Am I the only one

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 95886

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_reader2003" 
 
> Carolyn wrote:
> Neil, health warning - this topic invokes the mum brigade, big 
time, 
> every time it comes up; get out your tin helmet and stand your 
> ground.

:: Jo charges it, rolling pin at the ready ;)::

 
Carolyn continued:

> I SO totally agree; the woman's a nightmare. I would certainly 
leave 
> home on a definitive basis as soon as possible if she was my 
mother 
> (actually, I did, but that's another story). And she's dangerous -
> Harry increasingly needs to know what is going on, and her over-
> protectiveness does him no good the older he gets. Hell, JKR even 
> spells it out to us 'He had been touched by what she had said 
about 
> his being as good as a son, but he was also impatient with her 
> **mollycoddling**. Sirius was right, he was not a child.' (OOP 
p.86, 


I disagree that Molly is dangerous to Harry.  As much as I love 
Sirius, he was wrong -- Harry still *is* a child as much as he 
doesn't want to believe it. He and Sirius would both have been 
better served to have followed Molly's (and Dumbledore's) advice, 
and perhaps Sirius would still be alive if they had.


Carolyn continued:

> In the earlier books it didn't come out so much - nothing wrong in 
> her administering big hugs, presents and enormous meals, but she 
was 
> rather a stereotype who didn't seem important. In OOP, like so 
much 
> else, things have got much more complicated. IMNVHO she is making 
the 
> classic mistake of a lot of parents in continuing to act like a 
cop, 
> when she should really face up to the fact that her kids and their 
> friends are now young adults. 

Well it's nice to see her get credit for the only hugs, presents and 
enormous meals Harry has ever had in his life ;).  Really, it's 
Molly's (and the other Weasleys) willingness to embrace Harry that 
has brought him his happiest, most carefree interludes.  There's 
nowhere he'd rather be than The Burrow, right?  And I'm sorry, but I 
can't consider Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the twins as young adults 
given not just their ages, but real lack of maturity (and the twins 
really are old enough to know better).


Carolyn: 
 
<snip>
> The cheapness of her remark to Sirius 'the thing is, it's been 
rather 
> difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in 
> Azkaban, hasn't it?' just shows how limited her outlook is. 
Whatever 
> Sirius's shortcomings as a potential godparent might be, she knows 
> the exact truth of why he was in Azkaban. Did she really consider 
it 
> so rash of him to track down Pettigrew once he realised what had 
> happened at Godric's Hollow? Did she have no feeling for his 
> sufferings and remorse, all those years he spent rotting in jail?

Oh, of course she did.  She's a very compassionate woman and Sirius 
would have done well to show her a bit of respect, given all she's 
done for his Godson, not to mention the fact that she prepares his 
meals, cleans his disgusting house, and probably launders the 
clothes on his back.  She makes that remark in the heat of the 
moment and while it was hurtful, you can't say she didn't speak the 
truth, can you?  All the years rotting in jail didn't do Harry much 
good, after all.  It's Harry's well being she's concerned with here;
not Sirius' who is after all a grown man, and should behave as 
such.  


> What is also happening here is that she is asserting her 
motherlove 
> as the be all and end all of what children need, and refusing to 
> acknowledge that Sirius might have something to offer as a father 
> figure/substitute as well. She's totally usurped Arthur's role in 
her 
> own family for years, and doesn't like it one bit when she's up 
> against someone with a bit more spunk. The only way she knows how 
to 
> react is to try and reduce Sirius to a child as well.

I disagree that Arthur's role has been usurped.  He's pretty much 
delegated the day to day running of the family's affairs to Molly 
(you know, all the boring, tedious things like discipline, chores, 
etc), but he's shown that when he considers something important he 
asserts himself, and Molly gives in (as in PoA, as well as in OoP).
As for Sirius, she's not reducing him to a child. She's disagreeing 
with him because she doesn't agree with him on Harry's best 
interests.  I think she's earned the right to do that over the past 
several years.


<snip speculation on possible Weasley family disgrace>
> 
> But she is definitely a weak spot in the Order - she could be 
> blackmailed or otherwise persuaded to betray them in order to save 
> her family. As many posters will say ad nauseam, its apparently a 
> fundamental instinct of parents to do this, but I hope Dumbledore 
has 
> factored it in to his plans, and makes sure she never knows too 
much.

While she's under unbearable pressure, I think that Molly's 
fundamentally tougher than most of the rest of the characters in the 
order. IMO, she'd be the last one to betray the Order for the simple 
reason that her family's survival depends utterly on the Order's 
success.  That her family (and Harry) are the most important things 
in her life, and the fact that no one is more loyal to Dumbledore 
than she leaves me confidant that if anyone cracks, it won't be 
Molly.

Jo S., defending Weasleys since 2001