CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 9, The Woes of Mrs. Weasley - Discussion Questions

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 88317

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "abigailnus" <abigailnus at y...> 
wrote:
> Chapter 9 - The Woes of Mrs. Weasley
> 
> Abagail's Discussion Questions:
> 
> 1. How common do you think Muggle-baiting is?  Arthur's 
> statement that it might strike some people as funny suggests 
> that this is perhaps an attitude that he's encountered in the 
> past.  Arthur has been criticized as viewing Muggles in a 
> patronizing, condescending manner ("Bless them!" is most 
> often cited as an example of this attitude).  Does the fact that 
> he seems to have an awareness of his society's troublesome 
> attitudes towards Muggles counter that claim?  Does Arthur's 
> statement shed a new light on him?  

I would assume that muggle baiting is the reason for many things 
that muggles take for granted as everyday experiences and certain 
wizards use to get their jollies off (from the shrinking door keys 
to the plumbing incidents). If he is condescending to them, I think 
that it is only because he appreciates that their ignorance of the 
magical world makes his job just a little easier. 
 
> 2.  Arthur's statement that Lucius Malfoy was trying to sneak 
> into the courtroom is presumably a misdirection on JKR's part.  
> The corridor in which Harry and Arthur find him is the one 
> leading to the Department of Mysteries - was he perhaps 
> trying to sneak in?  What business does Lucius have with Fudge?

In GoF, Hudge says twice that the Malfoy family has always been 
donating to generous causes, first in the Quidditch world cup scene, 
when he gave money to St. Mungo's and got tickets in the top box, 
and in the Parting of the ways chapter, when Harry names him as a DE 
and Fudge defends Malfoy's record. I thought that since Malfoy has  
been openly against DD since CoS, that he was simply helping to 
poison the Minister's mind against the Headmaster. It also may have 
been that Malfoy was going to try to get into the DoM. This esd very 
early in the book, and LV might not have known anything about the 
retreval process for prophecys. So maybe Malfoy was bribing Fudge 
for info on that. (the conspiracy theorist in me just started 
giggling manaically)

> 3. Lucius greets Harry as 'Patronus Potter'.  Later in the book 
> Bellatrix refers to Sirius as 'Animagus Black'.  In the latter 
case, 
> a person is referred to by the magical ability that distinguishes 
> him - is this also true for Harry?  We know that his ability to 
> conjure a corporeal Patronus is unusual in a boy so young, but 
> does this ability - and the moniker - mark Harry as a protective 
> figure (after all, in conjuring the Patronus, he was also 
> protecting his helpless cousin)?  Is it significant that the only 
> two people we've met who've used this fashion of referring to 
> people are Death Eaters?

I think that "patronus Potter" was just a term of condescension and 
dislike, and that "animagus Black" was used to not only denote the 
person Bellatrix was fighting, but also to distance herself from her 
cousin. 

> 4. There's a distinct note of bitterness in Arthur's voice when 
> he speaks of Lucius Malfoy and especially of his money.  Money 
> has always been a delicate issue around the Weasleys.  We 
> know that Ron is embarrassed by his family's poverty, that Mrs. 
> Weasley, when she breaks down momentarily at the beginning 
> of GoF, expresses her frustration at her family's financial 
> situation, and that Percy threw the money issue in his father's 
> face during the row the precipitated his leaving home.  Does 
> Arthur's tone of voice suggest that, despite his ideological 
> reasons, he regrets choosing a lifestyle that isn't financially 
> rewarding?  Does his resentment of Malfoy have financial 
> underpinnings?

The Weasleys are the prototypical "poor but happy" family, or at 
least they were until the begining of OotP. The resentment on 
Arthur's part, I think, has to do with the fact that Malfoy can buy 
his way into the good graces of the minister, while Arthur and the 
others who are on the side of truth must struggle to get themselves 
heard. The Weasley's financial problems are not uncommon in the 
muggle world, and are a totally understandable source of stress for 
anyone. Arthur, having just seen his almost like a son Harry nearly 
get convicted by the Wizengamot for underage magic and confronted by 
his known rival, is understandaby stressed. And Ron's embarassment 
over his family's financail situation is also understandable: no one 
wants to be the poor kid at school who can't afford the latest shoes 
or cell phone or broomstick as the case may be. 
 
> 5. Having read the rest of OOP, there seems to be no reason to 
> believe that Fudge is under the Imperius Curse, but how could 
> Dumbledore know this for sure?

I think that Fudge's reaction is totally believable from what we saw 
at the end of GoF, before anyone had a chance to Imperio him (or 
didn't they?). DD understands that Fudge will resist the knowledge 
of LV's return, and I think that he acted as acordingly as his 
character could, no Imperio about it.  

> 6. Why does Harry's scar burn when he returns to Grimmauld 
> place?  Is Voldemort angry or happy about something, or is he 
> reacting to Harry's thoughts about Dumbledore?

Perhaps Malfoy has just informed LV that Harry will not be expelled 
and will be returning to Hoqwarts under DD's protection. Maybe there 
was a plan to attack Harry (again, before the knowledge that he 
would need Harry alive to retrieve the prophecy) upon his expulsion, 
and now that plan could not be put into effect. 

> 7. Hermione's analysis of Sirius is the first instance of many in 
> OOP in which she acts as Harry's emotional interpreter.  Why do 
> you feel Rowling gave this role to Hermione?  Is it because she's 
> a girl, and therefore more mature than either Harry or Ron at 
> this point, or is it because Hermione has traditionally held the 
> position of  information supplier in the Trio?  Do you believe 
> that Hermione will continue in this role in later books, or will 
> Harry develop emotional instincts of his own?  How does this 
> acuity of Hermione's reflect on the usual perception of her as 
> a non-intuitive person (as opposed to Luna, for example, who 
> is usually held up as an example of an intuitive female)?

I think that this is totally in character for Hermione, especially 
in the later examples when she tries to explain Cho and Ginny to 
Harry and Ron. She is their female sounding board, anyway, and her 
emotional maturity is being stressed here. I think, though, that 
Harry will develop his own emotional instincts, and by the end of 
OotP he allready has: when he feels sorrry for Luna and offers to 
help her look for her posessions. Harry will grow up eventually. We 
just need to give him time to prosess. (Ron "insensitive wart" 
Weasley, on the other hand, may need to be whipped into shape by 
Hermione.)
 
> 8. Does Mrs. Weasley's glib mention of Scabbers suggest that 
> she doesn't know who he really was?  If so, why not?

She must know who he is by now, just as she knows who Sirius and 
Lupin are, but there is no denying that Ron DID like having Scabbers 
as a pet, no matter what he said about him. Scabbers and Wormtail 
seem to often be refered to as seperate characters, and if I had my 
books with me I would look up some cannon on that (anyone help me 
there?). 
 
> 9. In past discussion, Mrs. Weasley has come under a lot of fire 
> for her behavior when she discovers that Ron has been made a 
> prefect.  She is criticized for dismissing Fred and George 
('that's 
> everyone in the family!') and for 'bribing' Ron for his 
achievement.  
> Do you feel that these criticisms are justified?  How do the 
> revelations about Mrs. Weasley's state of mind later in the 
chapter 
> affect your opinion of her?  Is it possible that she's 
overreacting 
> to the first bit of good news she's had in a while?  Could Mrs. 
> Weasley's joy over Ron's selection have something to do with 
> Percy?  Is she perhaps trying to recreate her lost favorite son in 
Ron?

Mrs. Weasley has seven kids, remember, and it is not uncommon for 
people with lots of kids to sometimes forget a few of them. She does 
the same thing with Ron all the time when she gives him cornbeef 
sandwitches and maroon sweaters, neither of which he likes. (I know 
that, as one of four kids, I was forever called by the names of 
either my sister or one of my female cousins or my childhood 
friends, and to try to get my name out of my grandmother, who has 
sixteen grandchildren, is near impossible). And I don't think that 
she was bribing Ron at all. She didn't seem to have had a bargain 
with him (get made a prefect and we'll buy you a broom), it seems to 
be more of a reward, like Percy's owl. 

> 10. We already know why Harry wasn't selected for Prefect, but 
> do you feel that Ron was a good choice?  Does he truly have 
> latent leadership qualities or did Rowling select him simply to 
> make Harry jealous (and because, apart from Harry, he's the 
> Gryffindor boy with whom we have the most contact)?  What do 
> you feel might have been Dumbledore's reasons for selecting Ron 
> as prefect?  Is he perhaps trying to guide Ron in the path of his 
> older brothers?  Would another Gryffindor boy have made a better 
> choice?

I think that Ron was a good choice. He gets decent marks, plays 
passable Quidditch, and he has good leadership skills that have 
manifested themselves in the chess match in SS. I think that the 
choice of Ron for prefect was because he was not totally 
exceptional. I always found it easier to take direction from someone 
who was an equal in certain ways, and not superior. 
 
> 11. Is the twins' slightly malicious needling of Ron motivated by 
> his Prefect badge or by their mother's fawning adoration?  What 
> can we learn from Ron's wistful reaction at their attitude?  Does 
> Ron want to be like Fred and George?  Is he?

Ron is jealous (IMHO) of the twins' popularity. He wants to be like 
them, and I think, would rather not be an authority figure. But I 
don't see the twins' "slightly malicious needling" as anything more 
than the actions of brothers poking fun at their younger sibling. 
 
> 12. Harry's argument with himself after Ron gets the prefect's 
badge, 
> and his decision to be happy for Ron, are a rare example of 
emotional 
> maturity.  One could argue that it is in fact the last instance of 
that 
> kind of maturity until the very end of OOP, when he comes out of 
his 
> grief long enough to feel sorry for Luna.  What is it about this 
> situation that brings out the adult in Harry?  Does it have 
something 
> to do with the GoF Rift, and his perception of Ron as constantly 
being 
> in his shadow?  Why does Harry find himself incapable of 
exercising 
> this same kind of introspection and maturity at other points 
during 
> OOP?  

Harry is, after all is said and done, a fifteen year old boy. To 
expect him to be totally emotionally mature at this age, and in his 
situation, is, IMHO, not realistic. With all that he has been 
through, it is easy to see how hos anger and sadness could easily 
temporarily cloud his emotional development. That Harry could find 
it in himself twice that year to look beyond himself and think of 
Ron and Luna before himself is something to be proud of. As I said 
before, Harry will grow up eventually, and it is these imperfections 
in his character that make him such an interesting hero. 
 
> 13. Sirius tells us that James wasn't a prefect, and yet we know 
from 
> PS/SS that he was Head Boy.  Several suggestions have been made 
> in the attempt to resolve this paradox, among them the claim that 
> this is a FLINT, the suggestion that a HB isn't necessarily 
selected 
> from among the prefects, and the suggestion that Lupin was 
> stripped of his prefect's badge, which was given to James.  Which, 
> if any, do you think is true?  What do you think this bodes for 
Harry's 
> chances of being made Head Boy?

Assuming that LV is still around, DD might again make the case that 
Harry has quite enough to deal with to also be head boy. But then 
again, DD might change his mind, and use the title to show 
confidence in Harry, and I think that he would make an excellent 
head boy (though I am admittedly an American, and I don't really 
know what a head boy does). I think that in JKR's world you don't 
necessarily have to be a prefect to be a head boy or girl, and there 
is no reason to assume that this is a FLINT. 

> 14. Why does Moody show Harry the photograph of the Order, and 
> why does he think Harry would be interested in the picture of his 
> parents?  Is he unaware of the reaction Harry might have to seeing 
> his parents with Pettigrew, or is he purposefully trying to 
provoke 
> that reaction?  Is Moody unaware that Harry does have pictures of 
> his parents, and perhaps thinks that this is the first time Harry 
has 
> seen a photograph of them?

Maybe Moody is of the opinion, like DD, that the truth is important, 
and that Harry should know what it is that the WW is facing. I also  
thought that Moody just wanted to show Harry that his parents were 
brave enough to stand up for the right side, and maybe give Harry a 
shot of confidence that he was sorely lacking at the moment (though 
showing him a picture whose subjects almost all endede up dead may 
not have been the best way to do that). 
 
> 15. What reasons could JKR have for giving us a roster of the 
> original Order?  Do you believe that some of the previously 
unknown 
> people mentioned in the photograph will show up in later books?  
> Will someone presumed dead turn out to be still living?  

This was probably done to emphasize the fact that this is a real war 
that the WW will be fighting and that there were dozens of families, 
not just the Potters and the Longbottoms, who were effected by it. I 
don't know who of the late original order will show up, but it would 
be interesting to meet their offspring, if any, and see how they 
react to Harry and to the rebirth of LV and the opening of the war. 
 
> 16. Does Mrs. Weasley's Boggart really conjure the image of both 
> twins dead together?  What does this tell us about her perception 
> of the twins?  What does it tell us about JKR's?  

I think that she (and maybe to some extent the readers) see the 
twins as a single entity, one person divided up between to bodies. 
Whether this is common for twins or not I don't know, but it does 
strike me as strange that the two of them don't seem to have any 
seperate interests. 
 
> 17. Is Mrs. Weasley really reassured, or has she simply regained 
> her composure enough to feel embarrassed?  Why is she so 
> ashamed of her fear, and why doesn't she want her husband told 
> about it?  Do you think we'll be seeing more of Mrs. Weasley's 
> woes?  Do you think she'll be able to handle the stress of the 
> coming war?

Mrs. Weasley, like anyone who has to send a kid into battle, is 
understandably stressed. I think that she will handle it well, and 
seeing as boggarts have the ability to present us with our deepest 
fears, and seeing as how badly we have seen people react to them 
(Harry and Hermione most notably) it is not hard to believe that she 
took the images for real. 

Meri submits her answers for discussion.