Except for poor Ron, and there's something weird about the way his mother ignores and neglects him, IMHO. That actually always bothered me.
Oh! *jumping in because this was something I spent a lot of time thinking about back in the day*
My theory was that Molly and Arthur really were having serious marital problems. For a long time. (I figured completely divergent life-goals that began (or surfaced) when Arthur started his job in Muggle-relations.) Not wanting, or maybe not knowing how, to deal with those problems, Arthur basically left the family (hiding out in the shed) and Molly took her frustrations out on her family. Which is why I saw such a massive schism between the children.
It's also a reason I saw Ron and Percy as having a connection, or being on the same "side". I saw Molly as setting up Percy as a "good" version of Arthur: The guy who listens to what she says, goes after and achieves the goals she approves of, and assists in parenting the children. Ron is set up as the "bad" version of Arthur, and punished for it: Forced to make do with little because the family can't afford it (because you aren't working hard enough), constantly reminded the family is more important than him (because you need to think of the family needs for a change).
I never got the sense Molly was doing this all consciously, I should add. But it was behavior I pretty much saw all the way through HBP. (Not in DH. But... all character behavior ceased being consistent in DH, I think.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-02-27 07:25 am (UTC)Oh! *jumping in because this was something I spent a lot of time thinking about back in the day*
My theory was that Molly and Arthur really were having serious marital problems. For a long time. (I figured completely divergent life-goals that began (or surfaced) when Arthur started his job in Muggle-relations.) Not wanting, or maybe not knowing how, to deal with those problems, Arthur basically left the family (hiding out in the shed) and Molly took her frustrations out on her family. Which is why I saw such a massive schism between the children.
It's also a reason I saw Ron and Percy as having a connection, or being on the same "side". I saw Molly as setting up Percy as a "good" version of Arthur: The guy who listens to what she says, goes after and achieves the goals she approves of, and assists in parenting the children. Ron is set up as the "bad" version of Arthur, and punished for it: Forced to make do with little because the family can't afford it (because you aren't working hard enough), constantly reminded the family is more important than him (because you need to think of the family needs for a change).
I never got the sense Molly was doing this all consciously, I should add. But it was behavior I pretty much saw all the way through HBP. (Not in DH. But... all character behavior ceased being consistent in DH, I think.)