Molly-- Thoughts on a witch

[cmw652]

No: HPFGUIDX 109416

Magda Writes....

> Probably we see Molly at her best around Harry. As you say, she does
> indeed give him the unconditional maternal love that he hasn't had
> since he was 15 months old. It's a heck of a lot more than she gives
> her own family.
>
> Molly, Molly, Molly, - why do I dislike her? Let me list the ways:
> 
> 1. She's a bad loser. When you argue with Molly, there's no "let's
> agree to disagree" about it, it's war to the knife. She's losing the
> fight with Sirius about what to tell Harry so she hurls the snotty
> Azkaban comment at him (OOTP). <snip>
>
> 4. She says and does hurtful things. The Azkaban shot at Sirius was
> mentioned above. <snip>
>
> Or how about the Easter Eggs she sent to Ron, Harry and Hermione in
> GoF - Ron and Harry got huge chocolate/caramel things but Hermione
> got a tiny little egg because Rita Skeeter had written an article
> claiming that Hermione broke Harry's heart? <snip>
>
> Or Molly's comment when Ron becomes prefect? "That's everyone in the
> family!" "What are we, next door neighbours?" says Fred/George.
> Imagine, a comment so pointed and direct it even managed to get
> through the twins' armour. I really think that comment - and the
> unspoken but clear implications behind it - rival Snape's "I see no
> difference" in terms of sheer callous cruelty. 
<snip>


Now me:
  Magda, your post made me laugh-- and realize you create a good
argument against anyone you dislike, so I hope you don't take my
disagreeing personally! :D
    
    A lot of what you say is true if taken at face value. However, I
have always valued "Intentions" when looking at actions. A lot of what
Molly does can be seen as cruel, but I do not believe that is her
always her intent. 

Some instances, such as the small Easter egg you listed above, are not
okay. But I think that is JKR once again showing us that no one is
perfect-- a theme that seems to be very important within these books.
The world is not made up into good and bad people, and neither are her
characters- they make mistakes, and do hurtful things.

Molly is certainly not an exception. I would probably hate to have her
as a mother. But, what is clear to me is that she DOES love her
children-- Fred and George included. That is why she is so hard on
them. It is not the best idea for parenting... in fact, if she weren't
so controlling, I think her kids would be quite different. Still. She
gives them a hard time because she cares for them, and doesn't want to
see them seriously screw up.

As for the comment she made at Sirius (which made me really mad, for
the record), you really cannot take it out of context. Underneath her
anger, Molly was concerned for Harry because she cares about him. Once
again, not okay, but it isn't really what she meant, IMO.

Her methods are bad, but her intentions are good (I know, I know, the
road to hell is paved with good intentions...something my first grade
teacher used to remind us of daily. And I don't think her intentions
were good, so I hate her).

In some kind of proof to all of this.... I would like to point out the
scene in GOF where everyone comes home from the cup... Molly was so
worried for everyone, ESPECIALLY Fred and George because she had been
cruel to them earlier. 

So-- that is my defense of Molly. 
Sorry Magda. You put up a good argument though!

CMW
--who has every intention of going to bed, but will probably read 1000
more posts----