Mother Molly (was: Some OOTP Questions) / Nice people get pass

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 125193


>>Betsy:
>I don't think Molly is completely bad.  But I do think she is 
toxic.  I don't get the impression that her kids like being around 
her.<
<snip>

>>Alla:
>I am assuming  that by "her kids don't like being around her" you 
mean Bill and Charley, right? 
>I don't think I have this impression at all.<
<snip of TWT example>

Betsy:
Hmm.  I had to rethink my stance here.  Because Bill does seem 
comfortable around Molly in the quoted scene, and her nagging (cut 
your hair!) doesn't seem to phase him.  Though I still think it's 
interesting that both Bill and Charlie work abroad and that even 
though they can both Apparate - they don't often come home for 
Christmas.  (That's my impression anyway - I could be wrong.)

I really do have mixed feelings about Molly though.  I think her 
kids would say they love her and that she loves them, but she is 
such a shrew - quick to judge, quick to criticize, slow to praise, 
etc., etc.  The way she treats Arthur is atrocious, and as others 
have said, I think she's quite a bigot.  (Frankly, I think we have 
more canon on Molly's bigotry than Snape's.)

And yet, she's quite motherly to Harry, and there is an overlying 
warmth to several of the Burrow scenes.  Which makes me wonder - how 
does JKR see Molly?  Is JKR trying to write her as a good mother and 
some of us just have different interpertations of what that role 
should look like?  Or is JKR purposefully putting nails-on-the-
chalkboard attributes onto her character?  And if the second, why?  
Will Molly turn out to be some big evil?  Or will there be a better, 
more rounded mother-figure in the last few books?  Or is there a 
feeling that Harry doesn't *need* a mother figure?
 
>>Alla:
>I am not one of those who considers Percy already  "evil and lost 
cause", but I don't have much love for him either, frankly. Is it 
possible that something went wrong with Persy, NOT with all other 
Weasleys?<

Betsy:
The twins certainly think so.  Percy has the audacity to not be 
athletic, to be a bit of a swot, and as Vmonte (I think) pointed 
out, to not have a great sense of humor about himself.  Percy is, in 
short, a bit of a sport.  The twins as natural bullies (and though I 
like them, they never flinch from ganging up on others) torment 
Percy as one not like themselves, not one of their tribe.  It's 
fairly grotesque behavior on their part, IMO.

>>Alla:
>I strongly disagree that twins hate Percy and teased him more than 
others ( well, I love them after all), but EVERYBODY in the family 
teases Persy. Are you saying that Bill and Charley also hate him?
>"Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked one of 
its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and they all looked 
up to see Percy's head poking out of the window on the second floor.
>"Will you keep it down?!" he bellowed.
>"Sorry,Perce," said Bill, grinning. "How're the caudron bottoms 
coming on?"
>"Very  badly," said Percy peevishly,and he slammed the window shut. 
>Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the 
grass, end to end, and then, with a a flick of his wand, Bill 
reattached  the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowehere." - 
> GoF, p.60, paperback.

Betsy:
I left the quote in because I don't see Bill or Charlie doing any 
malicious teasing here.  Bill poked a bit of gentle fun, in that he 
smiled while asking Percy about his work, but he didn't actively 
denigrate Percy or his paper.  If the twins had behaved a bit more 
like Bill and Charlie, smiling at Percy's behavior, but not 
constantly attacking him, I think I'd be less likely to think the 
twins disliked their brother even before he moved out.

Betsy