I've ranted before about disliking Molly Weasley...

[conuly]

Here's another thing: What is her obsession with Ron and maroon? Ron's sweater is always maroon. Ron's pyjamas (britspelling!) are maroon. When she buys dress robes for him, they're maroon (with lace, no less!) I find it hard to believe that she honestly couldn't've found another color for his robes.

Ron hates maroon. I mean, he'd probably complain no matter what, but when he consistently tells everyone that he hates maroon, why does his mother go out of her way to keep getting and making him stuff in that color? At the very least, it's thoughtless, or hopelessly stubborn - she's decided that Ron = maroon, and he can just sit there and fume. At the worst, it's deliberately cruel, emphasising that his feelings on his own damn clothes don't matter.

And those dress robes. Honestly, lace? The woman is a homemaker in the most complimentary sense of the word. She knits several sweaters a year. She cleans. She degnomes. She cooks wonderfully. And you're telling me that with all that, and magic too, she can't even do a minor alteration on a (maroon!) robe for her youngest son, such as removing the lace? This is something basic.

And, to add insult to injury, while Ron is getting his ugly-ass robes, Harry's getting his dark green, respectable robes. "To match your eyes, dear". Sure, it was bought with Harry's money (at least we all assume it was - does she have authorization for his account?), but Ron's the one who has to hear his mom fawning over some kid who's not even part of the family, while he gets snapped at for being upset that his robe is really, really, ugly. And maroon.

Ron, dear, it's not because you're poor. I don't believe you're that poor. Why? Well, because when you get to be a prefect, somehow the money comes through for a broom. Not a good broom, but a broom nonetheless - brooms are expensive, even if they're not, right? And when Percy became prefect, he got an owl. An owl is a significant investment when you add in the cost of owl treats and a cage and occasional health care and all. And when your family won the jackpot, they didn't spend the money on anything remotely practical, like adding more space to the house, or socking some of it away just in case. The only concession they made in that part was buying you a new wand to replace that one that was completely ruined last year. No, they splurged it all on a trip to Egypt. I'm not begruding the trip to Egypt, I'm just wondering how poor they are that they can spend extra money on expensive splurges instead of useful things. Given that they're on one income (and all the kids at school), I can't help but wonder if maybe certain parties in that family prefer poverty, for whatever reason.

So Ron, please, rest assured, it's not because you're poor. It's because your mom favors Harry over you. Sorry, ducky.

Comments

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

::giggles:: That is most excellent.

[conuly]

Aw, thanks.

[lisaofdoom.livejournal.com]

Hee. I'd never thought about the maroon stuff before. My bet would have been that, way back when, she had just assigned each kid a color and she'll stick with that until the day she dies. My mum does the same sort of thing with my socks--my socks all have a little purple piece of thread sewn in the end of them, so she knew they were mine when she did the laundry.

I assumed the Weasleys won the trip to Egypt? Or Bill paid for it? *shrugs*

The dress robe, however, is inexcusable. It's probably what his father wore to the Yule Ball (and was in style then) so his mum just sent it to him without a thought. BAD MOVE, MRS. WEASLEY.

[aberrantangels]

I assumed the Weasleys won the trip to Egypt? Or Bill paid for it? *shrugs*

They won 500 Galleons in the Daily Prophet prize draw and decided to spend it going to visit Bill on a field assignment.

[snale.livejournal.com]

My mother (until last year, when I finally made fun of her to her face about it and probably hurt her feelings because I am a BAD DAUGHTER) was still buying me olive green clothing for Christmas gifts.
I liked olive green for about a month when I was 17, and she hadn't been able to get it out of her head that Sharon=olive green.
I don't think this makes her a bad mother, just easily distracted, or possibly just bad at remembering certain things.

[conuly]

If it were just that, I wouldn't notice. I'm sure that JKR really, truly just put all that maroon into her books because she thinks it's funny. But piled up on top of a whole list of other things about Molly that I really don't like, it stands out a lot.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

When Brad and James were little and had to have otherwise identical things like lunch boxes and toothbrushes, I bought blue for Brad and green for James. Otherwise arguments and confusion ensued.

Perhaps it is just his colour. Perhaps he liked maroon when he was little.As for the lace-- he could have removed it himself.

Ron has always had a warm family. Harry has had crap until now. Perhaps she wants to compensate.
Maybe it's that Harry has noone to do this stuff for him and he really doesn't know his way around the wizarding world like Ron does. Maybe his Mum is a bit sick of Ron's endless whining so has got so she doesn't care any more. It's a bit hard to judge family dynamics from the outside. My mother constantly assumes that I favour James when Brad can tell anyone that I really don't.

As for the expenditures, not everyone is logical. ;-)

Maybe I'm totally wrong. *shrugs*

[conuly]

As for the lace-- he could have removed it himself.

He tried. He really sucked at it. She bought this, without him along, the least she could've done is pre-emptively removed the most offensive part of it.

[maelorin]

harry may have asked he to get a formal robe for him - after all, what does he know about formal robes ... and molly chose on ethat she though suited him.

ditto for marron and ron.



all this assumes that herself can write good, and hasn't embarked on an enterprise that is more complex than might be sensibly handled the way she has chosen. it's heavy going to handle so many characters and pull it off well.

the family may be based on one she knows/knew ...

[maelorin]

that'd be "maroon and ron"

[conuly]

No, Harry and Ron didn't know that they needed formal robes until after Molly had bought them for them.

[conuly]

all this assumes that herself can write well

*eyeroll*

I know. As I just said up above, I'm sure that the real reason behind all this maroon is that, really, JKR thinks it's just funny. (She's got a bit of a juvenile sense of humor, if the books are much of an indication, but then, so do I, so it's not a fair complaint for me to make.) It's got nothing to do with Molly being somebody I don't like, or not caring about her kids, or anything like that, it's just JKR making a joke and not thinking through the implications, or realizing that there's millions of people who spend their time working out the implications for her.

[ex-chaos-by-699.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point of view. There may be something to it. I could see Molly favoring Harry because he only has the Dursleys, and she feels sorry for him.

I don't really dislike Molly though overall. The woman has seven kids and no career. Her life sucks. Of course she has issues. I'm not saying she's a perfect mother, but I always thought she cared and that she tried.

[conuly]

1. Caring and trying isn't good enough, in my view. You have to care, try, and be reasonably competent. Honestly, Molly's approach to child-rearing has always struck me as mildly abusive. Somebody or other pointed out to me that, out of her children, the first two grew up and promptly got jobs out of the country. The third, the suck-up, ended up estranged from the family. The next two, the twins, left school early, got jobs that their mother wouldn't approve of, and then, despite the existence of apparition, promptly became too busy to come home for dinner.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to spot a pattern here.

2. Yeah, her life, from our view, sucks. Given that she, like Ron, seems to be sensitive about her lack of money, it possibly sucks from her view as well. But why doesn't she have a career, again? She doesn't have to stay home to watch the kids anymore. There doesn't appear to be any shortage of jobs in the wizarding world (this is speculation). She could, at the very least, make a mildly profitable business selling handcrafts, like all those infernally maroon sweaters.... I wonder if maybe, just maybe, she's one of those people who really prefers having something to complain about. A lack of money, and having to stay home for her family... well, it's all likely to make her feel cheerfully put-upon.

[wickedchica.livejournal.com]

I wandered over from veronica_mars...

And I wanted to tell you that this post made me smile. I had noticed these things too...and the line about "matching" eyecolor bothered me. It was almost Mrs. Robinson-ish of her.

[conuly]

Aw, thanks :)

Honestly, on the Weasley's, I have a whole list of things that irritate me about their family dynamic.

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

::giggles:: That is most excellent.

[conuly]

Aw, thanks.

[lisaofdoom.livejournal.com]

Hee. I'd never thought about the maroon stuff before. My bet would have been that, way back when, she had just assigned each kid a color and she'll stick with that until the day she dies. My mum does the same sort of thing with my socks--my socks all have a little purple piece of thread sewn in the end of them, so she knew they were mine when she did the laundry.

I assumed the Weasleys won the trip to Egypt? Or Bill paid for it? *shrugs*

The dress robe, however, is inexcusable. It's probably what his father wore to the Yule Ball (and was in style then) so his mum just sent it to him without a thought. BAD MOVE, MRS. WEASLEY.

[aberrantangels]

I assumed the Weasleys won the trip to Egypt? Or Bill paid for it? *shrugs*

They won 500 Galleons in the Daily Prophet prize draw and decided to spend it going to visit Bill on a field assignment.

[snale.livejournal.com]

My mother (until last year, when I finally made fun of her to her face about it and probably hurt her feelings because I am a BAD DAUGHTER) was still buying me olive green clothing for Christmas gifts.
I liked olive green for about a month when I was 17, and she hadn't been able to get it out of her head that Sharon=olive green.
I don't think this makes her a bad mother, just easily distracted, or possibly just bad at remembering certain things.

[conuly]

If it were just that, I wouldn't notice. I'm sure that JKR really, truly just put all that maroon into her books because she thinks it's funny. But piled up on top of a whole list of other things about Molly that I really don't like, it stands out a lot.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

When Brad and James were little and had to have otherwise identical things like lunch boxes and toothbrushes, I bought blue for Brad and green for James. Otherwise arguments and confusion ensued.

Perhaps it is just his colour. Perhaps he liked maroon when he was little.As for the lace-- he could have removed it himself.

Ron has always had a warm family. Harry has had crap until now. Perhaps she wants to compensate.
Maybe it's that Harry has noone to do this stuff for him and he really doesn't know his way around the wizarding world like Ron does. Maybe his Mum is a bit sick of Ron's endless whining so has got so she doesn't care any more. It's a bit hard to judge family dynamics from the outside. My mother constantly assumes that I favour James when Brad can tell anyone that I really don't.

As for the expenditures, not everyone is logical. ;-)

Maybe I'm totally wrong. *shrugs*

[conuly]

As for the lace-- he could have removed it himself.

He tried. He really sucked at it. She bought this, without him along, the least she could've done is pre-emptively removed the most offensive part of it.

[maelorin]

harry may have asked he to get a formal robe for him - after all, what does he know about formal robes ... and molly chose on ethat she though suited him.

ditto for marron and ron.



all this assumes that herself can write good, and hasn't embarked on an enterprise that is more complex than might be sensibly handled the way she has chosen. it's heavy going to handle so many characters and pull it off well.

the family may be based on one she knows/knew ...

[maelorin]

that'd be "maroon and ron"

[ex-chaos-by-699.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point of view. There may be something to it. I could see Molly favoring Harry because he only has the Dursleys, and she feels sorry for him.

I don't really dislike Molly though overall. The woman has seven kids and no career. Her life sucks. Of course she has issues. I'm not saying she's a perfect mother, but I always thought she cared and that she tried.

[conuly]

1. Caring and trying isn't good enough, in my view. You have to care, try, and be reasonably competent. Honestly, Molly's approach to child-rearing has always struck me as mildly abusive. Somebody or other pointed out to me that, out of her children, the first two grew up and promptly got jobs out of the country. The third, the suck-up, ended up estranged from the family. The next two, the twins, left school early, got jobs that their mother wouldn't approve of, and then, despite the existence of apparition, promptly became too busy to come home for dinner.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to spot a pattern here.

2. Yeah, her life, from our view, sucks. Given that she, like Ron, seems to be sensitive about her lack of money, it possibly sucks from her view as well. But why doesn't she have a career, again? She doesn't have to stay home to watch the kids anymore. There doesn't appear to be any shortage of jobs in the wizarding world (this is speculation). She could, at the very least, make a mildly profitable business selling handcrafts, like all those infernally maroon sweaters.... I wonder if maybe, just maybe, she's one of those people who really prefers having something to complain about. A lack of money, and having to stay home for her family... well, it's all likely to make her feel cheerfully put-upon.

[wickedchica.livejournal.com]

I wandered over from veronica_mars...

And I wanted to tell you that this post made me smile. I had noticed these things too...and the line about "matching" eyecolor bothered me. It was almost Mrs. Robinson-ish of her.

[conuly]

Aw, thanks :)

Honestly, on the Weasley's, I have a whole list of things that irritate me about their family dynamic.

[grinsekatze]

Hello, I'm new here. Sorry about any possible mishaps or breaks of protocol, I haven't yet figured out my account.

I believe that Molly favours all of her children over Ron. After all Ginny got new robes for the Yule ball despite the fact that she could only attend if a fourth year or older invited her. That right there is extremely unfair of Molly. I don't believe she is doing this for malicious reasons however. Ron is simply not far up in her priorities list. This is of course awful for Ron, but Mrs. Weasley is no moustache twirling villain. (She is also not a wonderful mother like most of the fandom sees her).

Furthermore, I also don't believe that Molly enjoys being poor for the sake of complaining, she just likes to splurge and plays favourites with expenses.

[conuly]

I'm saying this only because you asked and not because it's a huge faux pas :)

When you're replying to an older entry like this, it's often better to quote or rephrase the context so the person seeing the reply isn't stuck wrong-footed wondering what they said.

With that said, yeah, Ron is definitely the least favorite. Molly may not be consciously malicious, but she's a pretty subpar mother.