[HPforGrownups] Quidditch: Ron, Wizarding population and the rules

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 49875

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ali <Ali at z...>" <Ali at z...> wrote:
> 
> Ron:
> 
> Much has been said about Ron the strategist and Ron the Quidditch 
> devotee, but has anyone questioned why his favourite team is so 
> lacklustre? Echoing again Debbie's suggestion that Quidditch is a 
> Metaphor for the unfolding story in the Potterverse, can anything be 
> read into the fact that Ron is passionate about a team who's motto is
> "let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best" (QTTA 
> p.33).
> 
> Whilst it is true that team support often runs geographically or 
> through families, it is also true that fans follow success. In 
> Britain this is particularly true of youngsters flocking in their 
> droves to support Manchester United. Ron though is loyal to a team 
> who on recent performance (i.e. the last century) have little hope of 
> success, yet his greatest desire in life is to be successful. We see 
> this in his vision of upholding the Quidditch cup and becoming Head 
> Boy in the Mirror of Erised. Ron appears confused, fighting between 
> mediocrity (as represented by his love of the "Canons" and his 
> feelings about poverty) and his desire for attainment and success.
> 
While I agree with what others have posted in response that Ron's loyalty is such that he would be unlikely to abandon his team solely because they were sinking into mediocrity, the Cannons have been mediocre for a century now, and perhaps the better question to ask is why he chooses to identify with a "loser" so to speak.  According to QTTA, the Cannons have been also-rans for nearly a century and adopted their present motto before Ron was even born.

To me "Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best" sums up rather well how Ron has approached his life to date.  My assessment of Ron is that while he isn't lacking in ambition, as the Mirror of Erised indicated, it is cloaked in his own self-doubt and fear of failure, magnified by the success of his older brothers.  So therefore he does nothing to further himself:  if he doesn't try to win, he can't fail.  Therefore, to date he has not taken charge of his own destiny in any meaningful sense; on those few occasions that he has stepped forward (the chess sacrifice, for example) it has always been for someone else.  (This theory is set out in some more detail in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/38730). 
Likewise, the Cannons' motto suggests a passive attitude which precludes any chance the Cannons might otherwise have for achieving success in the Quidditch professional league. 

I also think it's significant that the Cannons have a winning past, suggesting that with the right changes and most importantly the right attitude, the Cannons could win again.  I see Ron in that light as well -- he is quite talented and capable of high achievement, or he would not be so successful at chess, which is his other passion besides the Cannons.  Indeed, the fact that Ron's old battered chess set was inherited from his grandfather reinforces the notion that he has a legacy to live up to.  Certainly he seems to have a great rapport with his chessmen, who trust him as he does not trust himself away from the chessboard.  So, if his loyalty to the Cannons, who are mired in mediocrity, is a symbol of his self-doubt, then perhaps the chess set represents the innate talents that he has inherited, and which he can put to use if he so chooses.

The Cannon's motto has appeared to date only in QTTA (IIRC), so its canonical status may be questioned by some, but I believe that there are references to the Cannons' mediocrity in the novels themselves.  If in OoP or at any time in the future we see a reference to a new attitude taking over the Cannons, I would not take that as a sign that Voldemort will be defeated.  I would take that as signaling to us that Ron might be ready at last to take charge of his own life.  While I believe this will happen at some point in the series (triggered, possibly by a tragedy or near-tragedy), I think Ron has a bit of soul-searching to do first, which he has to date been reluctant to undertake except at a very subconscious level.  

Debbie
rejoicing with the rest of the fandom over today's announcement


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