Fred and George: The Bullies You Do Know

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 43057

My old friend Jenny: 

> I don't dislike the twins as much as Elkins does (I'm not betraying 
> you, Elkins!), but they have done things that we wouldn't excuse 
from  someone else.  Darrin and many others simply abhor Draco and 
love to see him get a comeuppance at any opportunity.  Draco says 
hateful, racist things and plans pranks that backfire.  Fred and 
George don't seems to harbor any prejudices (except against Cedric, I 
suppose), so their motives aren't as clear.  They are in Gryffindor, 
they are  excellent athletes, they are confident and they are nice to 
Harry.  Is  that why so many people think they are funny and why 
people are so quick to excuse them?
> 
> --jenny from ravenclaw, who would also probably dislike Fred and 
> George in real life but who would be very sad if either of them 
died 
> in the series 
> *****



First, how can you be prejudiced against a single person? Their 
chilliness, and that's what it is, nothing more, toward Cedric in GoF 
is sour grapes. Is it perfect behavior? No, but it certainly doesn't 
make them bullies. 

Again, canon tells us they just don't talk much to Cedric. They don't 
even bring the game up. Amos Diggory handles that. For crying out 
loud, it's not an Azkaban-offense.

And let us turn the tables -- again -- and see how the sour grapes 
toward Harry plays out when Harry is entered in the Tournament. Egged 
on by Draco, the entire school (save Hermione and many Gryffs) turns 
on Harry for a brief period of time.

To compare Fred and George being cold to Cedric in a small group to 
Draco's actions is unconscionable. 

Tell me, what would you do if you found a "so-and-so" stinks sign in 
your room? I would hope you'd confiscate it.

But would you apply the same logic and severity to what amounts to a 
playground argument that doesn't even really amount to much, over 
whose team should have won? I would hope not.

And again, we have plenty of cues how important Quidditch is to some 
people. Cedric's father, the adult of the group, is obnoxious over 
what is at best, a tainted victory.

I don't live in Europe, so I don't get the soccer shenanigans, but I 
can tell you that if you want to make a Bostonian cry, just mention 
Bill Buckner in 1986. 16 years ago, and it still has an effect. 

Now, why are F&G are liked.

1) They laugh at themselves just as easily, as evidenced by their 
reactions when they failed to cross the age line. Subtler touches are 
their reactions to the sweaters, or losing points. They are 
confident, which means they understand when a joke is a joke, played 
on them or played by them.

2) When it comes time to be serious, they get serious. George yells 
at Oliver Wood when he thinks Wood is being too cavalier with Harry's 
safety in the Rogue Bludger game.

And one of the most touching little subtle moments in the books is 
George's sudden bout of seriousness when he sees the booklist in CoS 
and realizes his parents are going to have to give something else up 
to pay for them.

Now tell me that when Draco makes fun of the Weasley's wealth, it is 
somehow on par with Fred and George's pranks. Anyone that says so is 
again, being unconscionable.

3) Draco is racist. I cannot put in any plainer than that. To 
apologize for Draco is to apologize for a stone-cold racist. 
Therefore, to credibly compare anyone to Draco is to necessarily 
prove that person or persons is also racist. Fred and George are not. 
They do not tinge their humor at anyone group in particular.

4) Fred and George have never behaved with any kind of superiority 
complex, as Draco does. If anything, they are compensating for 
inferiority complexes, considering they have Percy, Bill and Charlie 
to live up to. Their grades aren't as good as Percy and Bill, and 
they are talented at Quidditch, but not the natural Charlie was. It's 
a way to get noticed, but as I said, when it comes time to get 
serious, they get serious.

The pranks on Percy and Ginny have been taken to task as picking on 
weaker kids. Hold on, the twins put beetles in Bill's soup and 
constantly tweak their mother, so older sibling and authority figures 
are fair game as well. Thus endeth THAT argument.

People have taken the opportunity to lambast the boys for throwing 
snowballs at Quirrell. I think they miss the point.

Draco picks on teachers as well, Hagrid and Lupin being the most 
common examples, but he does it out of anger and superiority.

My image of Fred and George is that nothing would have given them 
greater pleasure than if Quirrell had fired a snowball right back at 
them, maybe even with a little harmless magic oomph. 

When Draco gets his comeuppance from a teacher, his first instinct is 
to run to Daddy. A bully is a coward deep down.

F&G aren't cowards.

Darrin
- Of course, probably not so harmless, given Quirrellmort. ;)