Why the Molly hate?

[wook77]

I was reading a craptacular story written by an author that I adore mocking.

That being said... a theme that runs throughout this author's stories is - Molly bashing/hating. I thought it was just further proof as to the craptacularness of this author but it turns out I was wrong.

It seems that there is more than one person out there that dislikes Molly for whatever reasons...

My questions to you -

Does anyone else hate on Molly and, if so, why the Molly hate?

No wank and please to be providing reasons.

Comments

[north-of-you.livejournal.com]

Both of them override the other, IMHO. I always viewed that as part of marriage.

I agree, at least in the case of that marriage. I tend to notice Molly getting mowed over more, I'm guessing, because I've been trained to look for such (I am a PhD english student with an MA in gender/cultural studies, I can't not read things without a certain slant/politics).

Fleur was wretched to the Weasleys. If she had been my houseguest/roommate/whatever, her ass would have been booted to the curb. In the end, though, Molly accepts that Fleur loves Bill and accepts the relationship.

Werd. She was a horrendous houseguest, which completely legitimizes Molly's dislike of her. There is also the undercurrent of the veela thing which set pretty much all the women in that household off and which Rowling probably included to keep people from thinking Molly was just indivudally horrible. Molly does the right thing in the end, which she always seems to do. Family is her priority, she's not going to lose contact with a son because of his wife (or, in the case of Percy, because he's being an ass).

I also agree that Molly's response to the war is partly the result of her family history. She knows the violence of war intimately, particularly the violence that tends to haunt members of the Order. For her the practicle side of the war is probably going to outweigh the idealistic side and, frankly, I can't blame her at all.

Your last thought has me really wondering. I hadn't viewed them as similar but, after thinking about it, they do seem very similar. Now I'm curious about that as well. Curiosity is going to kill this cat, methinks...

They really are quite similar, assuming you can cut away the various fandom based assessments of Narcissa's family. Based on the books we really know very little other than she is devoted to her husband and son (even to the point that she places their lives over the "ideal" they are fighting for) and that she, like Molly, knows how to put on a supportive facade when meeting the enemy. I doubt we will ever get to know much more about Narcissa sadly, so their similarities and differences will be difficult to expand on even post Book 7.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

I like that Molly is willing to at least maintain contact with Percy. I'm not such a nice person, I have to admit. One of the commentors above gave me a very excellent reason why Percy can be viewed sympathetically and that's really turned my opinion of him around.

I really like your comparison between Narcissa and Molly. I've put it down in my "plot bunny spreadsheet", if you don't mind. I'd like to explore that more.

[north-of-you.livejournal.com]

Oh I've always felt Percy can be viewed sympathetically but at the end of the day his actions cannot be excused entirely.

You are welcome to ponder the similarities between Molly and Narcissa all you like my dear!