Weasley Types (was Molly and Arthur )

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 125351


>>Lupinlore:
>It seems to me that Arthur and Molly have basically worked out an 
arrangement suitable to their different personalities (and that, 
after all, is the foundation of any stable relationship).<
<snip of fascinating personality break-down>

>>Betsy:
<snip> 
>But, though I'm not sure we're going to see a massive Weasley 
family explosion in the next few books, there is definitely some 
problems in the Weasley household.<

>>Lupinlore: 
>Problems, yes, but I think they are being exaggerated.  Arthur does 
allow Molly to run the house.  Why not?  She's good at it and likes 
to do it.  It's a classic INFP approach.  But we have little 
evidence that the kids don't respect Arthur, which would be the case 
if he were not an important presence and influence.<
<snip>

Betsy:
I really liked this post, Lupinlore.  It explained a great deal 
about how the Weasley household works.  I've taken a bit to respond, 
because you gave me some food for thought, and I wanted to think 
through my views. For the most part, I agree with your assesments, 
BUT (which you just knew was coming <g>) I have some disagreements.  

For one, I'm not sure that Arthur is all that respected by his 
children.  *Harry* definitely respects Arthur, and the Weasley 
children definitely *love* Arthur.  But with the children there's 
also this sense that their father is rather silly, with his Muggle 
obsessions, and they don't seem to take Arthur, himself, seriously.  
(I'm talking about the younger set here - I get the sense that Bill 
respects his Dad, and I'm guessing Charlie does also.)

In GoF, after the ton-tongue toffee incident, Arthur is furious, 
genuinely outraged, and he tries to get his disapproval and anger 
across to the twins, and they... ignore him.  They interrupt, they 
laugh, they talk back.  And then in swoops Molly to take over 
(rather bossily) from Arthur, and the whole incident changes from, 
it's wrong to pick on Muggles (which was Arthur's point) to the 
twins shouldn't be working on their joke shop stuff (which was 
Molly's).  GoF (scholastic hardback pp. 52-55)

Molly treats Arthur like he's one of her children, so the children 
treat him the same way.  It is no surprise that Percy has no respect 
for what Arthur does at the Ministry nor for what Arthur is trying 
to accomplish there.  After all, Arthur's views get no respect at 
home, why should Percy respect him at the office?  And it all 
culminates in Percy walking out.  The Weasleys' are shocked.  The 
readers shouldn't be.

I also have issue with Molly being "good at" running the household.  
She is in the "everyone is clean and fed" department, but her 
children are lacking.  Fred and George are bullies.  Full stop.  I 
like them, because they're funny and they're on Harry's side, but 
I'm a little uncomfortable with liking them.  They are intensely 
cruel to those they don't like, to a level beyond anything Draco or 
even Dudley (the books' other bullies) achieve.  And their treatment 
of Percy gets worse and worse as the books go on.

I think many of Ron's issues arise from his treatment at home (we 
know his spider phobia was a lovely gift from the twins).  He hates 
the color maroon.  It's one of the first things we learn about him, 
and yet everything Molly gets for Ron is maroon.  In fact, when 
we're first introduced to Ron, he's clutching sandwiches his mother 
made for him, and they're the kind he hates.  Ron's own sense of 
being second-best is something he was taught at home, and throughout 
the books I've only seen it reinforced by his mother. (Until, of 
course, he becomes Prefect, which fits into Molly's definition of 
a "good son".)

And then there's Ginny.  Her personality only emerged in OotP, so 
she's a bit harder to judge, but one thing we learn rather quickly 
is that she's an accomplished liar, a very good sneak, and very good 
with hexes.  And we learn that she aquired these skills because she 
felt she needed them to survive the Weasley household.

Now, granted, these are rather small problems in the grand scheme of 
things.  None of the kids look like they're on the verge of becoming 
drug addicts or criminals, but there's still something not quite 
right about the Weasley household.

I know for a while there was a huge suspicion that there was a dead 
Weasley child somewhere (I think that suspicion was firmly squashed 
by JKR).  Part of the suspicion was based on the gap between Charlie 
and Percy, and the fact that Percy doesn't have a sibling 
equivilent.  But I think another part of the suspicion was based on 
a certain black cloud hanging over the Burrow, the sense that 
somewhere at sometime, something went horribly wrong.  Wrong enough 
for Arthur to retreat to his shed, and wrong enough for Molly to 
turn into a rather inflexible household tyrant.
 
>>Lupinlore:
>As to Percy, I think his main problem is that he is a sensing 
thinker (I would label him an ISTJ) in a house of intuitive feelers. 
<snip>
>His whole approach to the world is fundamentally different from 
everybody else in the house.  That is a recipe for problems. 
<snip>
>His is not an enviable position.  It is, however, not an uncommon 
one, and I think the Weasleys handle it about as well as a family of 
their kind could be expected to.<

Betsy:
Do they?  Percy is gone.  He has disowned himself from his family, 
going even so far as to refuse a Christmas visit from his mother.  
If nothing changes, Percy could very well have a family and a life 
of his own which the other Weasleys will not be a part of.  Arthur 
and Molly could well have grandchildren they will never be allowed 
to meet.  To my mind, this is an example of out and out failure.

And, honestly, I don't really blame him for leaving.  Beyond the 
whole, "you got your job so they could use you to spy on me," 
argument, the twins were horrible to him.  And I don't recall either 
parent doing anything to protect Percy from them.  Instead, Molly 
actively fueled the twins resentment of their brother, using Percy 
as an instrument to bludgeon them with.  Molly made it very clear 
that there was a war going on and Percy was on her side, and the 
twins were on the other.  Who were the twins going to attack?  Their 
mother, or the weak older brother who was already a family outsider?

It will be interesting to see how things develop.  Because, I'm 
honestly not sure where JKR comes down on the Weasley family.  Does 
she think of them as a perfect example of a warm and loving family, 
with their little foibles sure, but generally all right?  Or has she 
put in slowly emerging fault lines to forshadow a serious breach to 
the family structure?  We won't know until the end, of course.  But 
it's interesting to me that there are such disparate views on Molly 
and the Weasley family in general.  At the very least, JKR has made 
these characters *interesting*, even the "good" guys.  You can't ask 
for much more than that. :)

Betsy