[HPforGrownups] Ron and money (kinda Spoilers)

[Lady Macbeth]

No: HPFGUIDX 114849

Del  wrote:
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Dear JKR ! I loved it when I read her comments about Ron and the
Leprechaun gold ! Some posters here have been so tough with Ron for
daring to complain about being poor, but JKR is on his side on that
one. She says that "he cannot imagine how it must be not to notice a
pocketful of gold disappearing", not that he's being jealous or greedy
or anything, he's simply baffled. She even uses the word "poignancy"
to describe the emotions Ron feels during the Niffler scene, and
that's a strong word. She even concludes by saying that she "wanted to
show, through Ron, how hard it is sometimes not to have any money when
other people do". *She* doesn't judge him to be a bad boy for
complaining about money once in a while, in fact she calls him her
"past self".

Oh, and there's her answer about what she's bought with her money, and
she says the best thing that has come out of her wealth is "abscence
of worry". As someone whose mother was always quite tight, I know that
kids feel it when their parents are worried about not having enough
money to pay for things. Obviously, all the Weasley kids are aware of
their parents' sometimes uncomfortable money situation, judging by the
way they react (the Twins open their own shop while still at school,
Ron is always avoiding to point out that his parents don't have much
money, and so on). That could also explain in part Percy's outburst at
his father, if he discovered that getting higher up in the MoM
hierarchy isn't that hard, but that his father refused to take the
necessary steps, and so kept them *all*, wife and kids included, in a
constant state of anxiety, apparently *needlessly* (we know better,
but Percy is only 20 and extremely naive).


Lady Macbeth replies:

That was one of the comments that I was really pleased with too.  Though I
left open the possibility that Ron's "greed" would make him switch sides, I
felt more sympathy for Ron than a lot of people.  I think that he's feeling
the weight of his parents' financial situation WAY too early - my parents
did an excellent job of hiding it from me.  But, they were of the opinion
that my brothers and I should grow up thinking that people who had more than
us were spending their money wastefully to be show offs, rather than realize
that they were sinking further and further into debt for the things we DID
have.

And, unfortunately, my husband and I are in the same situation my parents
were in.  (These things have a way of perpetuating themselves from one
generation to the next - hopefully the college education I'm sinking my
family into debt for will get me a better job and get my family out of that
loop.)  I absolutely felt for Ron when he told Harry it must be nice to not
notice a whole pocket full of gold missing - I was (because of my situation)
reading the undertone of "It must be nice to not worry where dinner's coming
from.  It must be nice to not worry where the rent money is coming from..."
Because, like Ron had been doing, as soon as I'm given money I start making
plans for what it needs to be used for.  Bills, dinner, medical expenses -
those are the worries of my life, and probably Ron's life.  Harry, on the
other hand, doesn't seem to worry about those things.  As someone referenced
in the "abuse" thread, while the Dursleys never gave him love, they gave him
food, shelter and clothing, and he saw by the loads of money that they spent
on Dudley that they would never want for ANY of those "needs" - they even
had money to fritter on Dudley's "wants".  So, when a pocketful of gold
disappears for Harry, it's a nuisance that's not particularly noticeable or
hurtful - when it disappears for Ron, it's the money for the next month
that's gone.

-Lady Macbeth






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