The Muggle Curtain: How the Dursley’s Obsession with Normalcy Fueled Their Hatred of Harry Potter

Within the Dursley’s minds, they perceived themselves as normal. Anything wandering across their path, even a whisper of anything peculiar or strange, would be met with disapproval and the sharpest criticism. The one thing that the Dursleys hated above all was the ‘M’ word. Magic. Their hatred of magic and their desire to be normal was only fueled by their surprise adoption of Harry Potter and his accidental and mysterious happenings. The Dursley’s had such a pathological fear and hatred of magic, that it commonly turned into abusive behavior toward Harry.

For Vernon Dursley, his uneasiness and hatred toward magic and the Potters grew on that fateful night Lord Voldemort was defeated as he saw a cat reading a map and people dressed in “funny clothes”. Vernon Dursley prided himself and his family as being normal so much so that he did everything in his power to keep Harry’s true identity secret from boarding up his own mail slot, to eventually taking them to a rock in the middle of a lake to stay in a dingy house where he thought no one would find them. Vernon’s desire for normalcy and ridding anything abnormal was so high that you could perceive him going mad as if he had been locked up in Azakaban for years. As Harry got older and eventually went to Hogwarts, the hatred Vernon felt toward Harry did not subside. In fact, it got so bad that Vernon barred up Harry’s bedroom window and gave him food through his door as if he was some kind of animal. Vernon also made Harry lock up his wand, school books, and anything that gave him the mere thought of magic in the cupboard under the stairs. Vernon undoubtedly tried to keep normalcy within his family and doing so caused more hatred toward Harry and anything to do with magic. Moreover, Vernon had Harry convince his Aunt Marge that he went to Saint Brutus’s Secure Centre For Incurably Criminal Boys in order to maintain normalcy. Marge loved the fact that she thought Harry was being beaten at that school. Marge showed her true colors when she verbally abused Harry in the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Dudley loved to be the center of attention. Any time he thought Harry was going to do magic, he would tell his parents so he would be praised and Harry would get into trouble. This not only pleased his parents so they could continually “stamp” the magic out of him, but would also fulfill a desire to bully Harry. Dudley’s hatred toward Harry Potter only intensified throughout the series as Dudley gets older, bigger, and braver (or so he thinks with his goons backing him up). His threats toward Harry are more direct and pronounced. Even though Harry saved Dudley from the dementor’s kiss in the Order of The Phoenix, Dudley still let Harry take the fall for the dazed and delirious condition he was in afterwards.

Petunia’s hatred of Harry came from her past jealousy of her sister Lily. Lily was admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whereas Petrunia received a rejection letter from Dumbledore. Deep down, Petunia wanted to do magic like her sister but with the rejection letter and constantly being overlooked by her parents, Petunia started to despise magic and its entire world. Petunia’s past emotions would manifest whenever Harry did magic which would come out as verbal abuse toward Harry. This was especially evident when Harry finally found out how his parents died. Petunia finally came clean to Harry and told him that his mom was her sister but continually traduced both Lily and James and how Harry would end up like them. Vernon and Pentrunia devised a story that Harry’s mom and dad had died in a car crash rather than dying at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Formulating a story about Lily and James Potter dying in a car crash made it feel more normal and believable so no one would find out who they really were. This was also another tactic used to “stamp” the magic out of Harry.

Normalcy was vital within the Dursley household. Having Harry be a part of their family continually threatened their normal lives because Harry was able to do magic and ultimately belonged to a magical world which the Durselys hated and perceived as abnormal which created a very abusive relationship with Harry Potter.