[HPforGrownups] Re: Fred and George: The Bullies You Do Know

[Hana]

No: HPFGUIDX 43075

I thought Id add some definitions to the argument about Fred and George being bullies.

BULLY:  a person who hurts, persecutes, or intimidates weaker people.

TEASE: to vex (someone) maliciously or playfully.

PRACTICAL JOKE: a prank or trick usually intended to make the victim appear foolish.

TRICK:  a mischievous, malicious, or humorous action or plan; joke

PRANK: a mischievous trick or joke.

MISCHEVIOUS: 1. inclined to acts of mischief. 
             2. teasing; slightly malicious. 
             3. causing or intended to cause harm.

MISCHEIF: 1. wayward but not malicious behaviour, usually of children, that causes trouble, etc, 
          2. a playful inclination to behave in this way or to tease or disturb.  
          3. injury or harm caused by a person or thing. 
          4. a source of trouble, difficulty, etc.

MALICE: 1. the desire to do harm or mischief. 
        2. evil intent. 
        3. Law: the state of mind with which an act is committed and from which the intent to do wrong may be inferred 
         malicious adj.

(these definitions are from the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus HarperCollins Publishers, 1992)

Now, IMO its impossible to avoid the negative aspect of Fred and Georges pranks, but I dont think that they qualify as bullies per se. 

Lets look at their behaviour.  Do they hurt, persecute or intimidate weaker people?  That seems to be more of Malfoys style with his comments on Mudbloods and the Weasleys lack of money.  He always picks on weaker people because hes always got Crabbe and Goyle with him when he bullies and very few will take them on.  In fact, IIRC, he only seems to go after people when he ~is~ in a position of strength  think of when he stole the Remberall in PS/SS  he threw the ball rather than confront Harry alone where he didnt have Crabbe and Goyle to help with the intimidation factor.

Do Fred and George do this?  They dont seem to.  They fit much better into the other definitions.  Now, saying this, the fact that there is a repetition of the word malicious which has very negative connotations.  It cant be denied that there is a negative factor to the twins pranks and jokes, the thing is, are the twins more inclined to maliciousness or mischief?  

They seem, IMO, more inclined to playful mischief.  

As for being bullies, do they hurt people?  Not physically, and, other than what Ginny wrote to the diary in CoS I can't think of anyone who was hurt by their actions other than a moment of embarrassment.  Now, embarrassment like this can, in some cases, scar someone for life, but we havent seen a lot of negative reaction from their pranks yet.   Their pranks never seem to cause physical harm either.  Now with Ginny, do they seem to deliberately hurt their sister, or is it more likely that they dont realise how upset she is by their jokes?  It seems like the latter to me.

They dont seem to persecute anyone in particular  the Weasleys get the brunt of a lot of the jokes, but thats more because theyre available.  They dont seem to centre anyone in particular out other than that  younger children because they dont know the twins as well and are more likely to fall for the jokes, but are they trying to be cruel?  To go after them because their age means they deserve to be victims?  I don't think so.  It seems more of a case where playing the jokes on their yearmates wont work because their yearmates probably know to be wary and won't fall for them as easily.

Do they intimidate people?  They dont seem to.  They persuade people to try the pranks in some cases, but they dont do it by looming over them or threatening physical harm.  They might use a bit of peer pressure, but that seems to be the extent of it.  No one is afraid of being beaten up by them, theyre just a bit worried about momentary embarrassment.

So, in the end are they bullies?  I dont think so.  I think that theyre thoughtless kids who dont take into consideration the effects that their jokes might have on others.  I dont think that theyre doing things to deliberately hurt others, theyre doing it for their amusement and the amusement of others.  I can see them playing malicious tricks on Malfoy in the future, but as yet, they seem to stick to playful intent, even if the results may not be totally positive.

As for the hexing scene on the train, I dont think that falls under bullying or pranks.   Its an extreme overreaction to Malfoys nasty words and attitude on the part of ~all five~ of the kids there. They should have told an adult and not used hexes, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione are just as guilty of that one as the twins are.  The fact that George (only George) walked ~on~ Malfoy is just pettiness on his part.  It wasn't even remotely a mature thing to do, and I think it was just that -- petty immaturity.  If thats an indication of bullying, Harry and Ron are equally guilty since the three of them kicked, rolled and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle . . . out into the corridor.  . . (GoF ch 37)  Its interesting to note that Fred, like Hermione, simply cast a jinx and didnt touch Malfoy and crew after that.

Well, thats my two knuts.

---
--Hana -- who would like to see Fred and George pranked as much as they prank others so that maybe they'd ease off a bit when they were embarrassed.  Then again, they'd probably just start a prank war.



__________________________________________________________
Outgrown your current e-mail service? Get a 25MB Inbox, POP3 Access,
No Ads and No Taglines with LYCOS MAIL PLUS.
http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus