Tom Riddle Sr. (Was: Why Tom left Merope)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 147050

> Carol again:
> His indignation afterwards is not because he was forced to have sex
> against his will but because he was tricked--robbed, essentially, 
of
> his chance for a marriage with the beautiful Cecilia, who is from 
the
> right social class and in all respects a suitable bride for the 
heir
> of the local gentry (wrong word; I can't think of the proper 
British
> term). It's rather as if young Lucius Malfoy had been tricked into
> marrying Eileen Prince, or someone even uglier (his generation's
> Millicent Bulstrode, maybe, only she'd have to be a "mudblood" to 
make
> her sufficiently repulsive to him, and had no way out except to 
return
> to his parents). 

Magpie:

I still think this is unfair to Tom Sr.  It seems like a classic 
case of putting the victim on trial.  It's nobody's business who Tom 
wants to marry, and who says the only good thing about Celia was 
that she was the correct class?  He's a Muggle with a right to lead 
his own life and marry whomever he wants.  A random witch doses him 
with a love potion and forces him, through mind control, to throw 
over the person he was with by choice and have sex with her and 
marry her.  I don't see how the date rape analogy isn't accurate.

JKR is turning the usual situation on its head.  If they were 
Muggles we'd assume Tom had seduced poor hapless Merope and left 
her.  But since she's the witch he's the victim in the situation.  

Carol: 
Given Merope's despair and
> helplessness and lack of resources, she could easily end up dead by
> the side of the road before the child is even born.

Magpie:
There's no reason Tom had to see it that way--he was in despair and 
helpless.  Why would he see the person who kept him a slave for a 
year as such?  Why assume he was thinking clearly himself?  He never 
had much of a life again either.  Why assume Merope was the 
traumatized one?  It's like that old SNL sketch with the rape 
hotline for men--because sometimes after a man commits a rape he's 
upset and needs someone to talk to!

Carol:
> 
> Why is it acceptable for Tom Sr. to refuse to acknowledge an 
innocent
> child just because its mother deceived him? If a *woman* is the 
victim
> of a brutal rape involving force rather than a sedative that alters
> her mental state, she's still expected to find someone to care for 
the
> child, not abandon it.

Magpie:
The child did have care a woman in that situation would be expected 
to give.  Tom leaves the child with a living mother (who can do 
magic).  Tom Jr. later goes to an orphanage whose job it is to care 
for children in just that sort of situation.  Both of those things 
would be considered finding someone to care for the child.

I agree it's certainly not fair to Tom Jr., the innocent, but plenty 
of people would find it impossible to love a child in that 
situation.  If Tom conceived the child under a love spell he'd have 
even more reason to feel disconnected to it.  

Carol:
Yes, she
> tricked him. But does that justify his leaving a half-mad, 
desperate,
> uneducated woman, with no prospects of a job or another marriage, 
to
> fend for herself and her unborn child? 

Magpie:

Yes, it does justify his leaving *her* since he never wanted to be 
with her to begin with. She can do MAGIC.  She's *not* helpless 
except when she gives up on herself.  Would a good man care for the 
*child* regardless?  And perhaps offer some care to the mother 
because she is the child's mother?  Yes, he probably would.  That 
would be the correct thing to do.  But I can't understand why a 
Muggle held captive by a witch who manipulated his life is now 
expected to find her a job or a good husband.  I think a natural 
response would be to have Merope thrown in jail, since she committed 
a crime.  I do think a good person would provide for the child 
involved, but people have rejected children for a lot less.  Tom Sr. 
seems to be being held up to a pretty high standard here, while 
Merope's actual crime is trivialized because she was lonely and Tom 
Sr. was rich and arrogant.  

-m