One Big, Happy Weasley Family

Sat Jan 27 02:33:31 UTC 2001

No: HPFGUIDX 10896

Hi --

moongirlk at yahoo.com wrote:

Even though this was addressed to Cassie's post, I'll respond quickly
since I know I posted along the same lines --

> Then why make the comparison?  I'm not asking for the natural laws of
> the universe to be broken, just for the poor kid to get a loving,
> supportive, happy place to be after it's all over.  Why is that so bad?

It's not bad to wish Harry will have a happy supportive family someday.
But, I don't think One Big Happy Weasley Family is the *only* way for that
to happen.  Why *couldn't* he be happy with Hermione?  Why couldn't he be
happy playing the field until he's 35?  I'm not suggesting Harry shouldn't
be happy at the end of the series (or that he shouldn't have a glimmer of
happiness lurking on the horizon in any case). But, I don't think JKR is
likely to go for the "tie everything up in a neat little bow" Victorian
novel ending that One Big Happy Weasley Family requires (isn't there an
English lit term for this -- gads, it's been too many years!  Ebony?).  I
think it would be hard work for JKR to make that sort of ending plausible
& satisfying to the discerning readers.

It seems like adherents to this theory tend to pair off Ron with Hermione
and then say, "ooh, what about Harry?  Oh, well, he can be with Ginny and
then everyone's happy" (which, btw, *is* the "Harry Problem" that the
R/H'ers insist doesn't exist -- pairing him off with Ginny (who's a
sidelines character that we don't know much about at this point) because
they've paired Hermione off with Ron).

> Are you saying that if there is some incarnation of the happy family
> theory in the end, you will think less of JKR and no longer respect her
> work?  I really do want to know - would it affect you that
> way?

It would depend on how it was done (IMO).  I think it would be an amazing
feat if she takes what she has said will become a darker, more complex
series & then gives the whole thing a believable happy ending along the
lines of One Big Happy Weasley Family.  I guess I sort of expect an ending
that doesn't tie everything up entirely -- leaves some things to the
reader's imagination.

Just my 2 galleons --

Penny