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Mrs. Weasley
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 09:20:05 +0100
Mrs. Weasley fascinates me. How long, Big Grandma, till someone writes a dissertation on her alone? "A Feminist Deconstruction of Mrs. Weasley and the Home in the Harry Potter Books through a New Criticism Lens." (And thanks, Maia, for clarifying the point I was trying to make about her stereotypical persona.)
Ron?s mom seems to be the perfect mother. The one kids want even (or especially) if they don't have it. Someone else wrote here or somewhere else that kids want to think that all their mothers do all day long is think about them. I teach fourth grade and I've watched kids make their mothers (often but not always those who work) feel guilty as hell that they might actually think about something else besides them now and then. So I?m sure for child readers Mrs. Weasley is immensely satisfying.
Someone else pointed out to me that Mrs. Weasley is especially important to Harry. She is the mother he never really knew. But think about this. Lily Potter was clearly doing something besides caring for Harry. Something that got her killed. And the one other mother in the books so far is Mrs. Dursley. What an interesting maternal triangle: Mrs. Weasley as the wonderful "always there for you" mother, Mrs. Dursley as the monster "always there for you" mother, and Lily Potter as the wonderful, but "can?t always be there for you because I'm out fighting evil" mother.
The more I think about Mrs. Weasley and the way she has been presented thus far, the more I think Rowling has more in mind for her than packing school trunks and shooing children out of her kitchen.
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sun 17 Sep 2000 03:20:05 AM CDT
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 09:20:05 +0100
Mrs. Weasley fascinates me. How long, Big Grandma, till someone writes a dissertation on her alone? "A Feminist Deconstruction of Mrs. Weasley and the Home in the Harry Potter Books through a New Criticism Lens." (And thanks, Maia, for clarifying the point I was trying to make about her stereotypical persona.)
Ron?s mom seems to be the perfect mother. The one kids want even (or especially) if they don't have it. Someone else wrote here or somewhere else that kids want to think that all their mothers do all day long is think about them. I teach fourth grade and I've watched kids make their mothers (often but not always those who work) feel guilty as hell that they might actually think about something else besides them now and then. So I?m sure for child readers Mrs. Weasley is immensely satisfying.
Someone else pointed out to me that Mrs. Weasley is especially important to Harry. She is the mother he never really knew. But think about this. Lily Potter was clearly doing something besides caring for Harry. Something that got her killed. And the one other mother in the books so far is Mrs. Dursley. What an interesting maternal triangle: Mrs. Weasley as the wonderful "always there for you" mother, Mrs. Dursley as the monster "always there for you" mother, and Lily Potter as the wonderful, but "can?t always be there for you because I'm out fighting evil" mother.
The more I think about Mrs. Weasley and the way she has been presented thus far, the more I think Rowling has more in mind for her than packing school trunks and shooing children out of her kitchen.
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sun 17 Sep 2000 03:20:05 AM CDT
