Poor ickle Ronniekins was re:FF/SHIP: Authorial Intent,

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 39173


Elkins wrote:
> <<<<<Female readers are almost always attracted to male 
characters who get 
> hurt a lot.  They just are.  And Draco does get smacked around 
a 
> *lot* in these books.  He gets ferret-bounced and 
hippogriff-slashed 
> and pimp-slapped and seriously hexed.  And that's just the sort 
of 
> thing that female readers -- and particularly adolescent girls -- 
> really go for.  It's why they think Harry's so sexy too, I'd 
> warrant.  It's because they're twisted little FEATHERBOA 
wearers, 
> each and every one of them.>>>>>>>>>
> 

Penny:
> How does Ron fit into this?  Because I don't think he gets hurt 
so very much ... well, not if you ignore the times he was stunned 
while helping Harry practice hexes.  
> 

Poor ickle Ronniekins...not only does he suffer, but his suffering 
goes ignored.

He gets bitten by Norbert. PS/SS
He gets bashed unconscious in the chess game. PS/SS
He belches slugs and gets scared spitless by spiders CoS
He has to clean bedpans.  PoA
He loses his pet. PoA
His leg is broken. PoA.
He looks ridiculous in his dress robes. GoF
He has a whole year of angst over  Harry, Sirius and Hermione. 
GoF
The girl he fancies goes to the ball with someone else. GoF
He hates being poor. GoF
He gets painfully stunned multiple times

I notice he doesn't seem to get hurt  as much in GoF, or rather 
that his pangs are more psychological than physical, while in 
GoF we see Draco in physical pain for the first time. (We're told 
that Ron gave him a black eye in SS/PS but we don't see it.) 
Hmmm. 

I can't help but feel, you know, that Ron appeals to a more 
mature taste (assuming he grows out of the jealousy thing), as 
he's a character that can give comfort as well as receive it. When 
did Draco ever comfort anyone?

Pippin