In Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry’s cousin,
Dudley Dursley is never satisfied. He is
given everything and should be very happy.
However, the more he gets, the more he wants. His parents, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia
spoil him. He is given anything he
wants, never has to share, throws tantrums, and is constantly told how
wonderful he is. For example, on his
birthday he counts his presents and when he says that there are less than last
year, his mother quickly promises to buy him more so he won’t throw a
tantrum. His gifts are expensive but he
doesn’t value or take care of them and when they break, they are just thrown
in his extra bedroom. Dudley feels that he is entitled to have what ever he
wants. He is mean and bullies Harry and at school, he leads a gang of boys that
are mean bullies, too.
While Harry who has nothing and is treated
badly, appreciates the smallest things, Dudley appreciates nothing. I feel sorry for him. All the “things”
he
has don’t make him happy. He doesn’t seem to
value his possessions, his parents, or himself.
He never has to experience any type of hardship or do without anything.
Many times in life, the trials and hardships
that we go through make us stronger. I
think we can also feel compassion for other people who are going through tough
times if we have gone through them, too.
When Harry’s life changes and he has money, he shares and is generous. On the train to Hogwarts, he buys candy and
pastries and is happy to share them with Ron who only has a dry sandwich. Harry thinks that it is nice to have
something to share and someone to share it with. Harry’s life of hardship made him strong in
character. Dudley’s life of
excess made him weak.
Isn't this a sad situation? Poor Harry has nothing compared to his cousin, but is so grateful for what he does have. We see a lot of this happening today. a lot of kids are given everything they want and in turn are ungrateful. I think it is amazing how some people who have so little can make the best of life. Often times the people who do not have as much are happier than people who have everything.
ReplyDeleteI believe what you point on in this book is a sad thing in today's world, more and more kids are growing up ungrateful and not knowing the value of a hardworking pay check. They are able to just go to their parents and ask for money or ask them to bail them out of any situation that they have gotten themselves into. I put the blame for this happening solely on the parents for allowing them to keep doing it over and over again. In some cases I believe that it is okay for parent sot help their children out when they get themselves in trouble you can't just throw them out on their on essentially like Harry.
ReplyDeleteI think J.K. Rowling did an excellent job depicting the downfall of society. The person who is mean, given everything, and never satisfied or truly happy and the person who has a good heart and is given nothing. You can see the similarities to this situation in Petunia and Lily also. Petunia is disgusted with her sister Lily and everything that she is and everything that she has accomplished and Lily who came from a muggle family and became an accomplished wizard. Petunia looks down on people who are not "ordinary" and she keeps up her appearances in her cookie cutter life in a cookie cutter neighborhood with her "perfect" family besides her nephew who she hid under the staircase.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you've pointed out. I think that it is a horrible situation that far too often happens these days. It really shows the way that society is being shaped these days. However, despite the way that Harry was treated throughout his childhood with those vile people, he grew up to be a very selfless man. This goes to show that even though society these days is like this, we can change, we can be the difference. Most of us in this class are creeping up on the age of having children, we need to keep in mind the lessons that have been taught to us through books such as Harry Potter and teach our children to be different. We do not want to raise Dudleys, we want to embrace the Harry Potters of this world and treat them with the love and respect that they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the comments above stating that in today's world there are too many kids that are given what they want. In Harry's situation he is able to understand and sympathize because he too knows what it feels like to not have anything he wants. In the long run Harry knows what it takes to get the things he wants if he works for them. Dudley on the other hand does not understand what it means to work hard for the things he wants. This is easily relative to today's world in the way that kids with nothing have to work hard to make it in this world unlike like kids who grow up and mooch of their parents work.
ReplyDelete