My point is that Austen simply used Dick's short history to illustrate, first, the weak-minded sentimentality of Mrs. Musgrove, who remembers only her own motherly feelings for Dick, without considering at all Dick himself; second, Wentworth's heroic efforts to make something of Dick while he was tasked with handling him as a ship's commander.

We see Mrs. Musgrove having loved him, of course; we see her also remembering very selectively his life, and imposing her own unrealistic reflections upon those around her.

We see Wentworth not only having taken it upon himself to try making something of Dick, but also refraining from correcting his mother's utterly unrealistic reminiscences, and enduring them without comment.