Ron's Jealousy of Harry

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 16316

Hi --

Demelza wrote:

> As for jealousy of Harry, I'm hard pressed to find anything in the
> books to indicate he is jealous of HARRY,

"[Ron] was always touchy about the fact that Harry, who had inherited a
small fortune from his parents, had much more money than he did."  [GoF,
Chapter 7]

Look at the conversation between Harry & Hermione in GoF, Chapter 18,
re: Ron's jealousy.  Hermione explains it quite well, and Harry doesn't
deny it.  Hermione herself says that Ron keeps it to himself for the
most part, but *it is there.*   She and Harry both know it.  Harry
doesn't dispute her thoughts on this.

"Must be nice .... to have so much money you don't notice if a pocketful
of Galleons goes missing." [GoF, Chapter 28]

> <snip all the incidents of Ron's bravery/self-sacrifice> Those aren't
> the actions of a jealous person.

Well, I don't think anyone would argue that he walks around displaying
nothing but jealousy all the time.  But, he can still be brave &
self-sacrificing in times of danger but *also* be jealous of Harry.

> 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???

Yeah.  This doesn't seem irrational to me.  It's certainly not regarded
as irrational to either Hermione or Harry (see above).  Harry doesn't
look at Hermione and say, "What?  Jealous?  How'd you get *that*?"  He
says, "Great.  Really great.  Tell him from me I'll swap anytime he
wants. .... I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow
up!  Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck
broken or --"

Hermione saw how shocked & scared Harry was.  *She* was perceptive
enough to pick up on this.  Ron, however, did not.  He leapt to the
conclusion that Harry had put his name into the Goblet, had found a way
to circumvent the age-line & had left him out of it.  There's that
leaping to conclusions again.  Why would Ron not be able to see the same
reactions on Harry's face that Hermione did?  If it's not because he
leapt to conclusions (out of jealousy or impulsiveness), then *what* was
the reason?

> Her near pathologic obsession with studying can be considered a cry
> for
> attention (not to mention a potential diagnosis of
> Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

I saw that Heidi addressed this already.  I agree completely that
Hermione displays no signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  Why is her
desire to achieve academically a bad thing?

> 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.

She's alot less of a bossy know-it-all by GoF.  She's done alot of
maturing.  IMO

> He was able to face up to Aragog and his family.

Um .... yes & no.  He was silent & hardly able to do more than heave
himself into the car.  I don't know that it's fair to say that he truly
confronted & overcame his fears.

> 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'.

I don't get your point here, Demelza.  You have to look at overall
context to interpret their actions (and you do that I might add).  :--)
Aren't you using the final outcome in the books to support your
conclusion that Ron is not jealous of Harry (citing the chess game, the
Aragog incident & when he stands up to Sirius in PoA to support the
notion that Ron is not a jealous person)?  It seems to me that you're
ignoring some of the other incidents that clearly point that Ron is
jealous of Harry and pointing to the big picture to say, "No, he can't
be because ...."  Am I missing something?

Penny



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