[HPforGrownups] Harry's big money gift

[Jesta Hijinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 53087

> > ....why didn't Harry give Ron the money??
>
>It seemed natural to me for Harry to give the money to the twins, after 
>he'd
>had time to think about it (after he stopped trying to give it to the 
>Diggory
>family and to the folks in his hospital room).  Ron's jealous of Harry in
>certain ways, and embarrassed about being poor.  If Harry gave the money to
>Ron, Ron would be humiliated that Harry was *acknowledging* Ron's poverty
>(Harry buying candy for Ron isn't the same kind of embarrassment as 
>*giving*
>Ron 1000 Galleons -- Harry shares the candy with Ron -- he gives Ron the
>Omnioculars as a present and says it's for the next three Christmases to 
>keep
>Ron from being embarrassed).  Ron hates the idea of anyone acknowledging 
>his
>poverty, and Harry is wise enough to understand that -- that's why he 
>doesn't
>give the Weasleys money at other points in the books.  Giving the money to
>the twins, with the caveat that they must buy Ron new dress robes, means 
>the
>money will be put to good use (to a boy Harry's age and with his 
>experience,
>trying to ensure more laughter in the world would be a very important 
>thing)
>and Ron won't be forever embarrassed that Harry thought of him as so poor
>that he *had* to give him that money.  The twins see it as an investment as
>much as a gift, I think, and I believe Harry does too.  I think he made the
>right choice.  JMHO.
>
>Lynda
>* * *
>"Don't let  the Muggles get you down." Ron Weasley PoA
>
I guess I'm kind of alone in this, but I really think JKR is making too much 
of the money thing and Ron.  All I can think of is that she must be doing it 
to make a point later in the books - that maybe it is in fact going to turn 
out to be Ron's "Achilles Heel", as it were.  He might be offered a tempting 
amount of money to do something dubious, but I don't think it would be as 
obvious as "come over to the Dark Side, my son".  I think it's more likely 
to be something questionable that will put him in a situation it would be 
hard to reveal all about, so he covers it up, etc.

But anyway:  all I can think is that the Weasley children were all severely 
lectured against taking any kind of help from anyone outside the family, the 
way that some families in this country get their backs up about "charity" - 
even though some of the same sets of beliefs that urge them against 
accepting it also urge people to extend it, but never mind.  Ron is the one 
that any kind of monetary favor seems to prickle the most - I suspect it's 
because he's the one we're "closest" to, but he may also be the child it 
bothers the most because his hobbies might lead him to expensive tastes - he 
could yearn for tickets to the Chudley Cannon matches and home and away 
robes and posters and books...

What puzzles me is why Harry doesn't just do things like make an anonymous 
deposit in the Weasley account (maybe, as I suggested elsewhere, it's 
because they're numbered like Switzerland and he doesn't know the number and 
can't ask for it), or buy great birthday and Christmas presents for Ron and 
the rest of the Weasleys (although the ones he does get for Ron are quite 
good).  The Weasleys have him to stay for a couple of weeks at a time - he 
could *insist* that Mrs. Weasley take him shopping for food at whatever the 
market equivalent is and do a really grand spree to restock her larder, or 
something like that out of gratitude for bed and board that gets him away 
from the Dursleys for a bit.

This is one element that feels just too uncomfortably like a plot farrago to 
me on JKR's part; I've been helped and extended help myself at various 
points in my life, and it just isn't that hard to do if you put your mind to 
it.

Felinia

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