Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the extremely conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", while the author was a single mother.
Nel skrev, at den uflatterende karakterisering af de ekstremt konventionelle, statusbeviste og materialistiske Dursleyer, var Rowlings reaktion til de familiepolitikker, som den britiske regering brugte i de tidlige 1990, hvilket gjorde, at et gift heteroseksuelt par var den "foretrukne norm", mens forfatteren selv var alenemor.