Mollycoddling (was Re: Harry at the Dursleys / DD's feelings about it)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 118641


Del wrote:
<snip>
> > I didn't know the word "mollycoddling" when I first met Molly. But
> > when I discovered that word and figured its meaning, I immediately
> > realised it was another name-joke on the part of JKR.
<snip>
> 
Geoff responded:
><snip>
> 
> Interestingly, I followed this up and found that (1) Molly is a pet 
> form of Mary but also, (2) in the analysis of "mollycoddle", the 
> first part of this is given as a word for "girl".

Carol notes:
A "mollycoddle" is an effeminate boy. "Mollycoddle" as a verb is of
course to indulge and pamper. I gather from this that "mollycoddle" as
a verb originally meant to treat a boy like a girl, that is, to
overprotect him. I'm not talking, of course, about modern childrearing
methods. But in the nineteenth century and before, boys were exposed
to social evils that girls were protected from: drinking, gambling,
swearing, and prostitution being the ones that come immediately to
mind. Boys were expected to "sow their wild oats" and then settle down
to marry a "good" woman--i.e., one who knew little or nothing about
sex or any other things I've mentioned. Anne Bronte protested both
forms of "education" as deleterious in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."
 She's protesting both the complete ignorance expected of girls, who
were assumed to be either stupid or morally fragile and subject to
temptation, and the exposure of boys to social evils with neither
guidance nor protection. She seems to be advocating a middle way for
children of both sexes--awareness of the obstacle without direct
exposure to them, and guidance around or over the obstacles when they
inevitably arise.

A similar question faces the Order members and Dumbledore in OoP. How
much should Harry be told? How much guidance should he receive, and
what kind? Should he be left in ignorance of obstacles and evils or
exposed to them and forced to deal with them on his own? The decision
to teach Harry Occlumency seems to be an attempt at a middle way--a
means of dealing with an obstacle without actually being told what the
obstacle is (the Prophecy orb in the MoM). 


If we remove the idea of being treated like a (nineteenth-century)
girl and consider "mollycoddling" as both pampering and sheltering
from evil, that may well be what Molly is trying to do to Harry (and
her younger children, Ginny included). It isn't just a matter of
keeping them ignorant; she also (understandably) wants to keep them
safe. (Witness, for example, her reaction to the age line in GoF; she
was glad that her children couldn't cross it and upset that it hadn't
protected Harry.) In contrast, Dumbledore seems to want Harry to face
various obstacles, from the riddles and challenges involved in saving
the Philosopher's Stone to the dragons and mazes of the TWT, using his
own wits and whatever resources are available, from his friends'
knowledge and abilities to the helpful intervention of Fawkes. But
even he "mollycoddles" Harry by not telling him about the Prophecy and
why he needs to stop that dream.

In any case, I don't think the name Molly is an accident, nor do I
think that JKR approves of mollycoddling in any form. Evidently, since
she had Dumbledore confess that he was wrong to hide the Prophecy from
Harry, she doesn't wholly approve of exposure to obstacles without
guidance, either. But still, she views Dumbledore as the epitome of
goodness, and he certainly has allowed Harry to face perils much worse
than the abuse/neglect of the Dursleys, and even encouraged him to do
so by giving him the invisibility cloak when he was still only eleven.

IMO, the time for the "let Harry alone" policy has passed. It's time
he received some actual guidance, some genuine sound advice, or at
least a good history lesson regarding Grindelwald, Voldemort, and Dark
Wizards in general. Enough with the Goblin Wars. Harry and the others
need a big dose of twentieth-century history, in particular VW1, and
some hands-on DADA training from an expert instead of trying to teach
themselves.

Carol