H/H v H/R

[naama]

No: HPFGUIDX 7652

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer 



> OMG -- are we reading the same books?  Ron's "lack of intense
> ambition"????  He's *the* most ambitious character in the series in 
> my book.  We've only seen the tip of the iceberg in GoF IMO.  He's 
> far more ambitious than surface-level ambitious Percy.  Ron is  
>incredibly insecure (I agree that Harry & Hermione have their own  
>insecurities but Ron's insecurities are at least threefold what  
>either H or H demonstrate).  He's constantly trying to be better 
>than everyone around him ... what was it he saw in the Mirror of  
>Erised -- himself, standing alone, more successful & admired than  
>any of his friends & family.  Well .... all I can say is we have a 
>very different perspective on Ron. I don't see him as stable, 
>cheerful or unambitious.  Completely the opposite in my book.  Ron 
>has lots of great qualities, but a healthy level of ambition is not 
>one of them (IMO).
> 
OK, I'll try and answer this to the best of my abilities. 

WARNING: long and possibly tedious.

First of all, I'd like to make a distinction between wanting 
distinction (fame, a lot of attention and so on) and wanting to 
excel.  
As I see it, Ron feels the lack of distinction; Harry is driven to 
excellence through fear of failure. 
I think these two types of "ambition" arise from different kinds of 
insecurities. Harry has real self-doubts. That is, he is not sure 
about his own worth, in his own eyes. That explains why he is so 
uncomfortable with being famous. If you have deep-seated doubts about 
your inherent worth, being famous generates enormous anxieties 
arising from the huge discrepancy felt between self-image and 
projected image (which may explain why many rock or film stars go 
nuts at the peak of their success).
Ron has no such self-doubts of inherent worth. His frustrations arise 
from NOT receiving attention, from not being important, from not 
getting distinction. I wouldn't even call this insecurity, really. He 
feels secure in his own worth; what he doesn't feel secure about is 
how he is appreciated by others. It is very easy for him to accept 
attention (see the scene in GoF when he enjoys the attention after 
the third task). As I see it, he has the very normal resentment of 
not being noticed very much. Its very common with adolescents, as 
probably most of us will agree from their own experience.
This is why Ron, although he wants attention, is not really driven to 
excel. Harry, because he does have deep self-doubts, is driven to 
excel.
Thats, more or less, what I meant when I said that Ron is not 
ambitious.

Naama