Ron, Molly and Those Robes

[scootergrid]

No: HPFGUIDX 59322


> Firstly, the Weasley parents don't seem to have their heads on quite
> straight as regards money.  When you've got four kids in boarding 
school,
> and books to buy for them for five years into the future, spending a
> windfall on a trip to Egypt strikes me as slightly insane.  > 


  I would disagree with this.  I think the issue at hand is a 
difference between Ron's perspective on his situation, and that of 
his parent's perspective.  It seems as the the Weasley's represent a 
family that is more focused on a person's inner worth than material 
worth.  I think this characteristic will be essential to their use in 
the plot.  Based on that, The Weasley parent's provide for their 
children as best they can, which I feel is adequate, given they are 
all clothed and fed and provided with school necessities.  When they 
win the cash award they choose to spend it on what is most important 
to them - neccesities and family.  They buy Ron the wand he "needs", 
and then use the rest to spend time together as a family.  Molly and 
Arthur, as I see them, would see it as foolish to buy new clothes 
when their kids have perfectly good ones already.  

> And I don't think for a second that Molly doesn't know what is and 
is not in fashion for wizards---she reads _Witch Weekly,_ and the 
Muggle equivalent publications all have articles on fashions.  


I'm sure she does read them, but that doesn't mean she feels it's 
necessary to provide them with such things.  Thier focus isn't on 
image, it's on utility.

As for time, now that her youngest is off to school, she isn't being 
run ragged at home---would it be _that_ much trouble to do some 
sewing, in between knitting maroon sweaters for Ickle Ronniekins?  
Maybe Arthur's next acquisition of a Muggle thingamabob might be a 
second-hand sewing machine, and Molly could surprise Ron with a set 
of beautiful maroon dress robes in his exact size.  (Although I would 
think, myself, that dark blue or dark green would look better on a
> redhead, she apparently thinks differently)

This is interesting - we don't know much about how clothing is made 
or fixed or rules about goods and purchasing things.  I know it has 
been discussed at length here, so I'll just say I'm excited to find 
out more about this in later books!


> One of my learned colleagues here, I disremember who, said that Ron 
seems to  be obsessed with money, and that he's the only Weasley who 
is.  I'd like to point out that Ron is also the Weasley who gets by 
far the most "screen time," and that the Twins certainly seem to be 
interested in money---one recurring leitmotif in _GoF_ turns out to 
be their attempts to get Ludo Bagman to pay up on the gambling debt 
he ran up to them.  We hardly _see_ Charlie, Bill or Percy enough to 
know how they feel, but Percy's slightly obsessive desire to please 
his bosses might come from a fierce determination to keep his job and 
be making money.
> 

I agree with this point - Ron does get the most POV attention, and so 
it makes sense that we would see him as being the most money-
oriented.  He is also an adolescent and, by there very nature, going 
to be more focused on his appearance, image, and posessions than the 
older characters, though we do see these qualities in them as well.


> I think that in _OoP_ we might well get some more background on the
> Weasleys, including maybe why they're so poor.

I hope so!

scootergrid