[HPforGrownups] SHIP: Ron/Hermione - What's the attraction?

[Charlie Moody]

No: HPFGUIDX 74900

On Saturday, August 2, 2003, at 07:09  AM, Przemyslaw Plaskowicki wrote:

> samnanya wrote (2003-08-02 03:39):
>>
>> The first and most significant wedge is Ron becoming prefect instead
>> of Harry.  Hermione's glee when she sees Harry holding the badge and
>> thinking that it was Harry that became the prefect was brilliantly 
>> shown
>> by JKR in her shrieking reaction and the simple line "Me too, Harry, 
>> me too!"
>>
>> The sheer joy  she expresses in those five words is amazing. She is
>> VERY disappointed when she finds out that it is Ron instead of Harry.

[ Nicely-done recap of the "Prefect-Confusion incident" ]
[ by Pshemekan, deleted ]

> Pshemekan:
> Nope, no disapointment here.

Really?  You've done a marvellous job of detailing the progress
of the scene;  Hermione went straight from unbridled delight to
absolute mortification (a totally natural transition, IMO), just as
you've laid out - but your insistence that her delight contained no
joy @ sharing something special w/ Harry seems to contradict the
plain meaning of the text.  By the same token, claiming that her
embarrassment @ having just stuck both feet in her mouth *does
not* obscure any disappointment at Harry not being made Prefect
*because*she*feels*none*...well, it seems both arbitrary and
unfounded in light of the passage itself..

In other words, I think you're inserting your desires (ie, for R/H 
SHIP) into the text, not finding a basis such a relationship there.

> I respectfully submit this to be a pro R/H moment. Especially 
> Hermione's
> defence of Ron.

"A pro R/H moment"?  Hermione's "DEFENSE" of Ron?

She's just embarrassed not only herself, but BOTH of her
best friends;  Both of them have just seen her obvious delight
@ sharing Prefect status with Harry, and both have just seen
that joy wiped away by her bewilderment @ Ron's prefecture(?)
(ie, no 'Oh, Ron, how wonderful!), followed by her horror as
she realises just how thoroughly she's put her foot in it.

As for Hermione's defense of Ron in this instance:
defending Ron against herself?  She innocently / cluelessly
made a mess of things, she's groping for a way of minimising
the impact of what she's just done, and she's realising it's a
hopeless effort - this is her coming to his defense?

I'm really sorry, I'm NOT trying to be difficult or argumentative here -
but I just don't see what you're basing your conclusions on.  Unless
you believe that "not getting along" = "true love", absolutely and
always;  that might explain the tendency for the R/H crowd to cite
every instance of friction between the two as if it was proof of their
destiny together.  It would also explain the success of Jerry Springer,
but that's a different conversation.

(BTW:  I did look into that stack o' links you posted - at least one of 
the
pages you linked was just this:  Listed quotes, seemingly of every
exchange R & H ever had, as if every single one of them was indicative
of a strong underlying attraction.  IMO only one did so, in any sense
("Oh," said Ron brightly, "so Hermione's alright!")

I have some experience w/ dating behaviours and It's just not true
that quibbling, quarreling and bickering always indicate sexual
tension / attraction / hidden desires.  When such feelings are
present the verbal interplay is quite different, and the reactions
to such exchanges are fairly distinct, and easy to recognise.  JKR
has put nothing of the sort on paper as between Ron & Hermione.
Their verbal exchanges, their opinions regarding each other, their
attitudes about life & themselves, & their general dissimilarities, as
presented on the page by JKR, are entirely inconsistent with the
fundamental premise of Ron and Hermione as a likely match.

I didn't come into this with the notion that Harry & Hermione ought to
end up together;  I just read the books;  and when I first encountered
the R/H hypothesis, I was puzzled, because I could recall nothing in
the books to support it.  The more I've looked looked into it, and the
more I've read the arguments for and against R/H, the more convinced
I've become that it simply has no basis in the canon.

In the interests of fairness, here's the firmest argument I've heard, 
pro
R/H:  Ron makes Hermione laugh, and Harry doesn't.  I haven't
  checked this out for myself, so I can't vouch for it, but I acknowledge
that a shared sense of humour is an important thing in a relationship.
Even so, this point (if true) would be more an obstacle to H/H, not a
boost to R/H, given their near-total incompatibility.

The R/H SHIP, in SHIPping terms, is little more than a walnut-shell
half, holding a toothpick, anchored in wax, to which has been taped
a tiny, tiny flag - adrift on the wide, wide sea.  Only its lack of 
substance
allows it to remain afloat.

I stand, as always, ready to listen to any argument that derives from
JKR's text and does not fly in the face of observable human behaviour.
--
Charlie

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]