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

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 113806

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Alex Boyd" <alex51324 at h...> 
wrote:
> 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<snip> 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. 
<snip>Unless he simply hasn't mentioned that he doesn't care for it--
which is a remote possibility, <snip> if she really cared, you'd 
think she'd notice that his entire bedroom is orange, so maybe he'd 
prefer an orange sweater.  <Snip> 
> 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

Tonks here:

Maybe Ron has never told her that he hates that color. If he had I 
think she would have given him a different color. (I think orange is 
an ugly color, myself.)  Maroon goes more with the Gryffindor colors 
than orange and maybe Maroon goes better with his other clothes. 
Also, I know a large family that had a different "favorite" color 
for each kid. So if the 5th one came along and blue and green and 
red was already taken.. they had to choose another color. Seems odd 
to me, but that is the way that family did thing. So maybe it is 
something like that. Also with a large family if each kid has his 
own color it would be easier to do the laundry and get it back to 
the right person.

As to the robes. Molly like most adults probably doesn't know what 
is "in". And this is the wizard world. Men might well wear lace on 
their robes, we don't know.

I think Molly is a kind and loving mother. Like most teens Ron shows 
that Mom just is not in touch with the younger generation and their 
styles. That is not unusual in the Muggle world and I doubt that it 
is any different in the wizard world. 

I know some here don't like Molly and Arthur, but I do. If they were 
real I would love to have them for friends. And Hagrid too!!  And 
Snape too!  ;-)

Cheers,
Tonks_op