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Females in Harry Potter IV
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From: Maia <maia>
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 14:24:06 -0700
Well, I can't speak for Monica, but speaking as someone who knows Monica a little, I would be surprised to see her bash at-home moms. Nor, reading her message, do I think that was her point.
For the last two years, I have been home with my toddler daughter, which has been a radical life shift for me. And if I were to do nothing but cook and clean, I'd be mighty concerned for me too -- we all need activities outside of our "jobs," be our jobs housemothering or homemaking, teaching or casting wayward spells. I didn't read book four
(!), but I agree that in the first three Potter books, Mrs. Weasley seems pretty stereotyped -- in fact, I'd say that she is presented in the way that many kids perceive their at-home parents, as powers in the home and regarding home issues (including children), but as with little relevance or interaction to/with the outside world. (Our media does nothing to negate this impression.)
Myself, I like McGonagall (books 1-3) because Rowling has let us see a little of her adult personality (e.g. the table conversation overheard when Harry sneaks out without permission), because she seems more like a person and less like a type. I'd say the same for Lupin; he seems richer, and less characterized. I'd even go so far as to say that McGonagall, Lupin and Sirrus are "sexy" characters - they seem like real people, with whom you could engage in relationships, have intimate dinners & long conversations -grown ups with interesting lives.
As a mother myself, I hate to see a dichotomy presented between "adults" (e.g. exciting, stimulating, adventurous, sexy) and "parents" (e.g child-driven, placid, and thoroughly out of touch with their own energies) -- and I'd say that in books 1-3, Rowling reinforces that dichotomy.
But who knows, maybe McGonagall will get pregnant in five, or Mrs. Weasley will demonstrate her devastating intellect along with her protective affections?
Maia
-maia at littlefolktales.org www.littlefolktales.org the Spirited Review: www.littlefolktales.org/reviews
To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish: these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. - CS Lewis
To be obsessed with an appearance of maturity, to reject the child and the adolescent in all their passion and compassion, these things mark an individual who has rejected his or her own soul and root. - Maia
Received on Sun 17 Sep 2000 04:24:06 PM CDT
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 14:24:06 -0700
Well, I can't speak for Monica, but speaking as someone who knows Monica a little, I would be surprised to see her bash at-home moms. Nor, reading her message, do I think that was her point.
For the last two years, I have been home with my toddler daughter, which has been a radical life shift for me. And if I were to do nothing but cook and clean, I'd be mighty concerned for me too -- we all need activities outside of our "jobs," be our jobs housemothering or homemaking, teaching or casting wayward spells. I didn't read book four
(!), but I agree that in the first three Potter books, Mrs. Weasley seems pretty stereotyped -- in fact, I'd say that she is presented in the way that many kids perceive their at-home parents, as powers in the home and regarding home issues (including children), but as with little relevance or interaction to/with the outside world. (Our media does nothing to negate this impression.)
Myself, I like McGonagall (books 1-3) because Rowling has let us see a little of her adult personality (e.g. the table conversation overheard when Harry sneaks out without permission), because she seems more like a person and less like a type. I'd say the same for Lupin; he seems richer, and less characterized. I'd even go so far as to say that McGonagall, Lupin and Sirrus are "sexy" characters - they seem like real people, with whom you could engage in relationships, have intimate dinners & long conversations -grown ups with interesting lives.
As a mother myself, I hate to see a dichotomy presented between "adults" (e.g. exciting, stimulating, adventurous, sexy) and "parents" (e.g child-driven, placid, and thoroughly out of touch with their own energies) -- and I'd say that in books 1-3, Rowling reinforces that dichotomy.
But who knows, maybe McGonagall will get pregnant in five, or Mrs. Weasley will demonstrate her devastating intellect along with her protective affections?
Maia
-maia at littlefolktales.org www.littlefolktales.org the Spirited Review: www.littlefolktales.org/reviews
To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish: these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. - CS Lewis
To be obsessed with an appearance of maturity, to reject the child and the adolescent in all their passion and compassion, these things mark an individual who has rejected his or her own soul and root. - Maia
Received on Sun 17 Sep 2000 04:24:06 PM CDT
