Essay-a-thon: Ron Is Hated. Only, not really.
Written for beyond_pale
I have yet to read one intelligent "Ron-bashing" essay; I'm just itching to (and planning on) writing an inordinately massive defence of him, but the reasons why people dislike him seems intangible, irrational, and emotional that it's really hard to identify any without resorting to infantilism and name-calling. So, what's the problem with Ron? Why does he seem to be so (almost universally) hated by Potter fandom?
Dear beyond_pale,
I thought about your question and it strikes me as remarkably problematic for an essay. You don't ask about Ron's failures as a character or why people continue to point out those failures, but you ask me to explain an emotional response I don't even feel. You ask me on behalf of a very large fandom. You ask me to explain an emotion without resorting to emotion. You want a rational explanation of something irrational.
Why is Ron nearly universally hated?
First of all: Ron is not universally disliked. Not even close. In fact he is universally liked enough for Rowling to get the impression that he is her most popular character. And she isn't wrong. Ron is popular. Yeah, there are people who hate him, but there are not as many people who hate Ron as people who violently dislike Hermione. Or Ginny. Or Snape. Or Draco. In my experience at least.
Of course, if you are digging into the Snape/Harry, Harry/Hermione or Harry/Draco branch of fandom then there is some likelihood that you'll encounter these mythical Ron-haters. However, if you visit Fictionalley, the Sugarquill, The Leaky Cauldron, Mugglenet, HPforGU you won't encounter much Ron hate. And sometimes even the things that look like "hate" aren't hate at all.
To tell you a little story: back then in the day, someone posted a long, long post on Fictionalley Park on why this person feels uncomfortable with the idea of Ron and Hermione hooking up. It boiled down to reading Ron's interactions with Hermione as pre-abusive. The reaction to that little post?
Uproar. "Oh my god, how can you read Ron as an abuser?"
It's interesting to note that this isn't what the poster originally said, but it was what the readers' general perception turned it into. Did the poster hate Ron? Since I knew that poster fairly well (No, it wasn't me; it was a friend and I disagreed with her.), I can safely say that the answer is: No, she didn't. She wrote calm post on the interaction of two people. It was perceived as "hate" - not because of the emotions behind the post, but because of the unfortunate portrayal of Ron's it presented.
It appears to be somewhat of a modus operandi in fandom that criticism of a character is equaled with dislike for the character. So when you talk about people "hating" Ron, are you really talking about "hate" or are you talking about criticism? It's not the same thing, you know. I can read Hermione as a murderer in the making and still really, really like her. In fact, I do exactly that.
Of course, it's not just criticism. Ron is also a favourite target for ridicule and abuse in fanfiction. People vilify him in their fanfics, because it's a much easier to get Ron out of the picture by turning him evil, homophobic, evil, death eater in the making or evil. You might find that offensive, but unfortunately it's a long and honoured tradition in fiction to do exactly that if a character stands between you and the happy ending you're writing. Austen loved to do that, Dickens did it, Bronte did it, Hardy did, Nabokov did, everyone and their mother did it actually. It's staple to explain a romantic relationship by presenting a fabulous lack of other candidates.
I mean would have Elizabeth really married Darcy if Wickhham or Collins had been actually good and great guys?
I really don't know what this says about romance, but it's a very real technique: Vilify the other guy and you've got yourself a love story.
In HP fanfiction, vilification of Ron allows the writers to not write about Ron in general. They just can concentrate on whatever they want to concentrate, without Ron getting in the way. That's not hate, that's laziness.
If you are really talking about hate - which does exist, but in a capacity that is pretty much the polar opposite of "universal" - yeah, people hate characters. Happens. It's an emotional response. To what I can only guess, since I am not one of these people.
Maybe people hate Ron, because his storyline has diminshed and has become disconnected from the main plots in the last two books - and his storyline appears to be an afterthought and doesn't do Ron any favours. When Harry fighting for his life, is tortured by teachers and haunted by nightmares, Ron angsts about money, fame and being a good Quidditch player. Add to this that Ron is often portrayed as thoughtless, insensitive and nearly downright cruel, when he openly and loudly thinks that the Avada Kedavra is downright cool while standing next Harry (who was just reminded of the murder his parents) and making Hermione cry on purpose in PoA, for example. Ron is selfish and while that's wonderfully human, it's not very endearing.
I guess, Ron's least endearing moment happened in GoF - when he got all huffy about Harry being Tri-Wizard Champion. However much you like Ron, this wasn't his finest moment. For some people, it was officially the moment where Ron lost a lot of his appeal.
So is this why people hate him? Because he is a somewhat static character, who can get a bit too human for everyone's taste? Because he is crude, insensitive and doesn't seem to grasp that he has everything Harry wants? Because people simply don't believe his hype as the "bestest" friend ever and in turn hate the hyped character and not the hype? Is Ron hate backlash to his position as everyone's favourite character back in the day?
I don't know. I honestly don't know.
See, I hate Umbridge. I could tell you it's because she is a narrow-minded bitch, but actually that would explain why I think she's evil, not why I have an emotional response to her. And that I truly cannot explain. I cannot tell you in which moment a few words on a printed page made me feel something, because if I think about that - it makes not much sense to react... to hate something that doesn't even exist. Yet, I do hate Umbridge. And still, I can't tell you why.
The problem, dear beyond_pale, is that this means I fail your question. I cannot explain why people hate Ron. Or anyone else, really. Because hate isn't rational, cannot be explained rationally and as such no argument, written or otherwise will change anyone's feelings. If you really want to write your Ron defense, ignore emotions or your essay will fail as much mine does.
Love,
Kia
The style this essay is written in - as a letter to beyond_pale - is a rhetoric tool and nothing more than that.
I have yet to read one intelligent "Ron-bashing" essay; I'm just itching to (and planning on) writing an inordinately massive defence of him, but the reasons why people dislike him seems intangible, irrational, and emotional that it's really hard to identify any without resorting to infantilism and name-calling. So, what's the problem with Ron? Why does he seem to be so (almost universally) hated by Potter fandom?
Dear beyond_pale,
I thought about your question and it strikes me as remarkably problematic for an essay. You don't ask about Ron's failures as a character or why people continue to point out those failures, but you ask me to explain an emotional response I don't even feel. You ask me on behalf of a very large fandom. You ask me to explain an emotion without resorting to emotion. You want a rational explanation of something irrational.
Why is Ron nearly universally hated?
First of all: Ron is not universally disliked. Not even close. In fact he is universally liked enough for Rowling to get the impression that he is her most popular character. And she isn't wrong. Ron is popular. Yeah, there are people who hate him, but there are not as many people who hate Ron as people who violently dislike Hermione. Or Ginny. Or Snape. Or Draco. In my experience at least.
Of course, if you are digging into the Snape/Harry, Harry/Hermione or Harry/Draco branch of fandom then there is some likelihood that you'll encounter these mythical Ron-haters. However, if you visit Fictionalley, the Sugarquill, The Leaky Cauldron, Mugglenet, HPforGU you won't encounter much Ron hate. And sometimes even the things that look like "hate" aren't hate at all.
To tell you a little story: back then in the day, someone posted a long, long post on Fictionalley Park on why this person feels uncomfortable with the idea of Ron and Hermione hooking up. It boiled down to reading Ron's interactions with Hermione as pre-abusive. The reaction to that little post?
Uproar. "Oh my god, how can you read Ron as an abuser?"
It's interesting to note that this isn't what the poster originally said, but it was what the readers' general perception turned it into. Did the poster hate Ron? Since I knew that poster fairly well (No, it wasn't me; it was a friend and I disagreed with her.), I can safely say that the answer is: No, she didn't. She wrote calm post on the interaction of two people. It was perceived as "hate" - not because of the emotions behind the post, but because of the unfortunate portrayal of Ron's it presented.
It appears to be somewhat of a modus operandi in fandom that criticism of a character is equaled with dislike for the character. So when you talk about people "hating" Ron, are you really talking about "hate" or are you talking about criticism? It's not the same thing, you know. I can read Hermione as a murderer in the making and still really, really like her. In fact, I do exactly that.
Of course, it's not just criticism. Ron is also a favourite target for ridicule and abuse in fanfiction. People vilify him in their fanfics, because it's a much easier to get Ron out of the picture by turning him evil, homophobic, evil, death eater in the making or evil. You might find that offensive, but unfortunately it's a long and honoured tradition in fiction to do exactly that if a character stands between you and the happy ending you're writing. Austen loved to do that, Dickens did it, Bronte did it, Hardy did, Nabokov did, everyone and their mother did it actually. It's staple to explain a romantic relationship by presenting a fabulous lack of other candidates.
I mean would have Elizabeth really married Darcy if Wickhham or Collins had been actually good and great guys?
I really don't know what this says about romance, but it's a very real technique: Vilify the other guy and you've got yourself a love story.
In HP fanfiction, vilification of Ron allows the writers to not write about Ron in general. They just can concentrate on whatever they want to concentrate, without Ron getting in the way. That's not hate, that's laziness.
If you are really talking about hate - which does exist, but in a capacity that is pretty much the polar opposite of "universal" - yeah, people hate characters. Happens. It's an emotional response. To what I can only guess, since I am not one of these people.
Maybe people hate Ron, because his storyline has diminshed and has become disconnected from the main plots in the last two books - and his storyline appears to be an afterthought and doesn't do Ron any favours. When Harry fighting for his life, is tortured by teachers and haunted by nightmares, Ron angsts about money, fame and being a good Quidditch player. Add to this that Ron is often portrayed as thoughtless, insensitive and nearly downright cruel, when he openly and loudly thinks that the Avada Kedavra is downright cool while standing next Harry (who was just reminded of the murder his parents) and making Hermione cry on purpose in PoA, for example. Ron is selfish and while that's wonderfully human, it's not very endearing.
I guess, Ron's least endearing moment happened in GoF - when he got all huffy about Harry being Tri-Wizard Champion. However much you like Ron, this wasn't his finest moment. For some people, it was officially the moment where Ron lost a lot of his appeal.
So is this why people hate him? Because he is a somewhat static character, who can get a bit too human for everyone's taste? Because he is crude, insensitive and doesn't seem to grasp that he has everything Harry wants? Because people simply don't believe his hype as the "bestest" friend ever and in turn hate the hyped character and not the hype? Is Ron hate backlash to his position as everyone's favourite character back in the day?
I don't know. I honestly don't know.
See, I hate Umbridge. I could tell you it's because she is a narrow-minded bitch, but actually that would explain why I think she's evil, not why I have an emotional response to her. And that I truly cannot explain. I cannot tell you in which moment a few words on a printed page made me feel something, because if I think about that - it makes not much sense to react... to hate something that doesn't even exist. Yet, I do hate Umbridge. And still, I can't tell you why.
The problem, dear beyond_pale, is that this means I fail your question. I cannot explain why people hate Ron. Or anyone else, really. Because hate isn't rational, cannot be explained rationally and as such no argument, written or otherwise will change anyone's feelings. If you really want to write your Ron defense, ignore emotions or your essay will fail as much mine does.
Love,
Kia
The style this essay is written in - as a letter to beyond_pale - is a rhetoric tool and nothing more than that.