[Ron Week]: More Questions

[Demelza]

No: HPFGUIDX 16273

linman6868 at a... wrote:
> And finally, my biggest beef and paradoxically my greatest sympathy 
> with Ron:  The boy can't admit he's wrong to save his life.  I 

wanted 
> to throw something at him all through PoA.  He never did admit to 
Ø Hermione that he'd been unfair about Scabbers's disappearance;


Ron DOES admit his mistake in GoF concerning the Ron-Harry feud (GoF 
Ch20) He doesn't grovel and snivel that he is sorry but the apology is 
there. 
"Harry," [Ron] said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in the 
goblet--I--I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

As for the Crookshanks eats Scabbers incident in PoA, this is Harry's 
observation from Ch 13. "Personally, Harry was sure that Crookshanks 
had eaten Scabbers, and when he tried to point it out to Hermione that 
the evidence all pointed that way, she lost her temper with Harry 
too." Earlier in Ch 9, we read the following: 
***
As Harry opened the door, something brushed against his leg. He bent 
down just in time to frab Crookshanks by the end of his bushy tail and 
drag him outside.
"You know, I reckon Ron was right about you, "Harry told Crookshanks 
suspiciously. "There are plenty of mice around this place--go and 
chase them."
***
Crookshanks searching out  Scabbers at every opportunity yet there are 
"plenty of mice". (In light of  Scabber's physical state: thin and 
losing fur, I doubt Scabbers would be as tasty as a healthy mouse.)  
Hermione attributes this to normal cat behavior and to Ron's 
over-reaction. She ignores Ron's assertions that Crookshanks is after 
Scabbers and "loses her temper" with Harry when he gives her the 
evidence. Crookshanks WAS after Scabbers as Ron thought. Again, 
Scabbers may have turned out to be a homicidal maniac, but it doesn't 
negate the fact that Crookshanks was after him, regardless of the 
reason and it doesn't negate the fact that Ron and Harry recognized 
that Crookshank's stalking of Scabbers, when Hermione ignored it or 
rationalized it as "normal behavior". Which leads me to this, if you 
had a friend with a pet rat, would you allow your cat to go near it 
knowing that cats are the natural predators of rodents? Makes me 
question Hermione's respect of Ron and his possessions. 

In PoA, Ron does "apologize" to Crookshanks and Hermione, indirectly. 
On the Hogwarts Express, he asks Crookshanks if the little owl really 
is a little owl. By his actions, Ron acknowledges his trust in 
Crookshanks' judgement. 

As for jealousy of Harry, I'm hard pressed to find anything in the 
books to indicate he is jealous of HARRY, however, I can find 
instances of an underlying jealousy of Hermione. In PS/SS, Ron lets 
himself be knocked unconscious by a Chess piece in order for Harry and 
Hermione to proceed. CoS, Ron follows Harry and the spiders into the 
Forbidden Forest. PoA, Ron with a broken leg tells Sirius that he 
(Sirius) would have to kill him and Hermione first before he can get 
to Harry. Those aren't the actions of a jealous person. Malfoy's 
comments about Harry can be interpreted as "jealous" (with a handful 
of hate and scorn). 

Ron doesn't like feeling left out. He is from a large family, where he 
shares parental attention with 6 other siblings. In essence, he's used 
to sharing. When Harry's name pops out of the Goblet, Ron is 
surprized. But think about it, Harry has included Ron in all of his 
escapades. Why should Harry leave him out now? Ron's been a loyal 
friend. Ron's been supportive of Harry. Ron has risked his life for 
Harry. Yet, he thinks his best friend has left him out of the loop. 
I've seen real-life relationships disintegrate for similar 
reasons--lack of communication, misunderstanding and foolish pride. 
But Hermione interprets this as "jealousy" of Harry's fame??? Hermione 
has more potential to be jealous of Harry's fame than Ron. Her near 
pathologic obsession with studying can be considered a cry for 
attention (not to mention a potential diagnosis of 
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder): I think it's in PS/SS where Ron can't 
understand why Hermione wants to begin studying 4 weeks before final 
exams when she already knows the material. Too bad we never get a 
glimpse of her mirror of Erised. But her studying and academic success 
is not met with overt admiration of her peers. She is considered a 
'bossy know it all' but her classmates and at least one teacher, 
Snape. On the other hand Harry has celebrity status in the wizarding 
community; he is a hero to and greatly admired by some. Enough about 
Hermione's hang-ups, this is a Ron message!  

One thing that has been overlooked is Ron's ability to confront his 
fear. Recall, Ron has an intense fear of spiders. He was able to 
confront his spider-boggart and remove it's legs. He was able to face 
up to Aragog and his family. So far we have seen Harry and Ron 
confront and overcome their fears. The one time we see Hermione 
confronting her fear (Professor McGonagall informing telling Hermione 
she has failed, she runs away screaming.

I am a reformed Hermione and I sort of envy Ron's relaxed approach to 
school (he's not worried about failing, he spends his vacations 'on 
vacation' and doesn't write papers during them). The only way I think 
I can objectively dissect and analyse the characters is to examine 
their actions within the context of the chapter(s) as they take place. 
I think using the final outcome to interpret their actions in earlier 
chapters (or in earlier books) gives a somewhat tainted analysis of 
their actions 'in situ'.   

Demelza