Ron/Sirius Parallels

[Kathleen Kelly MacMillan]

No: HPFGUIDX 11422

Kimberly wrote:
>I think though that this leaves out his personality during his teen
>years, when the comparison can best be made.  Then he *was* rather
>rash and impulsive, and easily angered.  If not, his decision to send
>Snape off to face a full-on werewolf was far more cold and cruel, and
>I don't see evidence of that tendency in him in any of the books so
>far.

I think this is a fantastic point, Kimberly.  I snipped the next bit where you 
talked about how Sirius wouldn't have had a chance to learn to curb this 
because of going to Azkaban, but I heartily consur with that as well.  I 
hadn't really thought about it the way you state above: that if Sirius wasn't 
rash, then his behavior is just downright cruel.  Granted, as Penny pointed 
out, we only know about this from Snape's POV,but still...I don't think 
there's a whole lot of room for interpretation in the act itself.  Sirius did 
send Snape to face a werewolf.  It was either incredibly stupid or incredibly 
cruel.

Kimberly again:
>You have to take into account the fact that his first instinct, as a
>kid in the MWPP days, as a young adult when James and Lily died, and
>in the events of PoA, was to seek vengeance.  That indicates to me a
>temper.  If as a grown man he's getting it under control, that just
>indicates to me that Ron will get the chance to do the same, and
>hopefully under much more normal circumstances, and more quickly.

I don't mean to keep only quoting Kimberly on this, because I think everyone 
has raised important points, but there are some things in Kimberly's post 
which I don't recall being raised before that I wanted to respond to.  It's 
pretty clear to me that Sirius was tracking down Peter for revenge; somehow I 
just don't see him handing Peter over to the Ministry.  I have been reading 
the PTSD arguments with interest, but I'm not sure I buy it.  Not that I have 
any really good reason for it; it just doesn't tally with my view of Sirius 
(not that he wouldn't be under stress, but I don't think that's all it was, 
that's all).

Kimberly once again:
>From my observation Remus is a man of thought, Sirius a man of action,
>regardless of their relative IQs or grades.

Another great observation.  I need to mull it over some more before I can say 
anything intelligent about it, however. <g>

Kimberly again:
>But if I had to boil it down to one thing that makes me think Ron and
>Sirius are a lot alike, it would be the statement Sirius made in the
>Shreiking Shack.  It seemed to me to be the most character-defining
>of his statements about himself and about the way he sees other
>people:  "Then you should have died, as we would have done for you."
>He even includes Remus and James in the statement without even
>thinking about it, just like Ron included Hermione when he said that
>Sirius would have to kill "us" too if he was going to kill Harry.
>Both not only are reflexively willing to put their lives on the line
>for their friends, they also automatically believe that their friends
>would do the same.  I don't think it was by chance that Ron made that
>statement in the same scene where Sirius made his.

This was the main reason I had to respond to this post.  I think this is a 
brilliant observation, both structurally and character-wise, and I never 
picked up on it before.  But you're right: that's what seems to set the good 
guys apart.  Which is Reason #452 why I don't believe Ron would ever go bad.

>Kimberly, who really ought to be in bed.

Yeah, shouldn't we all.  Obsession is tough, ain't it? ;)

Kathy
AKA Elanor Gamgee