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

[templar1112002]

No: HPFGUIDX 115294


> 
> 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 here: I did not make a statement, it was an opinion.  If 
you read my post properly, you will also find out that I was just 
trying to give my take on what was Jo's authorial intent by making 
Ron a Prefect and what her views of his character were, as per two 
posters wonderings on this issue. (As Harry thought it in GoF, you 
just missed the point, <g>).

My point was that she was trying to show us two of her beliefs 
through Ron: that she doesn't believe in Fate, just hard work and 
luck, and that it's all about the choices we take in life (easy Vs. 
right).  In GoF Ron had been complaining about the unfairness of 
life, Jo gave him two golden opportunities in OoTP to shine and 
finally get what he had wished for.  Jo showed us in OoTP a hesitant 
Ron at best when coming to Prefect responsibilities and a 
complaining/whining one at worst when coming to duties/work.  Jo 
showed us a happy Ron when he made it in the Quidditch team, and 
a 'quitter' when pressure/work was required of him, yes he did work 
hard to stay in the team, but mainly due to Angelina not letting him 
give up.  In the end, he came to the realization that he couldn't 
get any worse so he might as well go for it and try his best, he got 
lucky and he got the Cup for his team.  Can't wait to see if Jo is 
going to have Ron learn that perseverance and hard work, are the 
keys to success, not whining.


> 
> 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.
>
****Marcela again: Again, my point here was to prove authorial 
intent, not whether Ron deserved the badge or not.  I'd be very 
cautious in saying that Jo is wrong about what she thinks of one of 
her main characters, after all, she has devoted many years and lots 
of energy to her story and Ron is one of the main characters, she 
surely knows what to think of them... aside from whether she is 
wrong or right on the House docking-points system (IMO it needs to 
be explained a bit more, too), it's clear to me from her answer that 
she doesn't think very highly of Ron's performance as a Prefect.



Del: 
> 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 !


***Marcela:  I agree with you here, and you prove part of my point: 
that Jo's authorial intent was to show us it is hard work and luck 
what got Ron the Keeper position.  But (there is always one 'but', 
of course <g>): what was Jo's authorial intent by making Ron's 
Quidditch career so tough?  Why did she choose to make him whiny or 
a 'quitter'?  I think that her intention was to show us that 
sometimes we are not mentally ready to get what we wish for, that we 
always have to work hard, even after we get what we want, and that 
oft-times we find out that what seemed to be unattainable and dreamy 
could turn out to be daily nightmares once attained... 
As I said in my previous post, and I quote myself:

"... So, to summarize this, I believe her authorial intent in making 
Ron a Prefect (and Keeper) was to expose him to a 'real-life try-
out', we will have to wait for HBP to see what Ron's balance sheet 
is of his performance in OoTP... if he is willing to work hard for 
what he wants, or if he is going to 'change' his wish-list so that he
doesn't have to work that hard, or if he didn't learn much from this
experience..."

Marcela