudley “big-boned”, and “a growing boy who needed plenty of food”, but Rowling says that “Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale” (the Goblet of Fire, p30). However, we readers know that Dudley is just plain greedy - “Dudley was eating his fourth slice of pie” (the Prisoner of Azkaban, p26).

Aunt Petunia makes Dudley go on a diet, and to make him feel better, she makes the rest of the family join him in this health adventure.

“So after many tantrums…the new regime had begun. The diet sheet that had been taped to the fridge, which had been emptied of all Dudley’s favourite things – fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers – and filled with fruit and vegetables and the sorts of things that Uncle Vernon called ‘rabbit food’… She now passed a grapefruit quarter to Harry. He noticed that it was a lot smaller than Dudley’s. Aunt Petunia seemed to feel that the best way to keep up Dudley’s morale was to make sure that he did, at least, get more to eat than Harry” (p30)

Dudley does not want to do the diet. He even tries to smuggle doughnuts into the house, which is a failed attempt. All of his favourite foods have been replaced with things that didn’t seem to be eaten a lot in their house, mainly fresh foods like fruit and vegetables. What is shocking is that Petunia is still accommodating Dudley. Not only by making the whole family diet, but also by still giving Dudley biggest portions than Harry. She is still spoiling him and wants to please him; whereas Vernon is not very positive about the situation. Both reactions are not going to help Dudley lose the weight to fit into the school uniform. However, Dudley isn’t helping himself either. He stole his father’s portion of grapefruit when he left the table. Dudley is still greedy and over-eating. All of the Dursleys’ reactions show that nothing is going to change in this household.

The Dursleys’ manners towards wizards have not changed by the Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore visits Harry to discuss important business. He is a guest in their house; however, he knows how prejudice the Dursleys are and takes control of the situation. He invites himself into the living room and pours the drink that he bought with him, which he also pours for the Dursleys. They, however, lose their hospitality and manners when they are around magical folk.

“Dursleys, after quick, scared looks at each other, tried to ignore their glasses completely, a difficult feat, as they were nudging them gently on the sides of their heads. Harry could not suppress a suspicion that Dumbledore was enjoying himself.” (p50)

“Uncle Vernon shouted, ‘Will you get these ruddy things off us?’ Harry looked round; all three Dursleys were cowering with their arms over their heads as their glasses bounced up and down on their skulls, the contents flying everywhere. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ said Dumbledore politely, and he raised his wand again. All three drinks vanished. ‘But it would have been better manners to drink it, you know.’” (p53)

To put it bluntly, the Dursleys are rude. They are rude because they are scared of magic. From their determination to avoid drinking the mead that Dumbledore brought, it can be suggested that they thought it was poisonous. Their attempt at avoiding the drinks does not go unnoticed by Dumbledore, or by the drink glasses on which magic has been cast. The glasses begin by nudging the Dursleys, but this dramatically escalates as the Dursleys do not take hold of the glasses. There is a chance that Dumblebore cast this spell on purpose. Maybe he knew that they would be afraid to react when magic used around them. Dumbledore’s response to Uncle Vernon’s cry for help is politely and honestly unsympathetic. He is not afraid to tell them that they are rude and unwelcoming. The Dursleys pride themselves on being great hosts, but they have contradicted themselves.

One final act by Dudley that portrays him in a different light is in the last book, the Deathly Hallows. Harry walks out of his room and steps on a cup of cold tea (p18). It creates confusion as it is an odd place for a cup of tea and his cat-flap wasn’t used. Later on, though,

“It now dawned on Harry, however, that the cup of cold tea on which he had trodden that morning might not have been a booby trap at all.” (p39)

Here, Harry realizes that it was from Dudley who clearly wanted to do something nice for him. Dudley may have completed his random kind gesture quietly because he didn’t want Harry knowing it was him or he did not want to make it into a big deal. The reader finds out that Dudley make Harry tea because he is eternally grateful that Harry saved his life. Maybe, there is some hope for Dudley.

There aren’t very many magical or fantastical foods in this post because, well, it’s about Muggles. The Dursleys do not have many interactions with witches or wizards, but when they do, it doesn’t end well.