Harry's Big Money Gift.....(Was: Clues from GoF)

[Erica <cymru1ca@yahoo.ca>]

No: HPFGUIDX 53055

-
> Carrie wrote:
> > 
> > Ya know, this goes along with the Jealous!Ron theory...that I 
> > don't actually agree with, but.......
> > 
> > Remember when Fred and George gave Harry the Map. Ron's 
> > comment "why didn't they give me the Map, I am their brother?" A 
> > point well taken by Ron, in my opinion.
> > 
> > Well....why didn't Harry give Ron the money?? Ron's his best 
> > friend, he knows he needs money for things. He knows how 
> > frustrated Ron is of hand-me-downs, etc. Ron is always (well 
> > except for a huge part of GoF) there for him, helped him get on 
> > his feet in the WW, etc. He owes Ron a lot. And he just disses 
him 
> > like that. You would think at least he would give the twin's the 
> > money Ludo owed them and the balance to Ron. Is our little Harry 
> > harboring angst toward Ron still?? Hmmmm...
> 
> > Oh well, I am sure it's a literary device for something. But 
> > still, poor Ron.......
> > 
> > Carrie ..... who could have thought of a lot better things to do 
> > with that money! =)
> 
Pip:
> I think Harry is distinguishing between 'want' and 'need'. He's 
done 
> this before; in PoA he realises that much as he 'wants' the 
> fantastic racing broom in the window, he doesn't 'need' it. He'd 
> never lost a match on his current broom. The need to use the money 
> his parents left him to support himself through the five remaining 
> years of school was more important.
> 
> Similarly, Ron 'wants' money. He doesn't need it. He is fed, he is 
> clothed, he has toys, and books, and pocket money. It may be 
> embarrassing to go to the ball in a second hand dress suit, but 
> embarrassing is all it is.
> 
> The twins, on the other hand, have decided what they want in life. 
> They want to open up a joke shop. Their primary problem is that 
they 
> need capital to do this. Capital for renting premises and buying 
> ingredients. Since their parents don't *have* a spare thousand 
> galleons, how are they going to get it?
> 
> Molly has just stymied their first, perfectly legitimate and 
> sensible plan for getting money together. She destroyed half the 
> stock that they were planning to sell at Hogwarts. If they make 
> jokes at home, they risk Molly destroying them. Route one: 'start 
> small and save the profits until you can expand' is effectively 
shut.
> 
> Route two: 'speculate with the little money they have got' has also 
> been shut off because Bagman was dishonest.
> 
> Route three: 'borrow money' is also a little dodgy. Defaulting on a 
> loan from Goblins looks like the kind of mistake which leads to 
> intimate knowledge of river bottoms. And the joke shop *is* 
> speculative; businesses do fail.
> 
> So the Twins are facing a future of arguments about their choice of 
> career and of a long period scrabbling around looking for money. 
> 
> Harry meanwhile, *has* money. One thousand Galleons that he 
obtained 
> by fraud. It wasn't his fraud (it was Crouch Jr's), but still, he 
> feels that he didn't earn it. With Cedric's death attached to it he 
> doesn't feel comfortable keeping it. If he gives it to Ron, all Ron 
> will do is spend it on sweets, toys and the sort of stuff a 14 year 
> old would spend it on. If he gives it to the Twins, they'll use it 
> to kick start their career ....
> 
> So who should he give it to? His best friend who just 'wants' it? 
Or 
> to two people he knows who need the money and will use it for their 
> futures? Especially since, as Harry points out, the WW is probably 
> going to 'need' a few good laughs in its near future ....
> 


Me:  

I don't think that Harry analysed want vs need when he 'forced' the 
money onto the twins.  He's been trying to get rid of it, to give it 
to anyone since he 'won' it (didn't he offer it to the Diggory's 
too?).  Nobody wanted to take it, so he's stuck with it on the train 
ride home where he comes to find out the twins' hard luck story and 
foists the money onto them.  They are hesitant to take it until Harry 
*insists*.  I don't think that Harry even entertained the thought of 
giving it to Ron, not because he thought that Ron would blow it all 
on himslef on sweets and 'toys' (I happen to think that if Ron came 
into some money he'd be sharing it with his whole family not keeping 
it for himself) but because he knows that Ron *hates* to be beholding 
to him.  Everytime Harry tries to give Ron a gift out of the ordinary 
(i.e. outside Christmas, birthdays) it seems to irritate the bejeezus 
out of Ron.  Isn't that what the 'Buy Ron a new dress robe but don't 
tell him they're from me' is all about?  What would Ron do if he 
found out that his new dress robes *were* from Harry?

Erica