Working mothers, was Did the Slytherins come back

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 181845

Montavilla47:
> But, I dunno.  I still think that McGonagall is just sort of shunted
> aside in the story, when the readers were all ready to embrace her
> as Dumbledore's replacement.  Trelawney is depicted as a fool,
> and Umbridge and Bellatrix are hateful hags.

Jen:  I was thinking about women without children who were 
consequential, since that was the criteria, not how they were 
characterized.  Plenty of readers dismiss Molly and Lily - the two 
characters most closely aligned with the mom role imo - as unlikable 
or even downright hated.  I don't believe that changes their 
importance to the story. 

> Montavilla47:
> I gotta say, Jen, that I almost put in an earlier post that it's
> *men* who should be offended at gender treatment in the series,
> because all of them are seriously wanting in some way.

Jen: Personally I think it harkens back to society judging men by 
their actions and women by intangibles, like whether they are likable 
or not.  (This is on my mind at the moment from reading how poll 
results are characterizing the different candidates in the 
presidential race in the US.)  I thought that JKR did a good job of 
*not* going there, making the actions of her women matter & have 
consequence to the story regardless of where they stood on the 
working/child-bearing/likability continuum.  From Lily's sacrifice, 
to Petunia taking Harry in, to all of Hermione's saving-the-day 
moments, to McGonagall sticking it out at Hogwarts during that last 
year - those actions made a difference for the story and for Harry's 
journey.  They play an equally important role to the actions of 
Dumbledore & Snape for instance, and in Lily's case, one decision 
drives the whole shebang.  


Montavilla47: 
> And yeah, Lupin unthwarted in love is even worse than Tonks when
> she's depressed.  So go figure. :)
> 
> A slight correction.  It's not explicit, but I always thought that 
Cormac became lecherous and *then* Hermione rebuffed him.
>

Jen: Right, that's right.  I re-read and it goes even further back:  
Hermione only takes McLaggen to the party to make Ron jealous.  
Perhaps I was hasty calling him lecherous as he seemed to think he 
was on a legitimate date and could kiss his date under the 
mistletoe.  How completely ghastly of him. ;)