[HPforGrownups] Why no one's right for anyone--right now (was: SHIP: Why Ron is wrong for Hermione; NOT!!)

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 48725


"Jim Ferer <jferer at yahoo.com>" <jferer at yahoo.com> wrote:
Steve, in spirited and eloquent defense of Ron:"So, you think the Ron we see at 11 or for that matter 14, is the only Ron there will ever be. That his character and ablilities are fully developed now, and there is no hope for improvement? I think not."

Ron doesn't need "improvement" in the sense he's behind the curve.  We have every reason to think he does well at school, he has accomplishments of his own, and, as you pointed out, he is courageous
and loyal to his best friend. 


Steve again:"There is no chance that Ron will get to display outstanding heroism AGAIN? He's shown outstanding heroism.
selflessness, and nobility in sacificing his life to help Harry protect the Stone." [Steve goes on to list a variety of accomplishments Ron might have in his future.]

We have every reason to think Ron will show his heroism again (and don't forget his resolution and decisiveness).  All the good things you predict are likely to happen.

BUT:

When we're discussing how these characters might be suited as significant others for each other, though, we have to take them as they are now; that's what makes shipping discussions speculative.

The fourteen/fifteen year old Ron, for all his realized and potential good qualities, has vulnerabilities that I think will cause problems for Ron and Hermione both in a relationship.  It's not what Ron really is that's the problem, it's how he thinks of himself, and he's sitting
in the shadow of the top student and the number one celebrity of his world.  That's a lot to ask of any fourteen year old male psyche. 


Me:

I'm uncertain as to why people think Ron is any worse than Hermione and Harry at this point in his life.  First, I think that JKR has purposefully put Ron at his low point in GoF, as it is the middle book in the series of seven. (He's got nowhere to go but up.)  Think of Ron from the first three books: he sacrifices himself to let Ron and Hermione continue on when they're trying to reach the stone, he braves the Forbidden Forest and giant spiders, then goes into the unknown with Harry and Lockhart to save his sister, not to mention taking Polyjuice Potion earlier. (What if it had been botched?  Who knows what they could have turned into!  Look what happened to Hermione because of the cat hair.)  Then he offers himself to be killed by Sirius Black, along with Harry and Hermione, in PoA, and does so whilst withstanding the pain of a broken leg.

 

All of this is in stark contrast to the Ron we get in GoF; a Ron who suspects Harry is lying about putting his name into the Goblet, a Ron who cannot articulate his feelings for Hermione and instead goes into rages about her "fraternizing with the enemy," a Ron who succumbs to Fleur's veela-wiles anytime she's around...Who didn't want to smack Ron at some point during GoF? <g>  But I think this just shows that if you take a passel of kids from ages 11 to 18, at some point in there, you're going to find them insufferable.  I wouldn't wish 14/15 year old Ron on ANY poor girl, frankly. (And I wouldn't wish 14/15 year old Hermione or Harry on anyone either.)  What a nightmare.  And perhaps the reason for JKR's portrayal of him at this age is because HE sees this too (but can't articulate it).  He's not ready for the things Hermione thinks she's ready for.   

I said "thinks she's ready for" because I'm not so sure Hermione's ready, either.  Or Harry.  They're all floundering about at this point.  Hermione didn't handle quite a lot of things very well, from Ron's reaction to her going to the ball with Krum to Rita Skeeter (which encounter resulted in her being pilloried in the press and receiving a letter containing bubotuber pus).  Harry didn't do well either, frankly, waiting until the last moment to get a date to the ball and then ignoring her the entire evening while he ogled Cho Chang.  Now THERE'S a great date!

 

In short--they're all a disaster at this point, having no idea how to calmly speak to someone for whom they have feelings (or not) to discuss those feelings.  But when have you met a 14 or 15 year old who could?  So it's really all perfectly age-appropriate.  Krum is showing his age when he speaks to Harry about Hermione--he's mature enough to just walk up to Harry and speak his mind, voice his concerns.  Which just goes to show that he's far too old for Hermione at this point--the usually-rational girl failed miserably in speaking to Ron in a calm manner after the ball.  Whether she said what she did because she was genuinely upset that he didn't ask her or because he was just being a pain in the arse, she just plain didn't handle it well, basically stooping to Ron's level and turning the whole thing into a screaming match.

 

I think it's impossible to say just how Ron will grow and change, as he undoubtedly will, and who he may be suited for or unsuited for.  For some reason there's an assumption that Hermione and Harry are done growing and changing, that their 14/15 year old selves are the people they're going to be for the rest of their lives.  I certainly hope not!  They're not likely to stay the same either, we should remember.  (If JKR gets it right, and I have faith in her on this.)  So to say with any certainty that traits Ron possesses now will make him unsuited to Hermione or that traits Harry possesses now will make him suited to Hermione in the future when none of them are liable to be the same at the end of OotP as they were at the end of GoF is a bit of a leap of logic, I feel.  

 

I, for one, would not be a bit surprised if, at the end of the seventh book, JKR has all three of them decide, after going through various permutations of boyfriend/girlfriend, that they work best as just friends.   That's assuming that they all live, of course.  JKR's rather fond of poking fun of people who DO assume this. <eg>  As I really do want them all to live, I'd be quite happy to have fun poked at me for this.  If I had to choose between two of them winding up in a permanent romance and all three of them living, I'll take them all living every time.

 

--Barb

 


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