muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[felix_quinn]

No: HPFGUIDX 155377

> Marion Ros:
> These sadistic little twerps have a *history* of feeding younger
> kids harmful sweets, and it has nothing to do with justice,
> whatsoever.  They've also have a history of tormenting younger
>children and animals.

I think this is not due to a sadistic nature, but more of a result
of
their upbringing. By this I don't mean that Mr and Mrs Weasly
raised
them wrong or instilled some intrinsic instinct in them to drive
them
to what can be viewed by some as sadistic behaviour, but rather the
twin factor.

Twins are often linked mentally and emotionally in a way so unlike
anything other people experience, that we tend to overlook the
value
and intensity of this bond. The Weasly twins, having grown up in a
large family where, although there was much love, that love was
spread quite far- and attention more so. We've seen what this has
done to the other siblings- Ron's self esteem, being the youngest
brother, has made him feel like an outcast. He feels like
everything
worth doing (within his family) has already been done, and even if
it
is done again it's still just going to be a repeated event. Percy
has
taken it upon himself to be the notable brother, covering his
feelings of inadequacy by trying to be the best and trying to
outshine his brothers at every corner possible. Ginny, being not
only
the youngest but also the only girl, was for a long time a
painfully
shy girl, being severely outnumbered gender-wise. Even when she
started to come out of her shell, she still retains a certain
amount
of resentment of her position in the family- she takes on the role
of
the 'strong' one, possibly even noting her brothers' desperations
to
stand out, and deciding that SHE would be the one to stand out, and
she would not be desperate in doing so. She is conciously trying to
remain 'cool' on the outside. Even Bill and Charlie, although we
don't know as much about them, both have personalities so radically
different from the rest of their siblings, each fulfilling a role
that is unlike any other sibling in order to stand out. We find
that
each and every one of the Weasly kids is as different as night and
day, and most probably with psychological intent.

The twins are different, though. Twins have so often been painted
as
indentical both in appearance and in personality in fiction, and
many
authors strive to break that mold. It can almost be cliche if not
done properly (to make twins so similar) and so it is avoided so
pointedly that JKR's decision to go this route is quite remarkable.
I
think that this stems from the big family, and the rest of the
siblings being so intent on their own private mission to be
special.
Being a twin already puts them at a disatvantage in _that_ race,
because there's two of you to try to be special. Instead of
resenting
that fact, they take advantage of it, finding an ally in each other
in the midst of such a chaotic family. They grow up understanding
each other so implicitly- so aware of each other's whims and
fancies-
that they forget that the rest of the world is outside of their
special bond. Just because they understand each other so well,
doesn't mean that everyone else understands them equally as well,
and
I think that this is important. Because all they've ever known is
that to each other, all motives are quite clear and they both find
it
quite obvious that they mean no harm- so everyone else must
automatically know this too. They seem to believe, however
subconciously, that no matter how bad they bugger up, (the original
intent of any 'adventure' being attention seeking, I believe)
the 'victims' and authority figures will undoubtedly know that they
did not mean it in a vindictive way, and that all will be forgiven.
Most of the time, they _do_ end up getting away with their pranks,
because the people who would punish them are quite busily occupied
with many, MANY other things, and somehow their actions have always
been fixable or haven't led to any catastphic consequences. This
has
just strengthened their belief that everyone else understands their
innocent intent, and has spurred the behaviour on.

This in no way means that their actions were excusable, or that the
consequences of their pranks could have gone terribly awry and the
intent lost. It just means that they don't do what they do out of
deliberate maliciousness or even a subconcious vindictiveness. It's
just them assuming that any prank without harmful intent cannot
possibly lead to bad things, and cannot possibly be misunderstood.


 Felix