Anatomy of a Rift

[dicentra63 <dicentra@xmission.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52057

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "abigailnus <abigailnus at y...>"
<abigailnus at y...> wrote:
> I was all set to toss Jealous!Ron out 
> the window and replace him with a new and improved 
> Betrayed!Ron, but I'm afraid that I have one itsy-bitsy issue 
> to raise before I declare myself sold.  

Tuh!  Do it anyway! :D
> 
> What is the point?
> 
> What purpose is JKR serving by leading her readers by the 
> hand to the conclusion of Jealous!Ron, but in reality writing 
> text that supports Betrayed!Ron?  What narrative function 
> does this device serve?

That's a good question, and one that I have not yet pondered.  I've
come to see this "bait and switch" as a kind of Easter Egg (a term
from computer programming wherein there are undocumented ways to make
things happen: access another screen, or discover some silly little
graphic; the hidden cut scenes from the Sorcerer's Stone DVD qualify
as Easter Eggs).  A hidden little surprise that you don't see unless
you start clicking randomly on the icons.

It's entirely possible that JKR didn't realize that the reader *would*
follow Harry into the deception so easily.  Given that Jealous!Ron
doesn't exist in Books 1-3, she might have thought we knew Ron well
enough interpret the situation correctly.

A less flattering explanation is that she threw this conflict in just
to pass the time until the First Task.  Ron and Harry haven't had a
fight yet. Hey! That's an interesting twist!  I'll just throw it in! 
And so there *is* no narrative function except the purely practical. 
The fact that Harry never learns the truth might be the result of
having to wrap things up quickly to make that dratted deadline, or of
preventing The Rift from affecting the rest of the book (because it
was thrown in at the last minute?).

Part of the reason I didn't contemplate the "why" of it all is that I
did time in a graduate literary criticism program.  Discovering hidden
things that don't really have any meaning is what we did 24/7. :D 
Besides, we never studied works in progress -- the end of the story
was already written, so it was all a matter of hindsight.  That's what
makes analyzing HP so much fun: it's not yet finished!

Cindy suggests that the next time Ron suspects Harry of betrayal,
he'll be less quick to forgive.  I don't know.  Maybe he'll be quicker.

Pippin proposes that it's setting up a time when relying on Hermione's
information isn't such a good thing.  Or letting Harry believe that
Ron does have jealousy problems is a set-up for something later.

These sound like good possibilities, so I'll let *them* be the answers
to your question, K?

--Dicentra, who didn't give a hoot about Ron two weeks ago