Ron and hard work (was OotP Harry not a prefect & his Inner Voice)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 115291



Marcela wrote :
" Now, the thousand dollar questions are:
 
1)Do we think that Ron 'performed' well with his given opportunities?
2)Did he chose to do what was 'easy' or what was 'right'?
 
IMO, no to 1), and 'what was easy' to 2).  Jo implies so in the FAQ 
section of her website: "...Ron got it wrong in 'Phoenix', from which
we can deduce that he hasn't been a very authoritarian prefect thus
far...","

Del replies :
Needless to say, as a Ron fan, I disagree :-)

The quote from JKR's website has been discussed before, and quite a
few people agree that if anyone got anything wrong, it's JKR herself.
Ron did not get anything wrong (namely, that Prefects can't dock
points from Houses), or else Ernie did too, and probably Hermione too
since she didn't contradict them. It follows that we can't deduce
anything about what kind of Prefect Ron is. And anyway, being a good
Prefect doesn't necessarily mean being an authoritarian one.

As many have pointed out before, we simply don't know how good of a
Prefect Ron is. The only thing we know is that he didn't stand up to
his brothers, but then none of the older Gryffindor Prefects did
either, only Hermione. That would indicate that it's Hermione who is
not "normal", not the 5 other Gryffindor Prefects, including Ron.

So no I don't agree with your statement that Ron did not perform well
as a Prefect.

Marcela wrote :
" she also says that she doesn't believe in Fate, that she believes
'in hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second',
and from her books she also makes us know (Harry and readers) that
Ron's prefect opportunity was actually a fluke, it had been Harry's in
first place, and that Angelina chose Ron as Keeper over two other
better players mainly because he was a Weasley."

Del replies :
The Prefect badge might have been Harry's in the first place, but that
doesn't mean that Ron didn't do anything to deserve it. There were 3
other boys DD could have chosen, and none of them have demonstrated
that they really couldn't be Prefects. So if DD chose Ron, it's
because he saw something more in Ron than in either Neville, Dean or
Seamus.

As for Ron becoming Keeper, I think it is *exactly* an example of
JKR's philosophy : hard work attracts luck.
1. When asked what he wants as a Prefect gift, Ron chooses a new
broom. That's a good proof that he had his eyes on the Keeper post a
long time before tryouts. Moreover, if he hadn't been chosen, the new
broom would have been basically useless, so Ron would have sacrificed
a perfect opportunity to get something else.
2. Ron practiced for an entire week, several hours every day, before
showing up to the tryouts. If that's not hard work, I don't know what is.
3. Ron was not chosen because he is a Weasley ! He was Angelina's
third choice, and he got the post over the other two because he wasn't
as whiny as one and he was more committed to the team than the other.
4. Let's not forget the *negative* influence of the Twins. Ron had it
*harder* because of them : not only did he have to dare trying out,
but he also had to dare risking to make a fool of himself in front of
his older and infinitely more talented brothers, who would not have
let him forget about his lame attempt for the entire year, had he not
been chosen.
In short : Ron sacrificed, worked hard, and got lucky.

Go, Ron, go !

Del