parental roles in HP books - Molly

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 136310

> >>Elizabeth:
> <snip> 
> Speaking of ruthlessly manipulating....Molly Weasly.  It's a 
> subject well worn here that she isn't the best role model mother.  
> But neither is she the worst.  Her influence on the children is 
> somewhat balanced by her husband's influence, which is the way a 
> good marriage/partnership should work.  And you can site 
> contradicting examples but by and large the Weasely children (even 
> Percey) are a good group of young people.  So, all in all, she did 
> her job well, ie, she is a good mother.  For all those here who   
> want to slam her(she raised seven children!)she works very hard   
> and without much help from her husband (Arthur works a lot of     
> overtime; although when he is home he shows some support) AND with 
> little to show for it at the end of the day.  I'm sorry, but I    
> have to say this to those who are still blasting her...those of   
> you raising fewer than three children have not a single clue as to 
> how hard her work is.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Speaking as someone who loaths Molly Weasley and her methods of 
mothering, I think her children are a *perfect* example of how she's 
*not* a good mother.  Her two oldest boys have not only left home, 
they left the country.  It took a war to bring back her eldest and 
he managed to pick out a girl to marry guaranteed to put Molly's 
back up.  (And a girl who seems well able to stand up to Molly, so 
congratulations Bill.)

Percy has turned his back on his family.  Which, considering the 
abuse he put up with from his family, was hardly surprising.  And 
Ron has *huge* self-esteem issues (illustrated by his quidditch 
playing) that come near to crippling him at times.  Ginny is an 
accomplished liar and has a rather cruel temper when she's pushed.

The twins hold a special place, because I think they are most 
Molly's boys.  And their path is littered with distruction.  From 
the animal they bludgeoned to death at the age of seven, IIRC, to 
the classmate they nearly murdered, to the muggle-baiting they took 
part in (and if that isn't a tip of the hat to their dear old dad, I 
don't know what is), to the team-mate they nearly killed, the 
partnership of Fred and George is a disturbing one.  And I've not 
even mentioned what they've done to Ron and Percy.

As to Molly's relationship with Arthur, their marriage doesn't seem 
all that great, IMO. (It answered a lot of questions for me when 
Ginny implied that Arther and Molly rushed their marriage.)  Arthur 
works all the time.  And when he's home he's tinkering in his shed 
(working with nasty muggle things, completely against Molly's 
wishes).  Arthur isn't a horrible father and he isn't a bad man, but 
he's disengaged from his family, and it shows, I think.  He should 
have been around to lay some real disipline down on the twins and to 
protect Ron and Percy from their attacks.

As far as managing so many children on such a tight budget, I do 
think Molly does a good job there.  She's a wonderful cook and 
apparently a decent seamstress (except where Ron is concerned).  I 
did cringe when she brought her family (and Harry!) right into their 
empty bank vault.  It's probably a personal thing, but in our family 
parents *never* talked about finances in front of the children.

Honestly, I doubt JKR is trying to make Molly ESE, or even 
completely cruel.  But I do think, with her wicked sense of human 
foibles she gave Molly flaws that just happened to be the ones that 
grate on me the most.

Betsy Hp (who seriously sees OBHWF as a great big myth, even if the 
current ships sail into the sunset)