Bad Essay on Harry Potter and Feminism

[Conuly]

I always thought Mrs. Weasly was a cool housewife and mother - employing all the self-slicing knives, doing her housework like magic, making her kids and Harry do their share of housework, and generally being anything but mousy and shy.

I'd also suggest that at least one family in the books had to be a great, loving family to counterbalance Harry's foster family - somewhere where he could experience what family life is like, ideally. A sort of substitute family and mom for Harry, and that would have been the Weasleys. It wouldn't have made so much sense to pick Hermione's family as they were muggles and lots of interesting incidents couldn't have taken place in a muggle family.

Anybody with magic would use it to do their housework if they could. Why wouldn't they? That's not cool, it's just sensible.

As far as a great, loving family goes, your mileage will most definitely vary on that. I, for one, find it telling that of her eldest children TWO immediately get jobs far out of the country, ONE becomes estranged from the family, and the twins, once again declining to be individuals, find that despite a. living in the same country and b. being able to magically teleport themselves from place to place, still never manage to make it home in time for dinner.

[halfheartedheroine]

I always thought Mrs. Weasly was a cool housewife and mother - employing all the self-slicing knives, doing her housework like magic, making her kids and Harry do their share of housework, and generally being anything but mousy and shy.

I'd also suggest that at least one family in the books had to be a great, loving family to counterbalance Harry's foster family - somewhere where he could experience what family life is like, ideally. A sort of substitute family and mom for Harry, and that would have been the Weasleys. It wouldn't have made so much sense to pick Hermione's family as they were muggles and lots of interesting incidents couldn't have taken place in a muggle family.

I really wanted to know more about Hermione's family. I know the culture of boarding schools in the UK is different than in the US, but I always wondered how much Hermione talked with them and the logistics of an owl always swooping in and out of a muggle household, etc. Also, how her parents managed the shock of learning everything about the wizarding world and then just sending Hermione off... it would have been interesting to learn about. It seemed strange that we knew so much about Harry and Ron's families/childhoods but not much about Hermione's. (I know, I know, each book would be an encyclopedia if we knew everything about everyone, but expounding on the childhood of one of the Golden Trio seems like it would be relevant) I suppose that's what fan fiction is for ;)