Sharing names - Heritage

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 98709

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
> "Geoff:
> 
> Perhaps I should point out that your argument is not upheld by
> evidence in canon:
> 
> "'You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name for
> ever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin 
himself,
> through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common, 
Muggle
> who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out
> his /wife/ was a witch? (my emphasis)'"
> 
> Tom Riddle to Harry (COS UK edition p.231)"

I stand corrected.  Well, in that case, it was illogical writing on 
Rowling's part.  If a woman from a small village had married the son 
of the rich family who lived in the big house, it would have been 
common knowledge to everyone in town.  If they'd kept it secret, she 
could have exposed him when he deserted her.  A wife has power, a 
mistress has none.  And there's no reason for the state to take care 
of an "orphan" if he has a legal father or other relatives to do so, 
so Tom could not have ended up in an orphanage the way she describes.

Wanda