Wednesday, June 6, 2012

"I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!"

I read a lot, though not as much as I would like anymore.  In my various journeys through the literary world I have come to know many literary families.
Warning, extremely heavy spoilers ahead.

I have a hard time picking my favourite family though, it would ultimately comes down to the Marchs from Little Women or the Weasleys from the Harry Potter series.

The Marchs make me feel warm inside.  They're almost too perfect.  A family of strong loving sisters who almost have no faults.  And the parents are amazing.  I think the thing I like about the March family is how they only have each other.  The March family relies completely on each other, the girls spend hours putting on Jo's plays and pretending to be the Pickwick Society.  The Marchs are also a very giving family, willing to sacrifice for others.  Mr. March goes to Chaplain in the American Civil war, Jo cuts her hair (her one beauty) so that Marmie can go tend to the girls ill Father, Beth's compassion eventually leads to her death.  You read the Marchs for several years through joy, love pain loss and the courses of their lives.

The Weasleys, the Weasleys also make me feel warm inside.  Ron is the best literary best friend ever written.  Arthur and Molly Weasley are amazing.  Molly does everything out of love.   Her love of her children and Harry give her strength.  Arthur Weasley is portrayed as a bumbling idiot in the movies (the movies do the books no justice) but in the books he's just a person with a good sense of humour and an obsession with the Muggle world, he is actually very strong.  The Weasleys become some of the prominent fighters in the war against Voldemort, each lending something to the stopping of this evil.  The Weasleys take in Harry as one of their own, Ron becoming his best friend, Ginny becoming his wife and Molly and Arthur his parents.  The Weasleys become Harry's family.  The Weasleys become your family, in the 1st book you meet Ron and grow to love him in the second you meet nearly all the rest of his family and grow to love them (except Percy) and then by the 7th book you feel as much Weasley as Harry is.

I would rather be a March than a Weasley though, I'm not exactly sure why but I just think I would fit in better with the March family.  Also, come on who doesn't want to be related to Professor Behr and Laurie?

I have other favourite families too.
The Dashwoods  Sense and Sensibility.  Although this might just be because I am Eleanor Dashwood.
The Bennets Pride and Prejudice.  I think there might be an international law that says the Bennets have to be included in every list of literary families.  I like Lizzie and Jane but can't stand the rest of the family, which is exactly how Jane Austen wanted you to feel while reading Pride and Prejudice.  Can I just take a small side trip right now? ( I write this blog so I'm just going to do it)  Okay, so Jane Austen wrote a character named Jane, how is this allowed.  I get it Jane was a popular name in the early 19th century, but it's your name did you really have to name your character that?

The Nolans from my favourite book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, are not included in this list.  Why?  The Nolans are kind of horrible.  Johnny drinks himself to death, Katie picks favourites out of her children and visibly shows this.  There is hardly any love shown with in this family.  I just feel cold when I read this family.  There are small pockets of love, but the Nolans do not give off a warm fuzzy feeling.

(You have no idea how hard it was to figure out the proper pluralization of the family names)

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