Book 1 Questions

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 146734

lagattalucianese wrote:
> Wizarding families can be rather offhanded where wands of school-age
> wizards are concerned. Ron chooses his second wand (or it chooses
> him), but his first one, the one trashed by the Whomping Willow, is a
> hand-me-down from brother Charlie. So it may be that a parent or
> elder sibling can select a wand for a kid, and everything is fine as
> long as the wand itself has no serious objections.

Miles:
We know this of Neville's wand as well, he uses his father's wand. So, even
if we put in account the very special relationship of Neville and his Gran,
it's obviously not standard that a wizard gets his own and new wand when he
starts at Hogwarts. I'd suppose that the wand is some kind of ancient or at
least old family possession. Maybe this is one reason for Ron to be so upset
about the damage after the collision with the Whomping Willow in CoS.

lagattalucianese wrote:
> It's interesting that per JKR's Web site, this first wand, the hand-
> me-down, was of wood that matched Ron's birthdate in the Celtic
> system. Why, then, did JKR make it a hand-me-down? Was this for
> humorous effect, to emphasize the Weasleys' impecunious situation?

Miles:
Could be just a coincidence. Or it was the reason for the Weasleys to give
new wand to Charlie, so that Ron could use his old one.
And I do not see the poorness of the Weasleys as a humorous effect at all,
not in this situation, nor anywhere in the entire series. At the most, the
effects of it are tragicomically, but mostly Harry is really sorry for Ron,
and Ron is ashamed when this problem is touched.

Two of the main characters of Hogwarts students do not have or had "own"
wands, and we only know of few wand origins at all. So for me, JKR wants to
show us that getting a new wand of his or her own for an eleven year old kid
is not standard in the wizarding world.

Miles