Why buy Ron Maroon? (Was: Why buy 5 sets of Lockhart's book?

[Alex Boyd]

No: HPFGUIDX 113789

Magda wrote that Molly was "hateful" to give Ron sandwiches and
sweaters in varieties and colours he didn't like, and dress robes that
would expose him to mockery by the school.

I've long thought it's very odd of Molly to repeatedly give him maroon
sweaters and socks when he hates that colour--maroon woll can't be any
cheaper than other colours, can it?  and the sweaters that she makes
are probably the only brand-new clothes he gets, which compouds the
insult.

The sandwiches I can excuse--with four kids going off to school that
year, plus one still at home, I can understand her not having time to
make a different kind of food to suit each one's likes and dislikes. 
In a big family, "like it or lump it" is a common attitude toward food
preferences.  But the sweaters *have* to be made one by one, and she's
already buying different colours for each child, so it's hard to grasp
why she keeps giving him maroon.  Unless he simply hasn't mentioned
that he doesn't care for it--which is a remote possibility, since he
is aware that his mother has a lot on her plate, and he's not a big
complainer.  But the sweaters do seem to disrupt the image of Molly as
harried and strict but loving--if she really cared, you'd think she'd
notice that his entire bedroom is orange, so maybe he'd prefer an
orange sweater.  (I can't quite handle the thought of orange dress
robes.)  

As far as the dress robes go, I agree that it's a little cruel.  I can
see Molly thinking, "Well, he's a boy, and boys don't really care much
what they wear"--but after raising six of them, you'd think she'd
realize that they *do* care what they wear if it makes them stand out
from their peers.  She could at least have taken off the lace, since
she'd probably have done a neater job of it than Ron did.  And it's
hard to believe that the maroon set were the *least* offensive set of
used dress robes available.  

Alex