OOtP: Molly's Shortcomings

[Dicentra spectabilis]

No: HPFGUIDX 66477

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pennylin" <pennylin at s...> wrote:
> 
> I'm still missing the causal connection between the potentially 
> tragic past events and the way she has treated her husband and 
> children for the entire time we have known her.  

How about this: One of her children was murdered by a DE (or by
Imperious!Arthur), and her way of dealing with it is to Make Sure It
Never Happens Again by exercising total control over everyone in her
circle.  This includes the incessant nagging, the inability to let go,
treating everyone like a little child, etc.

I disagree that Molly is a cardboard cutout or a stereotype: how many
mothers really do act the way she does?  Mine certainly doesn't -- not
in any degree.  Penny, I'm sure you don't.  Most mothers I know
possess only some of Molly's qualities, and even then only to a
smaller degree.  Rather than a stereotype, I'd call Molly an
exaggeration of motherhood, an uber-Mother.  She's a veritable Mother
Bear who will fight tooth and nail for the protection of her brood.  

And it only make sense that she has become this exaggerated in
response to a tragic past event.  I agree that she's annoying and all
of those other things, and that she needs to find a better way to cope
with her grief.  But I also know that when push comes to shove, she'd
take a bullet (or an AK) for any of her family without a second thought.

Just another flawed!adult in the Potterverse, I'd say.

--Dicentra