More on the Weasleys

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 36061

Penny Linsenmayer wrote:

> Um .... maybe Yahoogroups is functioning again?  :--)

Oh, is that what it's called?

On Molly:
> 
>I don't think she's a terrible mother by any stretch.  But, I 
> don't think she's portrayed as Mother of the Year either.  

> I guess I just don't get what 
> JKR's trying to convey with her depiction of Molly; it doesn't seem 
to me 
> that it's a fully favorable portrayal due to how she interacts with 
her 
> youngest 4 kids.
> 
Just a couple of knuts to say that I find Molly a very *realistic* 
character - she is not in control of her behaviour with her children 
(cf the scene in GOF when F & G return from the World Cup).  She is 
frustrated with her husband's unassertiveness and feels she has to 
carry the can for the whole family.  Her anxiety for the twins shows 
as domineering and they only half understand it.  Ron never does 
anything particularly good or bad so she has nothing to latch on to 
with him - she has learnt that if she ignores him nothing goes wrong, 
and he doesn't realise that this is a kind of vote of confidence.  
Bill is his own man and she isn't sure if she is going to lose him 
completely - hence the attempt to assert control.  She just about 
believes her luck in Percy being a paragon and has to draw attention 
to it.

To be honest, I think that's about as good as mothering gets.  If she 
was much better, more would mean less as her kids came to realise 
they could never live up to her apparent perfection.  I'd put her 
beyond categories of good and bad (or favourable and unfavourable) 
which don't usually apply to real people anyway.

Amy, on Ginny: 
>even Ginny's crush, once
> she has met him, can be seen as being of the usual kind and not the
> oh-my-god-he's-so-famous,>>>
> 
Penny:
> "Can be seen as" why?  In other words, what is the canon basis for 
assuming 
> her crush is *not* Harry-the-Famous-Potter crush variety?  She's 
*met* him; 
> she interacts with him *some* but not tons.  

She is gradually beginning to act normal around Harry.  It's slow, 
but it's happening.  She can take part in dinner conversation with 
Bill and her mum instead of just sitting there conscious that she's 
three-chairs-down-from-Harry-and-does-that-look-like-she's-trying-to-
get-too-close-but-she-would-like-to-be-closer, as I think COS-Ginny 
would have done (Harry thinks she's quiet in COS), and she can laugh 
at him before the ball.  That may mean that the crush is disappearing 
(though there is other evidence it is not) but it suggests to me she 
is not star-struck.

> I think it's impossible to judge what her crush is based on at this 
stage.
> 
That would not be incompatible with 'can be seen as'.

David