Re: The Harry Potter Mothers

rc wrote:
I have been thinking about the Harry Potter mothers. They are a mixed
group of women who personify JKR's theme of love and loss.

Muggleborn Lilly Potter is described as being fun, funny and cheeky.
She was good at potions and charms. She loved her son enough to try
to save him from Voldermort, and by giving up her life, she did.

Lilly's counterpart is Tonks. A pureblood, she too is fun, funny and
apparently fiercely independent. She defied convention to love and
marry not only a man old enough to be her father, but a werewolf and
have a child with him. She loved Remus Lupin enough to leave her baby
with her widowed mother, join the battle for Hogwarts, and to die with
him.

Thin, brunet, middle-class Petunia Dursley wants to be the person the
Joneses keep up with. She has to have everything perfect, her lawn,
her house, and her life. This perfection masks the secret of the
death of her sister Lilly and the fact her nephew is a wizard. She
seems to be completely dominated by her husband, but if her Dudly left
and Vernon stayed, she would go with Dudly. He is the most important
person in her life.

Contrast Petunia with tall, blond, aristocratic, Narcissa Malfoy. As
a pureblood, she accepted Voldermort's ideas of Pureblood superiority
and supported her husband's efforts to return him to power. But, she
is just as protective of her son Draco as Petunia is of Dudly.
Narcissa left Voldermort the day he gave Draco the assignment to kill
Dumbledore. She took her life in her hands twice to protect her son.
The first when she went to Snape for help and the second when she
deliberately lied to Voldermort that Harry was dead. She is a strong
enough woman to guide her husband and son in their relationships with
Voldermort, and she helped them survive to the end.

Mrs. Black is a pureblood and proud of it. Her portrait screams about
mudbloods and blood traitors in her house. In life she must have been
just the same since she blasted names of people she considered
disgracing the name of Black off the family tree, but she is mad.
Kretcher describes his mistress as broken hearted over her son Serious
defection from the family and she went mad with grief over the
disappearance of her favorite child, Regulis. In my opinion, she is a
pitiful creature. All her hopes and dreams for her children came to
nothing.

On the other hand, there is the plump, formidable, wife and mother
Molly Weasley. She is a pureblood, but doesn't think much of it. She
is one tough lady who raised six rowdy boys to be good and productive
men. She rules her family with a loving hand, welcomes their friends
to her home, and doesn't care if her guests are muggleborns, fugitives
from Death Eaters, or werewolves. She even moves into the home of an
escaped prisoner, cooks for him and cleans his house! Molly is
everyone's mother. In her battle with Beletrix, she didn't say you
will not hurt my children again; her statement was "you will not hurt
our children again". Molly was fighting for every woman's child and
nothing was going to defeat her. I keep thinking of a line from the
Bible, I think, "my strength is as the strength of ten because my
heart is pure". That's Molly.

Andromada Tonks is the one mother we know little about. Lupin said
she didn't approve of her daughter's marriage, but still loved and
sheltered her. She was there when her grandchild was born, and seemed
to be pleased he had characteristics of her daughter. I identify with
Andromida more than any other character. She lost both her husband
and her child to war. She personifies the loss of all women who have
lived through war.

I like these women. Jo wrote them strong and independent . They are
able to take whatever comes to them and deal with it. They are pretty
good roll models for anyone.

RC

I believe that Tonks' dad was a muggle, so she is halfblood.

For the rest, most of the mothers did try to defend their children, even if their actions weren't right. But as for role models, Narcissa and Petunia leave much to be desired.
.

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    ... group of women who personify JKR's theme of love and loss. ... to save him from Voldermort, and by giving up her life, she did. ... a pureblood, she accepted Voldermort's ideas of Pureblood superiority ... is just as protective of her son Draco as Petunia is of Dudly. ...
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  • Re: The Harry Potter Mothers
    ... to save him from Voldermort, and by giving up her life, she did. ... is just as protective of her son Draco as Petunia is of Dudly. ... disappearance of her favorite child, ... everyone's mother. ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)