SHIP: That Darned Kiss--The Problem With Reading R/H in GoF

[itsbeenawhile7 <05ajf@williams.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50192

First of all, I cannot agree more with what Ebony posted in her 
essay.  I've always read those passages with the same exact frame of 
mind.  The issues she brought up, plus some others that she only 
started to touch on are reasons why I think something's rotten in the 
land of Ron and Hermione.  As I'm brand new to the HP fandom online, 
I apologize if this has been brought up here or on some other forum 
already.

Ebony said:
>>I also noticed that this is a bit before Ron's epiphany about
>>Hermione, that "you are a girl." He makes no overt overtures of
>>interest towards Hermione at or up to this point. I see no
>>Hepburn/Tracy in miniature there. I see Ron being not very nice, 
>>and Hermione taking offense.

This point in particular, that Ron makes no overtures of interest 
towards Hermione prior to the mess that begins with his observation 
that she is a girl is rather important to what's wrong with R/Hr as 
it currently stands.  It would be one thing if the whole date thing 
made Ron recognize feelings he's had prior to this mess about 
Hermione--but it's quite another that this event *turns into* and in 
many ways *causes* his crush-like behavior and feelings through the 
latter sections of GoF.  Sure, many argue that Ron's willingness to 
defend Hermione when Malfoy calls her a mudblood, etc. is evidence of 
feelings he has for her--but I can't see for a moment how anyone 
could see this as support for Ron crushing on her, as Ron reacts like 
this when *anyone* close to him is insulted--himself, Harry, or his 
family.  One quick example I could find is below, though there are 
many others.

********
"Malfoy looked up at the crumbling house behind Ron.

'Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley?  Dreaming 
about having your own bedroom?  I heard your family all sleep in one 
room--is that true?'

Harry seized the back of Ron's robes to stop him from leaping on 
Malfoy." (PoA, US version, p. 279)  
********

Hermione is not receiving any special treatment.  The only concrete 
emoting we get out of Ron comes after the initial confrontation about 
securing dates for the Yule Ball.

I'd argue that the major reason Ron begins to develop crush-like 
feelings toward Hermione is not so much because he genuinely has 
fallen for her, as much as it's the result of his own confusion and 
frustration that grows out of this encounter.  I don't think any of 
this would have come about at all had Hermione been available to Ron 
as a fallback.  He's frustrated at this point at his own failure to 
secure a date and at Hermione's unwillingness to reveal her own date--
let me tell you, secrets of any kind at this age are *infuriating*.  
Ron is left out and overshadowed enough--it's clear he has issues 
about this, so it doesn't surprise me for a moment that Hermione's 
refusal to clue him into this makes him so upset.  He becomes 
preoccupied with it.  And preoccupation is often interpreted as 
liking someone, so it makes logical sense that Ron ends up with some 
Hermione confusion.

Pippin mentioned in an earlier post (#50057, "Re: SHIP: JKR & 
Ron/Hermione, H/H converging") that she believes Ron develops a 
resentment of Hermione "because she's becoming a woman, period. Ron 
would have been perfectly happy for her to stay one 
of the boys, and he resents her for changing," which I could not 
agree more with.  Ron's forced to see things differently once 
Hermione reveals she's got a date of her own, and I think that up 
until then, he was possessive of her in the "she's MY friend" sort of 
way, failing to realize that she's going to have interests of her 
own, and not just be the fallback for him.  This only adds to the 
overall confusion and frustration Ron experiences once he realizes 
that this just isn't the case.  The entire scenario sets Ron up to 
develop confused feelings of possessiveness (among other things) that 
eventually turn into the crush-like feelings we see from Ron later on 
in GoF.  I'm not a real big fan of this progression, nor do I feel 
there's anything deep and cemented involved with these emotions.  
Others have also pointed out and supported several times that 
Hermione does not reciprocate these feelings, so I won't repeat any 
of that.  It all adds up to a not so secure picture of Ron and 
Hermione, regardless of what people seem to want to see.

Sometimes, too, I wonder how much people underestimate the role of 
Krum in this whole mess.  Prior to the Yule Ball and the revelation 
of Hermione's mystery date, Ron is only frustrated about not knowing 
who she's going with--it isn't until after the Yule Ball that he 
starts doing things like grinding his pestle into his desk.  <g>  Ron 
is a jealous person, we know this--we've already seen what jealousy 
of Harry does to him earlier on in GoF.  And I'm convinced that his 
jealousy of Krum and his accomplishments plays a major role in Ron's 
crushing on Hermione.  Really, can you see Ron carrying on about all 
of this if Hermione had gone to the Yule Ball with Neville?  Or Dean 
Thomas, etc.?  Because I can't.

I'm sure that Ron and Hermione are going to get tangled up with this 
in some level in the next book--whether JKR takes the currently one-
sided confusion coming from Ron and pulls genuine emotion out of both 
he and Hermione to get them together, or simply lets Ron figure this 
whole frustration out on his own to conclude that he doesn't have 
deep feelings about Hermione remains to be seen (not that these are 
the only two possible outcomes of this mess).  The bottom line is, 
the Ron/Hermione shippers who criticize Harry/Hermione shippers (or 
other shippers, for that matter) for basing their opinions on 
an "ideal" relationship and not on canonical evidence are actually 
felled by their own arguments.  R/Hr shippers can rage on all they 
want about canon, but unless all they want out of Ron and Hermione's 
relationship is confused, crush-like frustration and misplaced 
possessive bickering, there is no evidence of a meaningful 
relationship, based on genuine and *primary* feelings (rather than 
secondary to a catalyst), for them.  I'm not saying that JKR can't 
provide them later on, but right now, a Ron/Hermione relationship is 
based just as much on an "ideal" as a Harry/Hermione relationship.  
There is nothing cementing Ron and Hermione as *the* couple, nor is 
there anything cementing Ron's crush on Hermione.

~Alyssa