CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 9, The Woes of Mrs. Weasley - Discussion Questio

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 88505

Abigail asked:
10. We already know why Harry wasn't selected for Prefect, but 
do you feel that Ron was a good choice?  Does he truly have 
latent leadership qualities or did Rowling select him simply to 
make Harry jealous (and because, apart from Harry, he's the 
Gryffindor boy with whom we have the most contact)?  What do 
you feel might have been Dumbledore's reasons for selecting Ron 
as prefect?  Is he perhaps trying to guide Ron in the path of his 
older brothers?  Would another Gryffindor boy have made a better 
choice?
>
Marina: 
> I actually think that Neville would've been a better choice.  He 
> needed a confidence booster as much as Ron did, and had already 
> demonstrated, back in PS/SS, the courage to stand up to his peers 
> for the good of the house.  But in story terms, Neville is still too 
> minor a character.  Plus, his confidence booster came from the DA 
> instead.  Actually, I think the whole prefect storyline was kind of 
> wasted in the book.  Most of Ron's character development came from 
> his role as a Quidditch player, not from his role of prefect.  Of 
> course, if he hadn't made prefect, he wouldn't have had a broom to 
> get on the Quidditch team with, so perhaps that was its only purpose.

Carol responds:
I think it's a necessary boost to Ron's self-esteem, making him more
of an equal to his brothers and raising closer to his mother's view of
Percy, Charlie, and Bill. It also eliminates an unnecessary extra
burden from Harry and provides a much-needed taste of responsibility
for Ron. Granted, Ron wasn't a great success as a prefect, but with
the twins gone, he should blossom a little in the next book. As for
Neville, I don't think his fellow Gryffindors would accord him the
necessary respect. They still see him as forgetful and bumbling. He'll
find other ways to develop, possibly confronting Snape and, I hope,
becoming closer to Harry. (I doubt very much that Ron will ever become
Head Boy, but he may make quidditch captain, so he'll have matched
Percy and Bill in one honor and Charlie in another. Once he sees
himself as the equal of his brothers, he can start "finding himself,"
as we used to say in the Seventies.) I don't think the prefect
storyline is wasted; we see contrasting ways of handling the
position--Percy, Tom Riddle, Draco, Hermione, Ron--and reactions to
authority in that form (notably the twins).

Hope this makes sense as I'm on my way out the door and don't have
time to read it over.

Carol