"Will and Won't", Part I: The Dursleys' Moral Failures
The following essay represents my contribution to the hp_essays HBP Read-Through. Because I’m so incredibly long-winded, I’ve decided to break this essay into two parts. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations are from the Scholastic editions of the books. Thanks to _vocalion_ for allowing me to bounce ideas off of her. I apologize for any typos or errors, and I welcome comments and suggestions.
“Will and Won’t”, Part I: The Dursleys’ Moral Failures
In the dark early morning hours of November 2, 1981*, Vernon and Petunia Dursley were confronted with a choice: They could welcome their orphaned wizard-nephew into their Muggle home, or they could turn him away. The Dursleys, however, chose neither of these options. True, they took Harry in, but they did not welcome him. And yes, they provided “houseroom,” but they rejected Harry all the same. In essence, the couple made the appearance of a choice without making the commitment of one.
This choice - or lack of choice - comes back to haunt them in every one of the Harry Potter books. Each year, the Dursleys experience some calamity or indignity as the magical world they attempt to deny invades their seemingly normal home. “Will and Won’t,” the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is Rowling’s latest condemnation of the Dursleys’ failure to choose. Though the “will” and “won’t” of the chapter title refers specifically to Sirius’s “will” and Kreacher’s many exclamations of “won’t,” we might also think of this chapter as a reminder that Rowling has very little pity for those who lack the will to make tough choices and those who won’t believe in realities that make them uncomfortable.
From the very beginning of the series, Rowling portrays the Dursleys as a couple who are in a serious state of denial. They reject “anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.” As much as they might like to pretend that they’re “perfectly normal,” there are moments when they can’t escape the truth: They’re related to Lily, James and Harry Potter (PS/SS, 1). If they could, they would smite the Potters from their memory, in much the same way that old Mrs. Black burnt the names of blood traitors from the Black family tapestry. Petunia “normally pretended she didn’t have a sister” (PS/SS, 7), and Vernon would like nothing better than to deny the existence of the Potters and “their kind” (PS/SS, 8). On the morning after Voldemort’s first defeat, Vernon tries to deny all of the evidence that something momentous has occurred - the owls, the oddly behaved Tabby cat, the people in cloaks, the fireworks. By bedtime that night, he manages to convince himself that, whatever was happening in the Potters’ world, “it couldn’t affect them” (8, emphasis in original). While existence the Potters forces the Dursleys to acknowledge the existence of witches and wizards, the Muggle couple refuses to believe that the Potters and “their kind” represent a real way of life. The very word “magic” is forbidden in the Dursley household, replaced by euphemisms such as “funny business” (PS/SS, 24). Fearing and hating what they do not understand, the Dursleys close their eyes to magic unless its appearance forces them to do otherwise.
Unsurprisingly, the Dursleys take a similar attitude toward Harry. They ignore him when they can, storing him in the cupboard below the stairs like an old pair of shoes they no longer wear. They dress him in Dudley’s old clothes, a sign not only of their stinginess but also of their unwillingness to see Harry as a person in his own right. When Harry refuses to be neglected, the Dursleys abuse and insult him in the hopes of controlling him. These efforts, however, fail. Whether they try to tame his hair or break his spirit, Harry’s will always wins out. Though they swore to “stamp out that dangerous nonsense,” the Dursleys cannot destroy Harry’s magical abilities (PS/SS, 36).
Ultimately, the Dursleys are afraid of their nephew, fearful not only of what he can do but also - and perhaps more so - of what others might say if they knew Harry’s secret. They are ashamed of their nephew’s odd dreams of flying motorcycles and his weird ability to escape bullies by appearing suddenly on the roof of the school kitchens. They hide him away when respectable company comes to visit, and they prefer to tell their acquaintances and relatives that Harry is “incurably criminal” rather than admit to his extraordinary abilities.
At the same time, the Dursleys celebrate their own son, choosing to see Dudley as “big boned” instead of obese, “misunderstood” instead of obtuse, “boisterous” instead of bullying (GoF, 27-28). The Dursleys, then, are a family so obsessed with appearances that they cannot distinguish perception from reality. They consistently ignore evidence of the things they do not want to see. In essence, it is they, not Harry, who live in a fantasy world.
In this upside down version of life, where magic is reality and suburban respectability the fantasy, it is only fitting that magic cracks the façade of normalcy that the Dursleys work so hard to maintain. When the Dursleys decide to ignore Harry’s Hogwarts letters, Hogwarts comes to them. From Hagrid’s first appearance to the arrival of Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince, Number 4 Privet Drive becomes a regular haven for magic. Puddings, aunts, and fireplaces explode; pig tales and swollen tongues blight Dudley. By Order of the Phoenix, the reality of magic assumes a much darker form. It takes the threat of Dementors for Petunia to acknowledge the magical world, and even then, she does it almost accidentally. After Petunia actually speaks the words “wizard” and “Azkaban,” she slaps a hand to her mouth “as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word” (Bloomsbury OotP, 33-34). She does not let such words slip past her mouth again, refusing even to speak her own sister’s name.
At first glance, life appears to calm down for the Dursleys in HBP. Harry spends less time than ever at Privet Drive, and there are no dangerous creatures or serious magical disturbances. Indeed, the Dursleys have only to put with the company of an eccentric old man. He blows up nothing and harms no one. But Dumbledore delivers the sharpest condemnation of the Dursleys thus far. By mocking their manners, their hospitality, and their parenting skills, Dumbledore reveals the emptiness of the Dursleys’ respectability.
The contrast between the Dursleys’ lack of manners and Dumbledore’s gentlemanly behavior is striking. The headmaster always speaks in a courteous tone; in fact, Rowling uses the adverbs “pleasantly” and “politely” to describe Dumbledore’s speech five times during the chapter (HBP, 45, 48, 51, 54 (2)). The headmaster proffers a polite greeting and farewell, he introduces himself to each member of the party, and he even makes small talk by complimenting Vernon’s garden. The Dursleys, on the other hand, fail to introduce themselves, and they do little more than stare and make impolite exclamations. Vernon’s speech is coarse and angry, while Petunia and Dudley remain silent almost the entire visit. The contrast in manners is most clear in one of the most amusing exchanges of the book. When Vernon claims that he does not “mean to be rude,” Dumbledore mocks Vernon’s duplicity by lamenting the frequent occurrence of “accidental rudeness” (HBP, 46). While Vernon’s voice threatens “rudeness with every syllable,” Dumbledore’s voice drips with politeness.
Dumbledore also highlights the Dursleys’ lack of hospitality. In three different instances, the Dursleys neglect the most basic rules of hospitality: They refuse to welcome Dumbledore into their home; they do not offer him a seat; and they fail to provide refreshment. On the first occasion of disrespect, Dumbledore gently chides Vernon, saying that he will “assume” he’s been invited “warmly” into the house (HBP, 45). On the second occurrence, the headmaster actually draws his wand and magically compels the sofa to sweep the Dursleys off their feet. By the third occurrence, Dumbledore’s magic is much more meddlesome, and the Dursleys find themselves rapped over the head by animated glasses of mead. Of course, the Dursleys had the power to stop the obnoxious glasses by drinking the mead. But in true Dursley fashion, they try to ignore the presence of magic until it literally hits them over the head. In the process, they disrespect Dumbledore, cause harm to themselves, and miss out on some really good mead, if Harry is to be believed.
While Dumbledore critiques the Dursleys’ manners and hospitality in roundabout ways, he offers a straightforward condemnation of the couple’s parenting skills. First, Dumbledore delivers the speech that I have long been anticipating. I could have cheered when he rebuked Vernon and Petunia for giving Harry little but “neglect and often cruelty” (HBP, 55). I’ll admit that it galled me just a little that it was Dumbledore himself who placed Harry on the steps of Privet Drive fifteen years earlier. But, I had to remind myself that he left Harry to the Dursleys with the belief that blood relatives would be Harry’s best protection against Voldemort. It’s true that the headmaster made several miscalculations throughout the series, but his mistakes were often the result of his propensity to trust, not a result of his meanness of spirit. Vernon and Petunia, however, acted in bad faith when they gave Harry “houseroom” without providing the love and support of a real home.
Dumbledore also disparages the Dursleys’ treatment of Dudley. While Vernon and Petunia seem insensible of the “appalling damage” they have “inflicted upon the unfortunate boy,” it’s clear that Dudley has learned all of the wrong lessons in life (HBP, 55). In contrast to Harry, he is a cowardly, vapid boy with little dignity or conviction. While Dumbledore’s criticism contains an implicit comparison between Harry and Dudley, I found myself comparing the Dudley not to his cousin but to another character in the chapter. As an old, deranged house-elf, Kreacher may not seem to have much in common with Dudley, but the two characters actually share a similar philosophy in life, one that can be summed up by the following word: “Won’t!” Just as Kreacher won’t look beyond the teachings of his dead mistress, Dudley won’t accept anyone or anything that does not immediately gratify him. Both characters cannot escape the narrow confines of their own underdeveloped imaginations.
We know from this chapter that “won’t” is one of Kreacher’s favorite words. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of the very first words Dudley ever learned was - you guessed it - “won’t!” (PS/SS, 6). It’s not hard to substitute the stubborn house-elf with a stubborn child, throwing a tantrum on the Dursleys’ living room floor. I wonder who would be more offended by the comparison: Vernon and Petunia, who would dispute any resemblance between their beautiful son and that filthy creature, or Kreacher, who would disdain any connection between himself and a filthy Muggle? I doubt either party would be mollified by Dumbledore’s wise assertion in GoF that “that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be!” (GoF, 708).
* Although Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter on the night of Halloween, Dumbledore did not leave Harry on Privet Drive until late on the night of November 1, which means that Petunia did not find Harry on her steps until the morning of November 2. (See the Harry Potter Lexicon for the complete timeline.)
“Will and Won’t”, Part I: The Dursleys’ Moral Failures
In the dark early morning hours of November 2, 1981*, Vernon and Petunia Dursley were confronted with a choice: They could welcome their orphaned wizard-nephew into their Muggle home, or they could turn him away. The Dursleys, however, chose neither of these options. True, they took Harry in, but they did not welcome him. And yes, they provided “houseroom,” but they rejected Harry all the same. In essence, the couple made the appearance of a choice without making the commitment of one.
This choice - or lack of choice - comes back to haunt them in every one of the Harry Potter books. Each year, the Dursleys experience some calamity or indignity as the magical world they attempt to deny invades their seemingly normal home. “Will and Won’t,” the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is Rowling’s latest condemnation of the Dursleys’ failure to choose. Though the “will” and “won’t” of the chapter title refers specifically to Sirius’s “will” and Kreacher’s many exclamations of “won’t,” we might also think of this chapter as a reminder that Rowling has very little pity for those who lack the will to make tough choices and those who won’t believe in realities that make them uncomfortable.
From the very beginning of the series, Rowling portrays the Dursleys as a couple who are in a serious state of denial. They reject “anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.” As much as they might like to pretend that they’re “perfectly normal,” there are moments when they can’t escape the truth: They’re related to Lily, James and Harry Potter (PS/SS, 1). If they could, they would smite the Potters from their memory, in much the same way that old Mrs. Black burnt the names of blood traitors from the Black family tapestry. Petunia “normally pretended she didn’t have a sister” (PS/SS, 7), and Vernon would like nothing better than to deny the existence of the Potters and “their kind” (PS/SS, 8). On the morning after Voldemort’s first defeat, Vernon tries to deny all of the evidence that something momentous has occurred - the owls, the oddly behaved Tabby cat, the people in cloaks, the fireworks. By bedtime that night, he manages to convince himself that, whatever was happening in the Potters’ world, “it couldn’t affect them” (8, emphasis in original). While existence the Potters forces the Dursleys to acknowledge the existence of witches and wizards, the Muggle couple refuses to believe that the Potters and “their kind” represent a real way of life. The very word “magic” is forbidden in the Dursley household, replaced by euphemisms such as “funny business” (PS/SS, 24). Fearing and hating what they do not understand, the Dursleys close their eyes to magic unless its appearance forces them to do otherwise.
Unsurprisingly, the Dursleys take a similar attitude toward Harry. They ignore him when they can, storing him in the cupboard below the stairs like an old pair of shoes they no longer wear. They dress him in Dudley’s old clothes, a sign not only of their stinginess but also of their unwillingness to see Harry as a person in his own right. When Harry refuses to be neglected, the Dursleys abuse and insult him in the hopes of controlling him. These efforts, however, fail. Whether they try to tame his hair or break his spirit, Harry’s will always wins out. Though they swore to “stamp out that dangerous nonsense,” the Dursleys cannot destroy Harry’s magical abilities (PS/SS, 36).
Ultimately, the Dursleys are afraid of their nephew, fearful not only of what he can do but also - and perhaps more so - of what others might say if they knew Harry’s secret. They are ashamed of their nephew’s odd dreams of flying motorcycles and his weird ability to escape bullies by appearing suddenly on the roof of the school kitchens. They hide him away when respectable company comes to visit, and they prefer to tell their acquaintances and relatives that Harry is “incurably criminal” rather than admit to his extraordinary abilities.
At the same time, the Dursleys celebrate their own son, choosing to see Dudley as “big boned” instead of obese, “misunderstood” instead of obtuse, “boisterous” instead of bullying (GoF, 27-28). The Dursleys, then, are a family so obsessed with appearances that they cannot distinguish perception from reality. They consistently ignore evidence of the things they do not want to see. In essence, it is they, not Harry, who live in a fantasy world.
In this upside down version of life, where magic is reality and suburban respectability the fantasy, it is only fitting that magic cracks the façade of normalcy that the Dursleys work so hard to maintain. When the Dursleys decide to ignore Harry’s Hogwarts letters, Hogwarts comes to them. From Hagrid’s first appearance to the arrival of Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince, Number 4 Privet Drive becomes a regular haven for magic. Puddings, aunts, and fireplaces explode; pig tales and swollen tongues blight Dudley. By Order of the Phoenix, the reality of magic assumes a much darker form. It takes the threat of Dementors for Petunia to acknowledge the magical world, and even then, she does it almost accidentally. After Petunia actually speaks the words “wizard” and “Azkaban,” she slaps a hand to her mouth “as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word” (Bloomsbury OotP, 33-34). She does not let such words slip past her mouth again, refusing even to speak her own sister’s name.
At first glance, life appears to calm down for the Dursleys in HBP. Harry spends less time than ever at Privet Drive, and there are no dangerous creatures or serious magical disturbances. Indeed, the Dursleys have only to put with the company of an eccentric old man. He blows up nothing and harms no one. But Dumbledore delivers the sharpest condemnation of the Dursleys thus far. By mocking their manners, their hospitality, and their parenting skills, Dumbledore reveals the emptiness of the Dursleys’ respectability.
The contrast between the Dursleys’ lack of manners and Dumbledore’s gentlemanly behavior is striking. The headmaster always speaks in a courteous tone; in fact, Rowling uses the adverbs “pleasantly” and “politely” to describe Dumbledore’s speech five times during the chapter (HBP, 45, 48, 51, 54 (2)). The headmaster proffers a polite greeting and farewell, he introduces himself to each member of the party, and he even makes small talk by complimenting Vernon’s garden. The Dursleys, on the other hand, fail to introduce themselves, and they do little more than stare and make impolite exclamations. Vernon’s speech is coarse and angry, while Petunia and Dudley remain silent almost the entire visit. The contrast in manners is most clear in one of the most amusing exchanges of the book. When Vernon claims that he does not “mean to be rude,” Dumbledore mocks Vernon’s duplicity by lamenting the frequent occurrence of “accidental rudeness” (HBP, 46). While Vernon’s voice threatens “rudeness with every syllable,” Dumbledore’s voice drips with politeness.
Dumbledore also highlights the Dursleys’ lack of hospitality. In three different instances, the Dursleys neglect the most basic rules of hospitality: They refuse to welcome Dumbledore into their home; they do not offer him a seat; and they fail to provide refreshment. On the first occasion of disrespect, Dumbledore gently chides Vernon, saying that he will “assume” he’s been invited “warmly” into the house (HBP, 45). On the second occurrence, the headmaster actually draws his wand and magically compels the sofa to sweep the Dursleys off their feet. By the third occurrence, Dumbledore’s magic is much more meddlesome, and the Dursleys find themselves rapped over the head by animated glasses of mead. Of course, the Dursleys had the power to stop the obnoxious glasses by drinking the mead. But in true Dursley fashion, they try to ignore the presence of magic until it literally hits them over the head. In the process, they disrespect Dumbledore, cause harm to themselves, and miss out on some really good mead, if Harry is to be believed.
While Dumbledore critiques the Dursleys’ manners and hospitality in roundabout ways, he offers a straightforward condemnation of the couple’s parenting skills. First, Dumbledore delivers the speech that I have long been anticipating. I could have cheered when he rebuked Vernon and Petunia for giving Harry little but “neglect and often cruelty” (HBP, 55). I’ll admit that it galled me just a little that it was Dumbledore himself who placed Harry on the steps of Privet Drive fifteen years earlier. But, I had to remind myself that he left Harry to the Dursleys with the belief that blood relatives would be Harry’s best protection against Voldemort. It’s true that the headmaster made several miscalculations throughout the series, but his mistakes were often the result of his propensity to trust, not a result of his meanness of spirit. Vernon and Petunia, however, acted in bad faith when they gave Harry “houseroom” without providing the love and support of a real home.
Dumbledore also disparages the Dursleys’ treatment of Dudley. While Vernon and Petunia seem insensible of the “appalling damage” they have “inflicted upon the unfortunate boy,” it’s clear that Dudley has learned all of the wrong lessons in life (HBP, 55). In contrast to Harry, he is a cowardly, vapid boy with little dignity or conviction. While Dumbledore’s criticism contains an implicit comparison between Harry and Dudley, I found myself comparing the Dudley not to his cousin but to another character in the chapter. As an old, deranged house-elf, Kreacher may not seem to have much in common with Dudley, but the two characters actually share a similar philosophy in life, one that can be summed up by the following word: “Won’t!” Just as Kreacher won’t look beyond the teachings of his dead mistress, Dudley won’t accept anyone or anything that does not immediately gratify him. Both characters cannot escape the narrow confines of their own underdeveloped imaginations.
We know from this chapter that “won’t” is one of Kreacher’s favorite words. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one of the very first words Dudley ever learned was - you guessed it - “won’t!” (PS/SS, 6). It’s not hard to substitute the stubborn house-elf with a stubborn child, throwing a tantrum on the Dursleys’ living room floor. I wonder who would be more offended by the comparison: Vernon and Petunia, who would dispute any resemblance between their beautiful son and that filthy creature, or Kreacher, who would disdain any connection between himself and a filthy Muggle? I doubt either party would be mollified by Dumbledore’s wise assertion in GoF that “that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be!” (GoF, 708).
* Although Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter on the night of Halloween, Dumbledore did not leave Harry on Privet Drive until late on the night of November 1, which means that Petunia did not find Harry on her steps until the morning of November 2. (See the Harry Potter Lexicon for the complete timeline.)