[Ron Week]: The Youngest and Most Impressive Weasley Man

[Capn Kathy AKA Elanor Gamgee]

No: HPFGUIDX 16229


Ahoy mateys!

I must preface this entire post by saying that, when I turned my HP daily calendar and saw a picture of Ron on today’s date, I actually jumped up and down at my desk. (My boss laughed at me.) So, that will tell you how I feel about "the youngest and most impressive Weasley man."

Jim wrote:
> Ron is arguably the least developed of the Hogwarts three, 

Like others before me, I disagree with this, assuming you mean "least developed" as in the least developed character, and not the least mature. We know quite a bit about Ron’s insecurities. We know about his family background. We pretty much know what he’s feeling at any given time. Ron is an open book, even though he doesn’t realize how transparent he is. Perhaps if we knew as much about Hermione’s thoughts and motivations, we wouldn’t be having shipper debates at all (remember the whole "Hermione’s feelings are a mystery" thread awhile back?) Well, Ron’s are not.

However, I would like to hear more from those who think that Ron is the least developed. I don’t quite understand this argument, so I would like to hear more of the background.

Jim again:

>Is Ron suffering from depression? 

I have to say I find this whole idea just...puzzling. I don’t see any evidence that Ron is suffering from depression. If anybody would be, it would be Harry (especially at the end of GoF). Ron’s just a typical moody teenage boy, IMO.


Jim:

>C. What does Ron's position in the family have to do with his actions 
> and attitudes? Does Ron show any classic "middle child" behaviors in 
> canon?
> PS/SS is the book where Ron shows "middle child" behavior. 

I think that Ron’s behavior is more that of a youngest child (he is the youngest boy; Ginny occupies a somewhat different place since she is a girl; Fred and George do treat him as "ickle Ronnie-kins", IMO). I think this is perhaps why I identify with Ron, as I am a youngest child in an extremely spread-out family. Perhaps this is also why I noticed the first time I read GoF that, at the end when Bill leaves, he DOESN’T SAY GOODBYE TO RON. He kisses his mother, squeezes Harry’s shoulder, and basically ignores his own brother. Harry doesn’t seem to notice but I’m willing to bet Ron did. Ron wants attention. He wants approval. He feels overlooked in his family, and like he is never taken seriously (prime example: he’s the one who gets the lacy dress robes. What did Fred and George get? Presumably theirs were secondhand too.) 

Given this context, it CAN’T be easy for Ron to share his family with Harry, yet he does, and we don’t see him resenting that. His mother displays more open affection for Harry than for Ron (granted, Harry needs it and deserves it, but that’s not the point at the moment); his brothers show more respect for Harry than they do for him. Bill and Charlie talk to Harry with respect; Fred and George give him the Marauder’s Map, and we don’t see evidence of Ron resenting this. I think that says a lot for him, personally.

Demelza wrote:

>What I find interesting is that Ron likes a loser team and that the motto >of the team is to "hope >for the best". Ron is an optimist.

Yet he’d never admit it. Ron has a gooey center that he tries to keep hidden. It’s the same with Loves-His-Pet-But-Won’t-Admit-It Ron. [And Loves-Hermione-But-Won’t-Admit-It Ron ;) ] He just hasn’t learned to deal with his feelings yet. Hmm, I think maybe if I had 5 older brothers, and two of them were Fred and George, I would probably have developed defense mechanisms to cover my true feelings too.




Heidi:

>But I think Ron is, well, how do I say this nicely....I think Ron has a mean streak sometimes. 

And I think Harry has a mean streak sometimes. Only Harry does just come out and say it. He gets quiet and passive-aggressive about it. He doesn’t fight with Hermione in PoA, oh no, he just lets the fight go on and doesn’t do anything about it (until it’s convenient, and then he halfheartedly tries to patch things up). Ron’s no meaner than Harry; he’s just more honest about his feelings. And, as B. pointed out, he’s got a bigger mouth. ;)

Heidi:

>But if he *thinks* you've dissed him, he gets violent, verbally and physically. 

I think it’s more if you’ve dissed his family or his friends that he’ll attack. I don’t have the books in front of me right now to quote exactly, but all the examples I can think of (Malfoy calling Hermione a Mudblood, Malfoy insulting his family) fall into this category. And I’m sorry, but I find it difficult to see how anyone could not love a boy who attacks someone who insults his friend, winds up belching slugs, and is still going on about how vile the insulter is even while vomiting slugs. But maybe that’s just me. J 

Heidi:

>I am not saying that merely getting into a fight with friends is an inherently mean or bad thing, but his refusal to 
>apologize BOTH times makes it seem like JKR is *making a point* about him. 

Two points here: 

   Harry refused to apologize too. So did Hermione.
   It was quite evident to me that Ron was going to apologize after the first task and Harry wouldn’t let him. I don’t have the book in front of me but I believe it says something like "Harry knew he was about to apologize and he suddenly found he didn’t need to hear it"

So I think this argument sells Ron short.

Heidi:
> I know he's fictional and all, but Harry needs some protecting, even against his so-called friends, and Hermione does *not* need an >emotionally abusive boyfriend.

Whoa! Now this really does sell Ron short, at least in my opinion. I would like to point out that Hermione gives as good as she gets. She’s no victim here. Yes, he makes her cry at the ball. Yes, he’s satisfied about it. BECAUSE HE’S 14! He doesn’t know how else to vent his feelings. Yes, he was a jerk. I don’t deny that. But I think "emotionally abusive" carries it a bit too far. And when I consider that many people who don’t like Ron have actually said that D/H is preferable to R/H…well, let’s just say I have a lot of trouble reconciling that statement.


Steve said:

>Ronan said, when Quirrell was killing unicorns, that it is the pure 
>and innocent who always are the first to die.
>Cedric Diggory was the first to die this time around.
>Cedric Diggory's wand has a unicorn tail hair at its core.
>Only one other character is mentioned as having a wand with a unicorn 
>tail hair at its core. Ron.

You know, I’ve heard that, sometimes, when people are faced with something that is just too inconceivable painful for them to deal with, they just change the subject.

How about that Quidditch World Cup?

First Mate Mo wrote:

>Woohoo! Ron week, we are happy now aren't we Cap'n Kathy?!

Yes, matey. Yes, we are! 

Mo said:

>I don't think I've ever noticed Ron feeling jealous over Harry's Quidditch 
>abilities. 

Actually, when you think about it, it’s really astounding how much Ron ISN’T jealous of, considering that he has been painted as such a jealous person. He willingly shares his family with Harry. We don’t see him getting jealous of the Rita Skeeter articles pairing Harry and Hermione (in fact, we don’t really see him reacting to those until Viktor is mentioned, because he knows that the Viktor part is true…and the "sniping" scene that has been mentioned so often happens the weekend after the article is revealed…but that’s getting into a shipping argument, so I’ll stop there.) And we don’t see him really being jealous of Harry playing Quidditch. Sure, he’d love to play, he’d love to win the House Cup. But so would a lot of people. Why is wanting recognition so terrible? Hermione wants recognition, yet we don’t assume that she’d sell her friends to Voldemort for a few extra O.W.L.s.

B Bennett wrote:

>No, no – I accidentally threw a knife at Captain Kathy during our 
>first summit (I'm not kidding here), so all weapons were
>consequently banned from SugarQuill Island. 

She did. She’s not kidding. Watch out for her. She may be the Good Will Ambassador, but she’s got deadly aim. J 

I just want to add that I have seen a lot of posts mentioning Sugar Quill in the past few days (usually in the "Fire away, Sugar Quillers!" sense, but the plug from Paula was very nice too!), and I just want to point out that there are quite a few people on this list who love Ron, who may even be R/H, and who have nothing to do with Sugar Quill. I am just saying this because I think that a false antagonism has been built up with Sugar Quill in the past, and I would hate to see that happen again. Perhaps it is out of line for me to say this, as it is really Zsenya or Arabella’s place, I suppose, but than again, maybe the captaincy of the Good Ship has gone to my head.

Now, would you people please stop being so darn interesting, so I can get some sleep? ;)

Cap’n Kathy 

AKA Elanor Gamgee


 



"What can I say to people who insist on being that thick?

--Hermione, to Gwen

from HQOW, Year 4 by Arabella



---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Personal Address - Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]