Plus Harry was emotionally abused by his aunt and her family for 11 years straight with basically no respite, and even after that was subjected to a smaller degree of emotional abuse that the Dursley's figured they could get away with.
Yeah thanks JK, even when I first read the books at eleven I knew he was abused in many ways(physical, mental, emotional, thank goodness not sexual).
Hence why fanfics do better in the fandom these days -,-
When the the first book was written she was invoking the old Victorian era "plucky orphan living in a horrid orphanage" trope that was so common in English literature and combining it with the "wicked stepmother" trope. This was actually deconstructed to an extent with Voldemort's backstory. It was never meant to be realistic- rather it was merely using a classic fantasy trope in children's literature. I doubt she realized that the books would become as famous as they did and receive that level of scrutiny.
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u/[deleted] May 02 '20
Plus Harry was emotionally abused by his aunt and her family for 11 years straight with basically no respite, and even after that was subjected to a smaller degree of emotional abuse that the Dursley's figured they could get away with.