Ron: GoF: Betrayed or Jealous? Revisited.

[bboy_mn]

No: HPFGUIDX 43801

Betrayal vs Jealousy Revisited-

I've just been reading GoF again, and had some new thoughts on this
issue and thought I would comment on it again.

In message #42739 I suggested that Ron's emotions surrounding Harry's
name coming out of the Goblet of Fire were not about Harry getting the
glory one more time, they were instead about betrayal of friendship.

In message #42749, sweet Jenny from Ravenclaw, responded and pointed
out many examples of the ways that Ron is so obviously jealous of
Harry and in a sense, jealous of other people, specifically mentioning
Draco. All good valid points, and definitely true.

But the question isn't whether Ron is jealous in general, because we
all know that he is. He is jealous of lots of people in lots of ways.
The question is, is the emotional pain he obviously feels when Harry
name comes out of the Goblet of Fire rooted in betrayal or jealousy? 

I say betrayal and further down in the post I will make my case. Now,
my purpose isn't to say I'm right and you are wrong; the purpose is to
find out if there are other people who also read it from my point of
view. I know my position will always be the minority position, and
that the accepted line, believed by most people including Hermione, is
that Ron is jealous. In fact, Hermione states just that in point blank
undeniable language. We as readers however, have a greater insight
than Hermione, so her opinion doesn't necessarily dictate the true
reality. Although, it is the most obvious conclusion.

The next day after Harry's name comes out, Harry and Hermione are
walking around the lake and Hermione says point blank-

(slightly truncated version)

Harry asks, "Does he (Ron) still think I entered my name?"

Hermione responds (shortened) ".... not really."

Harry inquires, "What's that suppose to mean 'not really'?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

and Hermione goes on to explain how Harry gets all the attention and
Ron gets shunted to the side. 

This is a very obvious conclusion but I think the most telling clues
regarding Ron's true emotions are found in Ron and Harry's first
conversation after Harry's name comes out.

Side note: I'm going to use kind of an odd format to interlace my
comments with the text from the book. Hopefully, it will still be
readable.

The Conversation between Harry and Ron- (US, hb, Cof pg 286)
- - - - - - - - - - 
Setup: Harry has just come up to their dorm room with the Gryffindor
banner draped over his shoulders. Ron is laying on his bed with an odd
sort of grin on his face while a very self-conscious Harry struggles
to get the banner off.

"So," he (Ron) said, when Harry had finally removed the banner and
thrown it into a corner. "Congratulations."

"What d'you mean, congratulations?" said Harry, staring at Ron. There
was definitely something wrong with the way Ron was smiling: It was
more like a grimace.

"Well....no one else got across the Age Line," said Ron. "Not even
Fred and George. What did you use -- the Invisibility Cloak?"

"The Invisibility Cloak wouldn't have got me over that line," said
Harry slowly.

"Oh right," said Ron. "I thought you might've told me if it was the
cloak... because it would've covered both of us, wouldn't it? But you
found another way, did you?"

[Here is the first sign of Ron letting his
[inner feelings show. "...you might've told ME..."
[(my emphasis) 'Me' is the key. It's not about
[what Harry got, but about the fact that Ron
[was left out. Ron can see that Harry might not 
[have told others, but Ron is his best friend, how
[could Harry possible justify not telling Ron?
["...it would've covered both of us, wouldn't it?"
[Again, Ron expresses feelings of being left out.
[The implication is 'We're friends; we could have 
[done this together, but you left me out.'
[Ron is Harry's one truest dearest and closest 
[friend and it hurts that Harry excluded him from 
[this adventure. The adventure being, getting their
[names into the goblet of fire. Once that's done, it
[really doesn't matter who's name comes out.

"Listen," said Harry, "I didn't put my name in that goblet. Someone
else must've done it."

Ron raised his eye brows. "What would they do that for?"

"I dunno," said Harry. He felt it would sound very melodramatic to
say, "To kill me."

Ron's eyebrows rose so high that hey were in danger of disappearing
into his hair.

"It's okay, you know, you can tell *me* the truth," he (Ron) said. "If
you don't want everyone else to know, fine,...."

[Emphasis on the word '*me*' is in the original text.
[Again, the implication is that Ron's closest friend 
[has excluded him. Even implying that all is forgiven 
[if Harry will just let Ron in on it now. Ron is say 
[that he, Ron, is not like everyone else; that Harry 
[can tell other people anything he wants, but Ron is 
[different, as Harry's truest friend, he owes Ron the 
[truth. It's understandable that Harry would exclude 
[other people but unthinkable and unacceptable that he 
[could exclude is most intimate friend. To expand it
[even further, from Ron's point of view, if you tell
[me now then I guess we are friends after all, but if
[you refuse to tell me now, then it confirms my worst
[fears, that I am not your truest friend. That I am 
[just one more guy you share a dorm room with.

Ron continues to speak-
"...but I don't know why you're bothering to lie, you didn't get into
trouble for it, did you? That friend of the Fat Lady's, that Violet,
she's already told us all Dumbledore's letting you enter. A thousand
Galleons prize money, eh? And you don't have to do end-of-year tests
either..."

[True, this could be interpreted as jealousy; the money,
[the tests. But coming near the end of this particular 
[conversation, I still see it as Ron giving Harry one 
[last chance to redeem himself. Sort of, 'There's no 
[excuse for not telling me, so tell me the truth now, 
[and we might be able to patch this up'. The money and 
[the tests are not things that Ron is aching with desire 
[for, although, he probably is to some extent, they are 
[what Ron perceives as Harry motivations for not telling 
[him.

"I didn't put my name in that goblet!" said Harry, starting to feel
angry. 

"Yeah, okay," said Ron, in exactly the same skeptical tone as Cedric.
"Only you said this morning you'd have done it last night, and no on
would've seen you.... I'm not stupid you know."

[Ron's POV: Yeah, okay, I gave you your chance to come 
[clean, but it was the last chance you get. I'm not 
[stupid you know, it's not that hard to figure out what 
[you did. I'm not stupid you know, I can see that I'm 
[not the friend that I thought I was. 

"You're doing a really good impression of it," Harry snapped.

[And, of course, Ron is being stupid. We all know that
[because as readers, we have a greater insight, but Ron,
[from the minute Harry's name came out of the goblet and 
[Ron felt that emotional 'knife' stab into his heart, 
[has been thinking from his wounded heart not his 
[logical brain. I have no doubt that the first thought 
[in Ron's head when Harry's name came out, was not 
['Oh no, Harry gets all the glory again'; I'm betting 
[that it was 'Oh no, how could Harry do this without me? 
[How could he betray our friendship like this?'.

Ron ends the conversation-
"Yeah?" said Ron, and there was no trace of a grin, forced or
otherwise, on his face now. "You want to get to bed, Harry. I expect
you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something."

He (Ron) wrenched the hangings shut around his four-poster, leaving
Harry standing there by the door, ...

[True the 'photo-call' comment could be interpreted as
[jealousy, but in the context of the conversation, I 
[see it as Ron's final resignation. His final acceptance
[that the friendship he thought he had is not the 
[friendship thought it was. In a sense, it is Ron saying,
['fine, it's obvious I'm not your best friend, so you 
[just go your way and I'll go mine'. 

I can't imagine how much Ron's heart must have been aching at that
moment. Of course, we get to see inside Harry's head so we know how
much this hurt him. Buy my own intuitive sense is that Ron felt more
emotional pain when he pulled his bed curtains closed than he had ever
felt in his life. At that moment, he wasn't mourning the loss of glory
or money, he was mourning the betrayal and loss of friendship; the
loss of what he thought was the most important person in his life.
More accurately, the loss of what Ron perceived that friendship and
person to be.

This is the one and only place where Ron get's to express his own
feelings and speak for himself. From now until the end of the first
task, all reference to Ron's feelings and motivations are from third
parties. I think we will get more accurate clues from Ron's own words
than from other people's opinions.

Metaphorically speaking, this isn't about Harry reaching a certain
destination; it's about Harry not inviting his best friend along for
the ride.

In general, there can be no denying that Ron had elements of jealousy
and envy, but I am concerned with the very narrow confines of this one
event.

Finally, I'm not trying to dictate reality here, I'm simply taking a
poll. A poll in which I know I will always be in the minority opinion.
I'm just curious how big that minority is.

So, what say you all; jealousy or betrayal?

bboy_mn