McGonagall a Muggle? (Was: Did I Miss Something?)

[Wendy]

No: HPFGUIDX 81190

Pip!Squeak wrote:

> I've argued this before, but I think Professor McGonagall is 
muggle > born. That's why she wears muggle clothing in the holidays 
*and* > gets it right. In PS/SS she talks about 'their news', but 
obviously > does recognise that a voice floating out of the 
Dursley's window > might be from the TV/radio. [Chapter 1]


Now me (Wendy):

I've never heard this theory (must have missed it when you discussed 
it before <g>), and I'd like to know how you think it fits with a 
bit of canon that's been bothering me (from the first chapter of the 
first book). When Minerva meets Dumbledore at the Dursleys, during 
their conversation she says:

"'You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no -- even the 
Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news.' 
She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room 
window. 'I heard it. Flocks of owls...shooting stars...Well, they're
not completely stupid.'"

To me, this reads as distain for Muggles. Perhaps not mean-spirited, 
but it still doesn't seem a very Pro-Muggle attitude. However, what 
it reminds me of more than anything is Arthur (thus far the poster 
guy for Pro-Muggle <g>) and the way he talks about Muggles as if 
they are amusing children who once in a while manage to do something 
clever. No, he doesn't want to kill them off or exclude their 
children from the Wizarding World, but he also doesn't seem to think 
of them with respect, or as equals. We know that he has at least 
spoken to the Grangers, and I assume that he treats them fine, but I 
still don't think his overall attitude is one of acceptance.

I see this comment from McGonagall in much the same way. Whether or 
not she "likes" Muggles, she certainly doesn't respect their 
intelligence.

I see three possibilities here (there may be more, but these are the 
ones that occur to me).

First, this is just the general attitude in the Wizarding World - 
that Muggles are stupid, inferior beings. Well, I think this is the 
general attitude regardless of what else is going on with 
McGonagall. Dumbledore doesn't seem to feel this way about Muggles, 
but Pro-Muggle Arthur does, and McGonagall is not at all shy about 
calling them all stupid, so it's apparently a perfectly acceptable 
sentiment to express in the WW. Ugh.

This comment has also been used as evidence that McGonagall is 
really Ever So Evil. That she is anti-Muggle, and this is just one 
of the places she shows her true colours. Actually, now I'm not sure 
this really is good evidence for Evil!McGonagall (although I still 
think this theory has a chance, even after OoP, and I will probably 
post something about this soon). No, I don't think McGonagall's 
comment can be used as evidence of any particular hatred of Muggles 
that would align her with Voldemort. Instead, it just shows how much 
the WW in general is distainful of Muggles, and she's just 
expressing that here.

Finally (and getting back to your original point), what if 
McGonagall is herself Muggle-born? This comment would seem to argue 
against that (can you imagine Hermione making a comment like this?), 
but I don't think it's impossible. Perhaps Minerva was Muggle-born, 
but for whatever reason has decided to distance herself as much as 
possible from her roots. So, she speaks distainfully of Muggles as 
though to show that she is in no way connected to "them." Reminds me 
a bit of Olympe and her vehement denial of her half-giant parentage. 
Protesteth too much, and all that <g>.

So, to take this a bit further, if McGonagall is a Muggle-born witch 
who has tried to erase all connections to her origins, where does 
that put her in the greater scheme of things? One of the things that 
has always bugged me (and led me to speculate that she is evil), is 
that Dumbledore doesn't seem to trust her or confide in her as much 
as would seem appropriate, considering her position as Deputy 
Headmistress. And yet, he does trust her to guard Barty Crouch Jr at 
the end of GoF (and see how *that* turned out), and now we've found 
that she is a member of the Order. If she is indeed Muggle-born, 
that would give Dumbledore addtional incentive to trust her. Why on 
earth would she turn against Muggles if she was born one? BUT . . . 
if she really is in denial about being Muggle-born, and trying 
desperately to pretend that she wasn't, that might provide some 
incentive for her to join Voldemort. It also makes her even more 
psychologically twisted than I'd ever imagined she could be, but 
hey, that's okay with me. I like twisted, just fine. ;-)

:-)
Wendy