[HPforGrownups] Re: parental roles in HP books

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 136244

Sherry:

> And yet, in the series, *mothers* are portrayed as the ones who 
are the> loving, wonderful, giving, life sacrificing parental 
figures.  
Even Narcissa
> comes off sympathetic in her role as mother.  Fathers, however, 
don't come
> off too well, From James to Lucius, they are portrayed as less in 
some way.

We have four mother figures and four fathers too consider.  The 
fathers are Vernon D., Amos D., Barty C., and Arthur W.  Arthur and 
Amos raised their children well.  Barty's ambition killed his 
relationship with his son.  Vernon D.? Frankly, I am convinced that 
his character is provided as a humorous note;  I don't consider him 
as anything else.




Sherry again:

You forgot James Potter, who is presented as a bully in school.  I'm a
believer that James wasn't as bad as Snape presents, so that's up for
debate.  Lucius Malfoy.  Tom Riddle.  And Voldemort's mother's father.  None
of those are very nice men.  

I happen to like most of the moms in HP.  I love Molly.  I can sympathize
with Narcissa.  I'm a little tired of hearing about sainted Lily with no
evidence of why she was sainted before she gave her life for her son, which
was incredible.  i was not meaning to bash the mother figures in the books,
just to say that the books show repeated instances of bad fathering.  Even
James giving his life to try to save lily and Harry wasn't good enough.  

We don't know what kind of a father Amos Digory was, so I don't really
include him in the list of fathers.  But Arthur is the only decent father
figure we've
e got.  He and Molly are a great set of parents, and there's no doubt in my
mind about that.


I appreciate Jen giving the info from JKR's Time interview about how the
series ended up showing the negative consequences of bad fathering.  But it
is still a problematic theme for me, except that Arthur can take up the
slack to some extent for me.

Sherry