[HPforGrownups] Re: DH reread CH 4-5

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 186265

>> Sartoris22:
>>
>> You do a great job explaining the development of Ron and Hermione. Still, 
>> I'm troubled that Ron has such an inconsistent developmental pattern. It 
>> really doesn't make sense that he can be a Quidditch star in OOTP, then 
>> completely doubt his abilities in HBP. Some of that experience should 
>> have rubbed off.
>
> Pippin:
> Ron's "you can do this" feeling came to him out of nowhere in OOP -- it 
> wasn't the result of disciplined thinking. It's not that he couldn't 
> remember how it felt to be confident, it's that he didn't know how he 
> could trigger that state again, and his doubts told him he'd never be able 
> to do it.

Shelley:
And there is another thing- personality. A shy person may have one instance 
of public success, but that single event may not overcome their shy 
personality. The event is over, and the person retreats to the place where 
they feel comfortable. Ron was trust into the limelight with the Quidditch, 
but I don't think his was a shyness like Neville's where he just needed a 
confidence booster to bring out the best in him, but rather I think Ron's 
insecurities are deeper than that. Given a choice, I don't think he would 
have chosen to do the whole Quidditch thing again. It may have been too much 
in the limelight, too much pressure to perform. Stuck in his mind might not 
have been the win- what stuck in his mind might have been the feelings 
before- the powerful fear of the crowds, the vomiting, the mental struggle 
that he went through to perform when everyone was looking at him. The 
overall experience may not have been perceived as positive. We see success 
and think he should have been changed by that, but some insecurities are 
much deeper than that. Ron remains immature, and insecure, and from the 
epilogue 19 years later, still needs affirmation from Hermione. It's like 
that personality trait has become synonymous with his name, but he doesn't 
seem too bothered by that. If he was, that Quidditch success would have had 
a more lasting change for the better.

I know this is unrelated, but there is a TV show called Biggest Loser. In 
it, these people experience tremendous weight loss, but I am always reminded 
that these people constantly experience moments of crisis in their minds- 
they are changed by the experience of losing weight, but that doesn't erase 
years of hurts and fears that they must deal with. Despite being winners, 
the win doesn't erase the other issues they struggle with as individuals. 
Literally, fear and internal strife stops some of these contestants from 
achieving success during weeks where their weight loss should have been 
higher- some even gain weight during stressful weeks. One of the contestants 
is a young man, a very young man, who had anger issues that his 400 lb 
father didn't warn his kids of the dangers of being overweight and didn't 
protect them from repeating that mistake. It took a event of blowing his top 
before his trainer had a good talk with him to get him to face that 
unresolved issue, and encourage him to have a talk with his dad over it. 
They did, and it was a moment of healing for this young man. A good 
counselor can do that- find that moment of blowing one's top or crisis and 
get to the root of what is causing that fear/insecurity/anger, so that the 
internal problems do no interfere with outward performance.

Ron doesn't have a counselor. We don't see counselors in the WW. Dumbledore 
is a mentor to Harry, and we see some of the teachers taking an interest in 
the kids, but when Harry was left to deal with Sirius's death, he was left 
to do it ALONE. Ron is also left alone for his crisis moment. I have to 
think that if there had been an adult that counseled Ron at that moment- an 
adult Quidditch coach, for example, that the whole Quidditch event might 
have gone differently for Ron. It should have been a moment where someone 
took him aside and dug deeper into his insecurities, and found out what his 
problem was, but instead he doesn't learn from that experience. He doesn't 
dig deeper to figure out WHY he is insecure, and thus he remains unchanged, 
even after success. It's not a failure of Ron, per se, but I see it as a 
larger failure of the WW to provide mentors and counselors for their young 
people. It's a failure that none of the adults in his life didn't pull him 
aside and take an interest in him, knowing that he had the skill to do the 
task, and that his problem was all mental. His problems should have been 
resolved much earlier in the Quidditch season- after a few games, someone 
should have talked to him. He finds success by accident, but those 
underlying problems that caused failure were never addressed, and so it's no 
surprise to me that he repeats that patter of insecurity later.

Shelley