About Ron (not shipping)

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 34627

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> Except that the Weasleys didn't pay for the trip to Egypt out of 
> pocket; they won a contest.  Otherwise, we don't hear of any holiday 
> trips taken, not even to visit relatives.  So the Weasleys are too 
> poor both for new clothes for everyone AND holiday trips.  

No, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley go to Romania (and did they go to Egypt too?) 
during the books, and I believe it is mentioned on one occasion that 
their children actually refused to go: leading me to believe that 
vacations are not completely unusual in that household. 

(And 
> since you said you're the oldest of 8, I'm unclear about why the 
> OLDEST child wore hand-me-downs; as the YOUNGEST of 5; it should be 
> obvious why I wore hand-me-downs.)

Relatives, friends. A lot of people, when they grow out of clothes, 
put them in a box, and set it off on its travels. Some of my favourite 
clothes still come from hand-me-down boxes that eventually reach us 
from people you don't even know. 

> 
> > Magically altering robes does not, for some strange reason, work 
> > in the Harry Potter world, in the same way that cosmetic surgery 
> > doesn't seem to exist anywhere. I don't think JKR thought out that 
> > one.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Susanne <siskiou at e...> wrote:

> Saturday, February 02, 2002, 10:34:52 AM, lucky_kari wrote:
> 
> > As for Ron, not having any attention paid to him, I always thought 
> > that was just his insecurity.
> 
> But it has to come from somewhere.

You didn't adress my example of Percy, did you? :-) Would you say his 
insecurity comes from anywhere?

> 
> >  I doubt very much that the parents pay 
> > way more attention to their older boys.
> 
> Maybe not more attention, but it sounds as if there
> successes a talked about often.

Not really. Mrs. Weasley says some appreciative things about Percy, 
but only when he's under ATTACK from his brothers. Percy obviously 
doesn't believe he's getting recognition, as witnessed by his 
continual attempt to wrench the conversation to his accomplishments. 
Does anyone ever listen when we're present? No. What reason do we have 
to believe that they listen when we're not witness to the going-ons of 
the Weasley family? And, he's not respected by his siblings at 
all. Percy strikes me as very insecure, and the most like Ron in the 
family. If I had to guess, I would peg him as the most likely to share 
Ron's anger about being poor. (And, he's the only Weasley who 
expresses pride in Ron during the books.)

> Ron's *specialty* is his friends, particularly Harry, but it
> isn't anything he has done himself.
> At least that's what Ron seems to think, even though *I*
> think he's done plenty <g>.

I think his family realizes this too. Ron probably gets a lot more 
talking about at the dinner table than the rest of them put together. 
I mean, would you rather talk about Percy being a prefect, or the 
adventures of the trio? I think he hasn't realized yet that he is a 
valuable part of those adventures, and it's pretty common knowledge, 
and THAT lies at the root of his insecurity, rather than any actual 
neglect. 

> And looking at living with lots of siblings:
> while Harry may think it would be wonderful to be surrounded
> by all this love, it isn't always that way in reality.
> There is lots of teasing (not always the nice and loving
> kind, either) and competition.
> I could see lots of *being made fun of* going on, especially
> with Fred and George as older brothers.

But everyone gets that from Fred and George, no? When we're with the 
family, btw, their favourite target seems to be Percy, not Ron or 
Ginny. 

> So, while Ron's childhood was certainly much better than Harry's,
> it could have had it's own problems, too.
> Insecurities don't usually come out of nowhere.

I don't know about that. I think some people are born with an insecure 
bent. Recognition of this and parents trying to make up for it can go 
a long way to keeping them from being insecure. But ordinary, loving, 
supporting treatment will still leave them insecure. I have a brother, 
who tends to feel the same way as Ron, and really... I don't know 
where he gets off. He can't even see that he is given a latitude no 
other child is given. I think it's the same with Ron. 

> And concerning the wand issue, while it didn't cause any
> disasters until it broke, I could still see it not being
> helpful, either.

But there's no canon evidence for this. Just speculation.

Eileen