In Defense of Molly Weasley (Long)

[guzuguzu]

No: HPFGUIDX 175045

I'm going to make one more attempt to explain argument: My opinion is
that the Molly-Bella duel scene was not well-written as it did not
ring true in the context of the books, and was written like a show
down in an action movie.

In short: The scene is a retread of the Sirius-Bella duel scene in
OotP-- Harry even has a deja vu moment of such in the text.  In that
duel, Sirius is arrogant, reckless and has nothing to lose, and Bella
gets a lucky shot in to kill him because Sirius is too busy laughing
at Bella. Molly, however, is not arrogant, not reckless, has much to
lose, and yet we get the exact same scene-- Molly gets a lucky shot in
while Bella is laughing at her. And the crowd goes wild. And no one
seemed to even consider the possibility that she wouldn't be
victorious. Go, go Gryffindor! ;-)  The scene left me hollow and I
expected better from Molly and from Rowling. 

I see that my big mistake in my original argument was using the word
"housewife." Being a former full-time housewife, I didn't realize it
was a loaded word though it apparently it is on this group. However,
if you replace that word with "heart surgeon" I still stand by my
exact statement: I would not assume that a heart surgeon has the same
fighting skills and experience as a professional soldier. They very
well might, but I would not logically assume it to be true.  

Lily was a mother who died protecting her child from DEs. The Albanian
peasant woman was a mother who died protecting her children from DEs.
Tonks was a mother who died protecting her child from DEs (in theory--
he wasn't there). There is nothing wrong with that. I am still at a
loss to understand why it is offensive to even discuss the possibility
and relative probability that Molly might have been in the above group
instead of the surviving group. However, I apologize for ever
questioning Molly's awesomeness out loud. Too bad for me, as I
mentioned in another post, she is one of my favorite characters in the
series and I enjoyed discussing her. 

I believe this might be my last post on the subject, as I am beginning
to feel like I not only have a different set of books than most people
here, but I am also from a different planet. Such is life-- we all
bring our own experiences to the table when we read. However, we are
all fans who care enough about the books to post our thoughts. 

guzu, who, if a psycho killer busted down her front door, would grab
her kid, lock herself in the bedroom and call the police.