Ron and Hermione in Deathly Hallows

[Keith]

No: HPFGUIDX 172901

> > alison:
> > the relationship  between Ron and Hermione was established
> > early on, it was about the  only 'given' in the whole series.
> > Harry and Ginny where also a given from the start.
> >

> sandra:
> You're right, they were all "a given" right at the start
> or at least very early on ... but my point is that there's no
> tenderness shown between any of them. I can't think of any
> warm moments between R and H, no stumbled honest
> expressions of their feelings, no first time they held hands (or
> were seen to hold hands) and generally it's just one bickering
> session agter another through all seven books.
> ... I felt nothing even though the characters were
> individually likeable.
> I would have thought that Ron, who was never the most poetic or
> literate  of characters, to have confided with Harry or at least
> sought his opinion as a friend regarding Hermione and how he
> was feeling, wouldn't you? ...
> I wouldn't expect the same of Hermione which is why I only
> mention Ron, because we never actually hear about  her friends
> beyond Ron and Harry. ...  I feel unmoved and genuinely let down
> That's why I feel JKR isn't a romantic writer at all.

Lurker here.

I can give two good reasons you didn't see the relationship develop
anything like you wished:

#1: People are different. Some couples have a lot in common, some are
an "opposites attract" type. R and H are both very closed-book, and
VERY stubborn. I had a pair of friends that went through a 2 year
phase when I was in high school. (Unmarked and unwarranted jealousy
when one had dates, etc) it finally took a damn near intervention
from our circle of friends to get them to realize they were supposed
to be together. (btw they stayed together for at least 5 years, I
fell out of contact after that)

#2: JK Rowling is trying to get you (the reader) to be frustrated by
R and H's lack of action. It is a ham-fisted audience manipulator, as
much as the cliff hanger in the last 2 minutes of every episode of 24.

The locket scene laid bare Ron's insecurity. Remember his
perspective: he is an emotionionally immature teenage boy, who is
paranoid that H might just fancy Harry more: he's smarter, rich,
famous beyond belief. Like most insecure boys, Ron probably thinks
Harry is more attractive as well. H's constantly being smarter than
him would also be an intimidator.

-Keith