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

[marephraim]

No: HPFGUIDX 88906

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "abigailnus" <abigailnus at y...> 
wrote:
> Chapter 9 - The Woes of Mrs. Weasley
> 
> 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 was going to say that Mr Weasley's attitude never struck me as 
condescending, but then it did strike me that his views are quite 
like the attitude of some English towards, say, India during the old 
colonial days. He is quite like those who developed a keen interest 
and respect for Indian and Hindu culture and found the more openly 
superior and dismissive attitudes of some in his country distasteful 
and immoral. That Mr Weasley doesn't see the real measure of 
achievement in Muggles having developed electricity, etc., shows his 
blindspots, but his keen interest in all things Muggles and life 
decisions that found him in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office 
speaks real devotion to the 'cause.' 

> 2.  [snip, snip, snip] What business does Lucius have with Fudge?

Bribery.

> 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?

I think this follows on the same heals as the nr. 1 above. Mr 
Weasley resents the attitude of people like Malfoy. If Mr Weasley 
has blindspots to his own prejudices about Muggles, he sees with 
perfect clarity the corruption of bigotry that infects the Wizarding 
society as evidenced in people like Malfoy. Malfoy has money and 
instead of using for noble purposes chooses to spread the influence 
of classism and anti-Muggle prejudice. Mr Weasley's tone of voice is 
one of resentment that the higher (though admittedly flawed -- see 
above) moral ground that he trods is less followed by people who 
could do more with the resources at their disposal. I think Mr 
Weasley would love to see the day when Muggle-Wizard relations had 
developed to such a good degree that his office was closed entirely. 
In his own way, Mr and Mrs Weasley represent the same kind of 
idealism we see in Hermione regarding elf rights; they have grown 
wise over the years and work within the system to effect change, 
while Hermione is still young and dreaming of revolutionary 
immediate change.

> 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)?

Hermione's 'analysis of Sirius' is exactly that -- an analysis. She 
interprets and evaluates Sirius based on her experience of him, 
considerations of his history and current situation, and information 
she has gleened from others. 

On the other hand, it is often noted that HP is written from the 
third person limited perspective. What we see and know is dependent 
on what Harry sees and understands at the time. That Hermione might 
have any 'non-intellectual' intelligence (Harry does seem surprised 
when Hermione asks him how things are developing between himself and 
Cho, etc.) does not occur to Harry until OoP. In his own way, Harry 
is like Ron exclaiming, "Hermione, you're a girl!"

> 8. Does Mrs. Weasley's glib mention of Scabbers suggest that 
> she doesn't know who he really was?  If so, why not?

I think this is just human nature. Scabbers was around a long time. 
Mentally, it would be hard to suppress all the memories and feelings 
one had for someone, or something, if you like, like that even if 
later revealed to be a deceiver.

> 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!') [snip, snip, snip]

This is the only concrete evidence I've ever found in canon to the 
possibility that Gred and Forge aren't really Arthur and Molly's 
children. (Although, I still don't believe it.)

> 
> 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?

"Well, Dumbledore must have had his reasons...." This is part of 
what I believe will turn out to be a correct insight on the part of 
the 'clues' series that Ron is only right when he's making 
a 'prediction,' a la divination. Harry and Ron, through Harry's 
perspective, are 'average' students. We've never seen the grade 
board and so can only take it for granted that there are many who do 
much better and many who do much worse than they (Potions aside). 

Students who make good grades tend to fall into two categories: 
those who make good grades and show it off, and those who make good 
grades with a sense of duty and concern that doesn't manifest itself 
in pride. We know Hermione falls in the latter category; she knows 
she gets good grades because she works very hard to get them. 
Perhaps Harry and Ron do as well. The fact that we get humourous 
sidenotes about Hermione checking Harry's and Ron's homework with 
comments about how dreadful Ron's work is gives us no clue to how 
dreadful everyone else's work is. Nor does it speak to the real 
potential Ron's work (often done lazily and sloppily) might actually 
reveal to the teachers. For all we know, Hermione's 'corrections' to 
Ron's homework might be little more than clafications of better ways 
to say it. I've seen many students who get the information on the 
page but need betas because their writing skills are so poor.

There must be two prefects chosen from among each house's fifth year 
class. Perhaps it simply came down to Harry, Ron and Hermione, and 
maybe Neville in fourth place, as the best in that year for 
Gryffindor. This would fit neatly with the information we do have 
from Dumbledore that he gave the position to Ron because Harry 
already had enough on his shoulders. 

> 
> 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?

Gred and Forge are a team. It's easy to see how, growing up in the 
Weasley household, Ron would envy and admire them. Ron would never 
get away with some of the trick they pull on Percy, and as a team 
they can rely on each other. Until Harry, Ron didn't have anyone 
like that. 

Also, as the youngest son, but not youngest child, in a large 
family, Ron never developed the outgoing devil-may-care attitude the 
Twins express. While he feels ackward they jump into the middle of 
things and are commonly the centre of noisy attention. Like Harry 
wishing he had been found just having told a marvelous joke to a 
bunch of really cool students rather than being covered in stinkslap 
with 'Loony Lovegood' and Neville, Ron would dream of that kind of 
attention and bravery the Twins show daily. 

Consider this as also evidenced in the Mirror of Erised episode.

> 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?

He might justifiably be unaware of Harry's potential reaction. 
Personally, I found it hard in OoP not to confuse Harry's 
relationship with Moody with Harry's relationship with Moody/Crouch 
in GoF. The real Moody doesn't know Harry very well. Many people 
find it fascinating to see an old photo of loved ones, and that 
Moody himself has kept the photo gives us insights into him. 

Harry's reaction is based on his unresolved emotional conflict 
concerning what happened at the end of the previous year. It has 
already been discussed in this group at great length that Harry 
could have used some grief counselling and other assistence to help 
him deal with the burdons that are his. How well aware is Moody of 
Harry's homelife with the Dursleys? He's been there, but does he 
clearly know at the beginning of OoP how dreadfully nasty they 
really are? This scene is but one of so many that show Harry's 
(justifiable) self-focus in spite of, and to the detriment, of the 
situation and those around him.

> 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 I hadn't even noticed until mentioned here! Yup! I think 
there's grist for the mill in this one. As the other motive for the 
scene, this may be a set up for (I don't have the book before me) 
the of whom Moody says, "We never did find him" (or words to that 
effect) turning up in some capacity.