Seamus and the Weasleys

[Kirstini]

No: HPFGUIDX 79979

Jeff:
>>Yeah, I can see Party-Animal!Seamus fairly easily. :) In a way, I 
think the way that JRK wrote him, is almost insulting with her having 
him wanting to make rum at age 11. To me, that implies that he's 
already a drinker, which might be true, but not something that she 
should point out early on as part of his make-up.>>

Kirstini: UH? I wanted to drink at 11. I actually did drink 
(socially) at fourteen, as many kids at my school did (relaxed 
drinking laws over here mean that by the time kids are ready to start 
drinking leagally they're generally a lot more sensible about it).I 
love all the litte bits in OoP: "hey, I bet he'd sell us Firewhiskey" 
and Seamus/Dean trying to buy booze for a post-exam party, becuase 
they exhibit this wonderful, non-judgemental mentality which I really 
respect the atuhor for. 
I'm vaguely concerned about your idea of "insulting", as I want to 
point out something else:
 
Jeff:
>>The same can be said about how she presents the Weasley family. 
They're poor, red-haired, and have a large family. Sounds like a stab 
at the Irish to me.>> 

Kirstini:
Sounds like you implanting your own horrifically crude stereotyping 
upon an interpretation to me. Firstly, how a stab? At which point in 
the narrative are the Weasleys portrayed as anything other than a 
highly interesting, enjoyable experience for Harry, experiencing a 
world other to his own? Secondly: at the point at which she created 
Ron and the Weasleys, JKR herself was struggling to feed her own 
daughter, and had red hair (obviously, she acceeded to food and 
bleach as her fortunes took an upturn).
 
The Sergeant Majorette says:
>>Maybe they're not meant to be Irish, but Scots, and as disdainful 
of wastrels like those johnny-come-lately Norman Malfoys as the 
Malfoys are of them.>> 

Kirstini again (oar well and truly stuck): As the only "out" Scot on 
the list <awaits deafening response> I'd like to muss everything up 
again. I *love* the Seagent Majorette's reading. I'd love it to be 
true. But the Weasleys are English. We have an Irish person (Seamus) 
who conforms to a few nice wee stereotypes for us there, ah, so he 
does now. Beware of the banshee, begorrah, begorrah(1)! We have 
McGonagall and her tartan biscuit tin (and don't forget "fair 
Ravenclaw from glen"). Old Godric is going to turn out Welsh. All 
four countries covered. Everyone else conforms to a particular middle-
Englishness that we see preserved in their accent (Hagrid and Stan 
Shunpike are a bit thicker than the rest, so they get to keep those 
regional accents in all those variously patronising shades of 
hyphenation). We also have token black, South-Asian and North-Asian 
pupils (all five of them, six, if we add on Kingsley Shacklebolt) 
representing, rather smugly, each non-white skintone. 

English people can be ginger. JKR is herself (she may live in 
Edinburgh now, but I have a feeling she still said something 
like "the Scotch" recently, leaving us all sniffing about for the 
Jack Daniels.) The Weasleys are at least second generation English, 
because they are comfortable with the word "mate", enough so to 
suggest that its use in their dialogue doesn't sound like them 
auditioning for a Guy Ritchie film (although I dread to hear the 
audio aspect of the Phelps twins' "visual interpretation"  - ahem - 
of OoP). They live in the world's most English sounding place other 
than Little Whinging. Also, they are all named Arthurian-ly (has this 
ever been a word?). Scottish parents going for a theme would more 
likely go for Gaelic names. Not any sort of social commentry, just 
instinct.

Kirstini
1) I am well aware that Seamus has never said "begorrah, begorrah". I 
was merely illustrating a point, and to type "Ah, feck off ya Banshee 
hoor, there's a bomb under your ruin" would probably have caused much 
alarm on list from the folk who quite rightly can't be too sure about 
online sarcasm.