HBP & To Kill A Mockingbird

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 160101

Katherine:
> The scene from Bob Ogden's memory--where we first see The Gaunts-- 
> struck me as being very similar to To Kill A Mockingbird.
> It's as though Merope Gaunt is Mayella Ewell and Mr. Gaunt is Tom
> Ewell. I wonder if JKR did that on purpose?

Jen: Good catch on the comparison. I remember that Mayella tried to 
keep herself clean and made things a little nicer around the house 
when possible. Both were lonely, both offered a drink to a man they 
were interested in (with vastly different contents!), and ultimately 
both were responsible for painful circumstances due to their own 
deception. There are quite a few similarities. 

Merope was less of a fighter than Mayella. She was deceitful like 
Mayella, but...it bothered me less? Maybe because the context was 
the magical world and not the real one. And she came across as very 
naive about the world to me, thinking a love potion was romantic 
rather than an act of taking a person's will away.

As to whether JKR intended it, that would be a good interview 
question one day. She's obviously very well read and the parallels 
are striking when you consider them. If she did tell a similar 
story, then she's equating love potions with false accusations--both 
steal another person's freedom. 

Jen R.