Very good points, I have to say I never thought of that.
I personally saw Merope's death as being portrayed as something kind of pathetically sad. Sort of like it was one big ball of horribleness (yes, I made that word up), with her being pitiable from the way her dad and brother and husband treated her and that it drove her to do something so extreme since she was so desperate to be loved.
I don't think she actually was a Squib, since the flashback showed that she did perform magic (she levitated a pot), but the fact that her father terrified her made her do it badly. Still, you have a very good point about depression affecting her abilities. I never thought of that and probably Rowling forgot about it as well (we see a lot of other characters who go through extreme stress or depression and seem to work magic just fine). If she did forget, then that would explain the blame more - as Harry pointed out, a witch ought to have no trouble magically obtaining money or food. The fact that she lost her powers didn't seem to occur to anyone.
But yeah, very good points! I must say, that slipped by me. O_o
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Date: 2010-07-16 04:00 am (UTC)I personally saw Merope's death as being portrayed as something kind of pathetically sad. Sort of like it was one big ball of horribleness (yes, I made that word up), with her being pitiable from the way her dad and brother and husband treated her and that it drove her to do something so extreme since she was so desperate to be loved.
I don't think she actually was a Squib, since the flashback showed that she did perform magic (she levitated a pot), but the fact that her father terrified her made her do it badly. Still, you have a very good point about depression affecting her abilities. I never thought of that and probably Rowling forgot about it as well (we see a lot of other characters who go through extreme stress or depression and seem to work magic just fine). If she did forget, then that would explain the blame more - as Harry pointed out, a witch ought to have no trouble magically obtaining money or food. The fact that she lost her powers didn't seem to occur to anyone.
But yeah, very good points! I must say, that slipped by me. O_o