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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone opens with “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.” It is a perfect introduction for this supercilious and ridiculous family. Rowling then goes on to describe the Dursleys in turn: Vernon Dursley (the cruel and self-important patriarch), Petunia Dursley (his nosy and haughty wife), and Dudley Dursley (their spoiled and petulant son). As the first few chapters progress, it becomes clear that the Dursleys symbolize the Muggle (or non-magical) world at its most silly, unobservant, and mediocre. For example, it is through Mr. Dursley’s jaded Muggle eyes that we first glimpse wizards in the novel’s opening chapter. His closed-mindedness toward the colorful, “strangely dressed people” in cloaks and seemingly literate cats that he meets on his way to work emphasizes exactly how different the Muggle and wizarding worlds are.
The Dursleys are Harry’s only surviving relatives and he has been living with them for “ten miserable years,” ever since they were forced to take him in after his parents died. The Dursleys’ hatred for anything (and anyone) who strays from their definition of normal has caused them to abuse and neglect Harry for his entire life. Harry is different from his aunt, uncle, and cousin. He is clever and kind, and he has a tendency to end up in peculiar situations that embarrass and distress his family members (like appearing to vanish the glass divider in the reptile house at the zoo). He also has a lighting-shaped scar on his forehead that the Dursleys find particularly uncouth. Most importantly, as we learn in Chapter 4, Harry is a wizard. Vernon and Petunia, who suspected this already, as they are aware Harry’s parents were magical, are disgusted by this; they have spent the last ten years hoping Harry would never come into his powers if he never knew that they existed in the first place.
The abuse and neglect that Harry suffers at the hands of the Dursleys is significant for two key reasons. To begin with, their cruelty highlights Harry’s selfless and compassionate nature because he consistently goes out of his way to be kind despite being raised in such a loveless home. Harry is so quick to defend new friends like Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom from schoolyard bullies because he, too, was mistreated for so many years. Furthermore, the oppressive coldness that Harry experiences at number four, Privet Drive can be juxtaposed with the welcoming embrace of Hogwarts. Harry feels like he has finally found a home for the first time in his life from the moment that he steps foot in his new school.
