[HPforGrownups] Hiding from Voldmort / Moral Relativism (was:Re: witches of the world...

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 160984

> Carol responds:
> First, the problem with a thread like this one is that it's primarily
> a matter of a reader's emotional response to a character. All the
> arguments in the world can't persuade a reader to feel sympathy for a
> character he considers unsympathetic. Unless I'm very much mistaken,
> you're not going to make Charles feel sorry for Narcissa, and he's not
> going to persuade you to like Molly.

Magpie:
Yes, it seems like Betsy's point from the outside is less about objectively 
comparing the two women morally and more just saying she enjoys one 
character more than the other because Molly bugs her and she enjoyed 
Narcissa's scenes in HBP.

As total characters I don't think there's any doubt that Molly has far more 
in her good column, including good for others and fighting for good, than 
Narcissa does.  (Though if one actually enters into the morality of those 
who believe the bad side they're possibly more the same--I suspect that's 
closer to moral relativism, but if ridding the earth of Muggles is a noble 
cause on one side, Narcissa may be far more like Molly than she is if we 
stick with our own views.)  But as characters it's easy for me to understand 
preferring Narcissa, the mysterious mother who appears once with drowning 
imagery and demands a wildly dangerous and deadly boon from an equally 
dangerous and dark figure, to Molly the loud, plump housewife who's 
sometimes ignorant and is always cooking.

That's part of the fun of fiction, in a way.  You can indulge in feelings 
that aren't really correct because it's fiction, whether it's enjoying the 
good guys kick bad guy arse beyond what might be strictly legal or 
restrained, or enjoying watching the bad guys fight to be bad.

-m