Ron's Alleged Jealousy (was: Draco vs. Ron)

[cantoramy <cantor@vgernet.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52753

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dicentra63 <dicentra at x>"
<dicentra at x> wrote:
> 
> Can you (or anyone else) build a case for it?  REAL jealousy?  Not
> wistful thinking and wishing things were different, but soul-eating,
> deadly sin jealousy?
> 
> --Dicentra


I agree with you.  Envious would be a better word.  Both boys are
envious of each other.  Harry longs for what Ron has: a family who
cares about him and who is interested in what he does and how he
feels; a magic house (he calls The Hollow "brilliant"); knowledge of
the WW and its customs and traditions.  Since this is Harry's story,
we see these things through his character, even though JKR has never
expressly written them. Ron's envy of Harry is less esoteric: the
vault-ful of money; the fancy brooms; the new robes; being the seeker
as a first year (and being compared to Ron's brother Charlie who
"could have played for England").  JKR doesn't spend time explicitly
defining Ron's feelings, but we get the idea.  

I was taken aback just a bit when I read Ron's reaction in GOF.  Did
he think that just because Harry was Harry Potter he could get away
with anything?  That Harry knew how to fool the goblet or that the
goblet knew who Harry was and accepted his name anyway, regardless of
his age? It just shows how JKR is able to illustrate youth and its
emotions without becoming effusive.

cantoramy
(who is freezing in the Berkshires and knows that her husband's oil
bill for his retail store has got to be bigger than any oil bill
Hogwarts would get, regardless of its size)