Ron's stubbornness

[arabella at sugarquill.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16538

eggplant107 at h... wrote:

> >I think Ron was going downstairs in the hopes of finding a 
> >way back into the friendship (perhaps without a plain old "I'm 
> >sorry",  probably something more in the way of "Hey, what's up?" 
> 
> And if Harry refused to accept such a weak attempt at reconciliation 
> he would be entirely justified. This was no small thing, Ron in 
> effect was saying he no longer trusted Harry, this deserves an 
> unambiguous "I'm sorry", although Harry would have settled for less.

Well, I think here we're getting into a more personal decision, and 
that is: what kind of apology would you accept vs. what kind of 
apology would I accept.  In that situation, you'd want a little more; 
I'd take any attempt as a sign of things turning around.  Both are 
perfectly fine and your way can definitely be justified.  But the real 
question is, what kind of apology would Harry accept?  We know the 
answer to that.  And (IMO) one reason he accepts it so readily is 
because, as you said, he knows he wasn't a perfect gentleman himself. 
 (At least, I think it was you who said that; forgive me if it wasn't. 
Too many posts and my brain is fried.) Thus I'm still going with the 
idea that there was blame on both ends. Guess we'll have to agree to 
disagree. 
  
> >Your wish that an author should "rewrite" her books simply because 
> >you did not interpret the  written action in the way she intended, 
> >is... not a wish that I can > understand.
> 
> I don't want her to rewrite the book, I think it's fine the way it 
> is, but if she was trying to make Harry look equally responsible for 
> the fight (and despite the interview I find it hard to believe she 
> was) then she failed.

Again, she failed in your opinion.  She succeeded in mine.  
 
> >"Easy going"?  Harry chucked a badge at Ron's  head and said aloud 
> >the words that both of them had been thinking - harsher words 
> >between them, I can't find.  "You might even have a scar 
> > now, if you're lucky...That's what you want, isn't it?" 
> 
> Ok, you don't have a clue how to fight a dragon but you're about to 
> find out, you are about to hear information that could very well 
save 
> your life but I unintentionally prevent you from hearing it. Would 
> you perhaps be a tad upset with me?

Totally.  I might even chuck a badge. :)  But as I'm not Harry, and as 
I'm an objective observer of these events, I have to take some things 
into consideration.  My natural emotions upon the first read-through 
were first to get angry with Harry, and then to sympathize with Ron.  
I think JKR gives us a clue that she *wants* us to sympathize with 
him, when she paints Ron as a pathetic figure ("But Ron just stood 
there in his too-small pajamas" and earlier on he comes downstairs 
with "several inches of bare ankle showing beneath his pajama 
trousers").  IMO: She's making that scene difficult on us.  She's 
making Ron pitiable there on purpose.  She's pointing out to us that 
Ron's got things going on there - that Ron's coming from a very 
particular place.  And as an objective reader, this reminds me that, 
though these books are (almost) entirely from Harry's PoV, yet there 
are other characters with unseen PoV who are having complex feelings 
of their own and who deserve to be taken into account.  Of course we 
feel for Harry at that moment, we know *exactly* what he's going 
through and so are willing to forgive him his blunt actions.  I guess 
I'm just willing to make an attempt to understand Ron there as well, 
because I think that's really what JKR wanted her readers to do. 

~Arabella