Ron is like Percy (plus more Weasley thoughts)

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 89379

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:

<snip>
 Percy values
> grades (marks) and rules; Ron sets little stake by either; in that
> respect, he's much more like the twins.
> 
> Percy may well be the dysfunctional "good boy" that bboy (Steve)
> suggest he is; Ron, OTOH, is just an average kid with two serious
> character flaws, a bad temper and the stubborn streak he shares 
with
> Percy. Add to that the disadvantages of poverty and five older
> brothers and Ron has, as JKR would say, a lot on his plate. But 
like
> most people (even Percy), he has virtues to counter his flaws. He's
> brave in his own way and he's loyal in a pinch. I don't think we'll
> see him fight with Harry again, nor do I think he'll break with his
> family as Percy did. In the end, friendship and family are what 
matter
> most to Ron. They're what he will fight for when the time comes 
for a
> showdown with Voldemort and the DEs. Percy loves his family, too, 
as
> his reaction to Ron's rescue in the second task shows. I only hope
> that his love of family will win out over his ambition and stubborn
> pride in the next two books. If so, the similarities between Ron 
and
> Percy will be more important than the differences.


Do you really think that Ron's got more of a "bad temper" than 
either Harry or Hermione?  I do hear this idea pretty often and 
would agree that he was pretty quick tempered in GoF, but my 
impression was that he had the most self-control of the trio by 
OOP.  I'm not saying that he doesn't have flaws (all three kids 
certainly do), but he seemed to have outgrown the bad temper by his 
fifth year.  As for the stubborn streak, is *anyone* more stubborn 
than Harry?  Possibly Hermione who is still pursuing her SPEW 
project in spite of a total lack of success, but Harry seems to be 
the one digging in his heels the most.

I do think that both Ron and Percy are deeply insecure although it 
manifests itself in nearly opposite ways with Percy being almost 
maniacal about following rules and working toward being the perfect 
ministry employee, and Ron's tendency to avoid effort for fear of 
failure.  In OOP we get to see Ron make some real progress toward 
overcoming his insecurity, which is something that Percy has not yet 
managed as of the book's end.  It'll be interesting to see if and 
how he deals with this issue before the end of the series. 

Jo S.