[HPforGrownups] Re: On the perfection of moral virtues

[Dantzel Withers]

No: HPFGUIDX 168771



horridporrid03 <horridporrid03 at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Ron's sense of inferiority leads him to feel jealous anger against 
Harry in GoF. But he is forced to confront and deal with those 
feelings and a lesson is learned. Ron will still deal with 
inferiority, but not manifested in that particular way.

Instead of feeling like this is a path of natural growth on Ron's 
part, it comes across as forced to me. Every time I read about Ron 
flubbing up in practice I would think with great frustration of the 
OotP game. It was like that scene never happened; no one ever even 
referred to it, IIRC. Which is frankly out of character for Ron, and 
makes team captain Harry look like a bit of an idiot.

Was that JKR's goal? I doubt it. So I can only guess that she was a 
bit thrown off by Ron's growth in OotP and had to force him into a 
stilted holding pattern until the "big payoff" in DH. Badly done on 
her part, IMO. And a definite weakness in the series. 

  Dantzel replies:
  I think that JKR is pointing out something very important, actually. How often do we learn a lesson the first time, and keep it learned? Whether as a dancer, musician, athlete, or student at school, I learned the same lesson many times because I simply didn't hold onto it. That's not me saying that I'm stupid, it's me saying that I'm *human*. I learned how to do a set of turns in dance one day, only to feel like I couldn't do it the next day, and mess up completely. You could say to me, "But what's the problem? You were splendid yesterday!" But self-doubt doesn't listen to logic.
   
  It's the same thing when you watch a friend in a relationship that is NOT working and they are getting together, breaking up, getting back together, etc. You see it, and she KIND of sees it, but not in a way that she is going to learn her lesson and dump the idiot for good. Feelings don't always listen to logic.
   
  When I read a repeating flaw in a character, it makes them more realistic to me because people aren't perfect. When people 'learn their lesson' the first time and they never make it again, it's fake. (There are the superhero types, but they are the sort of characters that are always insightful, always just, always strong, and it's just the Kryptonite that brings them down). If an author is writing a story where the characters AND the plot develop, however, then I appreciate the agonizing moments where you look down at the page and want to shake it so that maybe you can get the character's act together for them, much as I feel at the moment with a friend of mine who isn't learning her lesson the first time. :)
   
  So yay for a Ron who messes up and doubts himself!
   
  Dantzel :)

 
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