Ron Week : More Questions

[firoza10 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16289

Hello everyone!

I have read a number of posts regarding Ron and his preconceived 
prejudices. I am a firm believer in 'Ron is the readers guide to the 
inside workings of the wizarding world' :)

One preconceived prejudice we see in the books is in regards to 
werewolves. When I read PoA, I did not find Ron to show MORE 
prejudice against werewolves than Harry and Hermione. Hermione knew 
the negative connotation against werewolves. 'I didn't tell anyone!' 
Hermione shrieked. 'I've been covering up for you-' and her dramatic 
announcement of 'he's a werewolf!' help support this I believe. Ron 
was more vocal in showing his negative preconception towards 
werewolves with his 'Get away from me, werewolf!. But he was just as 
willing to listen to Lupin's explantation as Harry or Hermione. 
During Lupin's explanation, 'Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to 
be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers' (pg. 255 UK 
ed.) Ron did not once again yell 'get away from me, werewolf', as he 
should of done if he stubbornly held on to his preconceived 
prejudices. In fact, by the time that Lupin and Sirius had convinced 
the Trio of Sirius' innocence, Ron VOLUNTEERED to be shackled to 
Lupin and Pettigrew! That IMO shows that Ron does have prejudices 
(hatred of werewolves is a very common prejudice found in the wizard 
and Muggle worlds ;) but he is open to shedding that particular 
prejudice pretty quickly :)

The other preconceived prejudice that has been recently mentioned is 
the enslavement of house-elves. As reprehensible as enslavement is, 
Ron is not the only person in the wizarding world who doesn't rise 
above it. From every wizard who owns a house-elve to Dumbledore (for 
allowing house-elves in Hogwarts) to all the people who not only did 
not join S.P.E.W but openly scoffed at it. Harry may not have been 
aware of the prejudice surrounding house-elves and yes he did free 
Dobby (one among many I might add) but once he too became aware of 
the situation (courtesy of Hermione) he did squat to eleviate it (if 
you don't agree, I would love to see the canon passage that shows 
Harry showing active involvement in freeing house-elves, aside from 
Dobby :)) As my fellow Sugar-Quiller Arabella (hi Arabella, loved 
your post!) mentioned, by the end of GoF, the house-elve issue had 
been pushed to the back burner by even Hermione. So to show up Ron 
as 'not rising above' such prejucides once again sells Ron short (you 
have to admitt, he is the tallest of the Trio ;) and IMO is not 
supported in canon.

The third preconceived prejudice that has been mentioned in 
conjunction with Ron is the hatred/fear of giants and the fact that 
Hagrid is a half-giant.

Arabella wrote:
<Also, Ron needs very little prompting to surmount his struggle with 
his feelings about Hagrid being half-giant ("'Who cares?' Harry 
said. 'There's nothing wrong with Hagrid!'  'I know there isn't, 
but...blimey, no wonder he keeps it quiet,' said Ron, shaking his 
head." And then, "'Well... no one who knows him will care, 'cos 
they'll know he's not dangerous." Granted, Ron goes on to say 
that "they're just vicious, giants," but as he points out, it's more 
in their natures than anything else, just as Hagrid points out that 
it wasn't in his own mother's nature to be maternal.)  
<From what I've read of Ron, he notices and admits the 
prejudices he feels, is able to discuss them, (yes, he even discusses 
the house-elves; he may be sticking to the wrong guns, but he's got  
guns in that argument - Winky *does* seem extremely miserable having  
been freed and though that's the natural struggle of the oppressed,  
it is still a difficult struggle for a 14 year old to understand),
and more often than not, he comes to learn and move forward in his  
thoughts.  After all, what kind of realistic character would Ron be  
if he didn't even have these thoughts to begin with, especially
having grown up in the wizarding community?>

As Arabella has shown, yes Ron is aware of the prejudice against 
giants as opposed to Harry and Hermione, but even knowing what he 
knows regarding the 'vicious nature' of giants he does NOT ever 
consider renouncing Hagrid just because he's half-giant. Harry and 
Hermione don't know any better. 'He's half-giant, so what?' was their 
response. But Ron DOES know better and yet he 'rises above' his 
prejudice and never considers Hagrid as anything other than his 
friend. 

I really don't see canon evidence supporting Ron clinging overly to 
preconceived prejudices that Harry and Hermione don't share because 
of their Muggle backgrounds. As I have elaborated in this post, Ron 
is not IMO too 'ready to judge people based on preconceived notions'. 
He definitely knows about giants, but as I and Arabella pointed out 
he certainly doesn't hold it against Hagrid that he's a half-giant. 
Same goes for house-elves and werewolves. I think that people are 
confusing Ron's quick temper with him making quick judgements :)

All this talk about Ron has raised my appreciation of the boy more 
<g>. Harry didn't hold it against Ron for starting the 'fight' in GoF 
so neither will I. Others have posted that yes Ron started the fight, 
but he also made sounds of trying to patch things up before the first 
task. JKR herself in the Dec. Times article said that the fight was 
prolonged due to Harry's not Ron's stubbornness, and JKR IS the HP 
God <vbg>(there was a post a while back about this article so I won't 
elaborate further). Ron WAS very mean to Hermione during the Yule 
Ball fight, but as other's have said , Hermione gives as good as she 
gets and I can excuse his behaviour as due to the green-eyed monster 
known as jealousy.

Some people have said that they don't think that Ron will 
intentionally betray Harry, but unintentionally he will. I of course 
don't think that Ron will EVER betray Harry, intentionally or 
otherwise. The only way Ron would intentionally betray Harry or turn 
to the Dark Side is if he valued money and power/fame/prestige above 
Harry. Despite his insecurites, there is absolutely no canonical 
evidence of this happening so far. Ron has had his insecurities since 
PS/SS and as many have pointed out, he did not hesitate to follow 
Harry in finding Quirrell/Voldie and in fact sacrificed 'himself' to 
let Harry and Hermione move forward on the giant chess set. He did 
not hesitate going to the Chamber of Secrets to try to save his 
sister along with Harry. In PoA, the whole standing on his broken-leg 
and 'You'll have to kill us too' speaks for itself. In GoF, neither 
Ron nor Hermione had a chance to really stand up with Harry against 
Voldie, but both did show their support. Ron after his initial (and 
very human) jealousy of Harry leading to the 'fight' came around 
pretty quick when he actually saw Harry in danger for his life in the 
First Task. When push has come to shove, despite his poverty and 
insecurity Ron has shown that he is truly Harry's Wheezy :) 

Ron betraying Harry UNintentionally IMO is not a possibility because 
I really cannot see any scenario in which this could occur. Most 
people don't doubt Ron's intellect (master chess player, seems to 
have about the same grades as Harry) so his being 'taken in' doesn't 
seem reasonable to me. IIRC, someone said something to the effect 
that Ron is quick to leap without looking and THAT might cause him to 
unintentionally betray Harry. IMO, Harry is the one who doesn't look 
before he leaps. It seems to me that it is Harry who is quickest to 
break rules (if he didn't we of course wouldn't be so entertained 
<vbg>) and not think before acting (going after Quirrell, going into 
the Forbidden Forest after the spiders in PoA...). Harry seems to me 
as likely to leap before looking as Ron and in not really think 
things through. Ron being the loyal friend that he is of course does 
not let Harry leap alone :) But I haven't heard anyone seriously 
consider HARRY as being a candidate for unintentional going over to 
the Dark side due to his impulsiveness. Besides, I think that JKR has 
already played the 'unintentional betrayal by best friend' scenario 
with Sirius (he did suggest Pettigrew be the Secret Keeper, and he 
does feel responsible for James and Lily's deaths). I don't see her 
having history repeat itself in that regard. She is much too 
imaginative for that :)

When all is said and done, I just want to point out that HARRY still 
considers Ron one of his best friends and he doesn't seem to share 
the dislike that many have for his Wheezy. He knows about Ron's 
insecurities but I didn't see him saying 'Well mate, it's been nice 
knowing you but I don't want to be friends anymore. I am afraid that 
your hot temper might unintentionally betray me now that Voldie's 
back. I hate you for being jealous of my money and fame and for 
acting like a prat towards Hermione at the Yule Ball. You are too 
quick to show your prejudices towards house-elves and giants and 
don't have the decency to rise above such things. I don't like your 
sarcastic humour, nor your red hair or freckles. I resent you for not 
believing in me about putting my name in the GoF, even though I have 
forgiven you for it. What did I ever see in you that made me think 
you were my best friend?'<vbg>

Firoza