Dudley's Thought on the Night of the Dementors

I know I pick on Harry a lot, but it’s because he’s such a little twerp! It isn’t my fault that his parents were stupid enough to go and get themselves killed. Yet now all he wants to do is pick on me. I know it is because he is jealous of me, but still sometimes he is just askin’ for a lickin’. I’ve started noticing that he wants to be more like me. Sure, I like to pick on kids, but they all deserve it! They should know their place in life and then I wouldn’t have to go give ‘em a whompin’! But anyhow, I feel like Harry is trying too hard to be like me. Yes, he doesn’t have the strength I do, but he does have magic. First thing was first though, he picked on me while walking home by calling me names. A great start to becoming a classy bully, but I think both he and I knew that you’ve got to do more than talk. So, I decided I would stand up to him to let him try out his newfound ability of being a bully. I must say he did pretty good, he held his ground and was ready to fight. I of course don’t take pleasure in beating someone like Harry up so I decided that I would be the bigger person and stop the fight right then and there. Then as we’re walking home Harry decides to attack me while I had my guard down and made me feel horrible. I don’t know what spell he used, but it didn’t feel good. I think he realized that he was fighting unfair and reversed the spell. I probably could have gotten up and beaten Harry to a pulp, but like I said, this was his first attempt at being like me and I didn’t want to make him feel like he failed. So, I’m glad that Harry has finally realized that being a bully is great, and who knows maybe someday I’ll let him bully someone with me!

Analytical:
I think it goes without saying that Dudley is a spoiled little brat who thinks he is better in every way than Harry. Toward the beginning of the Order of the Phoenix we see Harry going out of his way to make fun of Dudley (pg 13-14). In my opinion this was totally unnecessary and I was hoping that Dudley would punch Harry in the face. This is an instance where we see a flaw in our hero. In my mind a hero doesn’t pick on others even if they are normally mean to them. There is a difference to reacting to someone’s comments (like when Malfoy is mean to one of the trio) or just plain calling someone out. Harry did the latter to Dudley and I found it extremely unjust. Yes, Dudley has never been nice to Harry so why should Harry be nice to him. Well, if he is this big bad wizard then he should have the ability to not let any comments from his dimwitted cousin to bother him. I know Harry is a teenager and that should be excuse enough to say that it was justified, but seriously, what kind of excuse is that. Should I just excuse every single thing Harry does wrong throughout the fifth book because of his age? No, he is still accountable for his actions and he should have gotten a fistful to his face. How does a child learn what is right and wrong without some sort of repercussions? I know a lot of people from class and such say that he is going through puberty and Dudley deserves every snide comment harry threw out, but then aren’t we seeing a spinning image of James Potter? Now please, don’t get me wrong, he was a great wizard, but that doesn’t give him the right to pick on others. We get to see those repercussions all throughout the story. I know Dudley seems like an unimportant character, but he still has a life to live and Harry’s ill comments could lead to a parallel between James and Snape and Harry and Dudley. Anyhow, I believe Dudley’s comments above are justified because if Harry is starting to stand up to him then he wouldn’t admit defeat. No, he would instead turn it around somehow and say that Harry is trying to be like him because he is jealous. To end this blog, I want to say how much I dislike Harry for his comments. He would have never made these comments if he didn’t have his wand. He is using his power to scare his cousin and it is just ridiculous…grow up already.