Emotional readings (was:Hiding from Voldmort / Moral Relativism...

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 160987

> >>Carol:
> > 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.
> > <snip>
 
> >>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.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Exactly.  I've even tried to be entirely fair and point out that 
Molly hasn't had a chance to star in a dramatic and active scene 
like Narcissa has.  And it is only to Narcissa's benefit that she's 
(as Magpie termed it) the "mysterious mother" without any annoying 
idiosyncrasies out there on display.  It's the same thing Lily 
benefits from in many ways.  We don't know much about these women, 
but we do know they're both willing to go the distance to protect 
their children.  And they both get great dramatic scenes to prove 
that in.

Molly has the disadvantage that comes from being too available and 
too real.  And all of her idiosyncrasies are of the type to most get 
under my skin.  

I really do see her as playing her children against each other. The 
twins being her number one weapon of choice.  I see Ron as her 
whipping boy -- stand in for a husband who's severely disappointed 
her.  I think she's madly in love with Arthur but frightened that 
he's not so much in love with her anymore.  So she flits back and 
forth between worshipping him and trying to force him into noticing 
her and taking his proper role in the family.  I think Molly hates 
being so poor and that's why she advertises the fact and makes sure 
her children know that they're poor.  (Though part of that might 
just be about Arthur's job -- which we know she hates.)

I'm honestly not sure how much of this JKR meant to put in.  I do 
think the character of Molly is influenced by Mrs. Bennet from Pride 
and Prejudice.  But I'm not sure JKR pictured her grating quite as 
much as she does for some readers (like me <g>).

But again, this is an emotional response.  As Carol said, I'm not 
thinking that I'm going to change any minds here.  And, as my 
reaction to Molly is pretty visceral I doubt anyone is going to 
convince me that she's a wonderful example of motherhood and 
goodness.

However, I do recognize that Molly isn't evil.  That's about as good 
as I can get with her. <g>

Betsy Hp