Ron WAS: Re: DH reread CH 4-5

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 186296

> > Magpie:
> > Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but did you think I was saying that this was a fact, like, in the real world? Because that's not what I meant at all--ITA with everything you're saying here. When I said "in this universe" I meant only the Potterverse, where as Dumbledore says "our choices show (not make) who we are." Characters have to keep behaving as if people can change, of course, but I think a lot of what happens turns on characters being very recognizeable at different stages in their life. It's more that it sometimes takes time to know them or really get them correctly, but there's going to be foreshadowing.
> 
> Pippin:
> If JKR made it easy for the characters to form new habits,  there'd be less challenge in doing what's right rather than what is easy. They'd just have to keep doing the right thing until it got easy for them. That works for some of the characters some of the time, but IMO JKR is more interested in what happens when it doesn't work.


Magpie:
Actually, I think there's already zero challenge to do that because that's never really an issue for anybody. (Although I can think of some cases where they face right vs. easy and choose easy with no bad effects.)

But I'm not saying it's a bad thing that JKR writes characters that aren't about changing but about revealing their characters. I'm actually agreeing with you. I think throughout canon we see people solidifying their habits, which are all based on their central character. And I agree, sometimes it's far more interesting when it doesn't work. It's the bread and butter of the series a lot of the time, really. Where would we be if Snape was the kind of guy who could just learn and get over his bitterness? Or if Lupin returned to Hogwarts having shed his desire to always be liked? Like I said, I think it's an appeal for the series. It's just that in some cases people get impatient with the characters. The case with Ron is just a really obvious example, because people want him to just get over it. Except "it" is central to his character and is not something he's going to get over. Any more than Snape was going to get over his past resentments.

-m