The Hidden Hero: Musings on the future of Ronald Weasley
I recently finished writing this essay on the future and heroic character of Ronald Weasley. I know that it has some work that needs to be done on it, but that's why I'm posting it here. Constructive Criticism and Kudos are appreciated much. (Edit: Also, I know there are some errors and random codes in the essay. I can't help it. Just ignore them. ( Read more... )
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I think your dismissal of Harry's position as a hero is enormously biased with the sole purpose of serving to your point.
Harry is still a hero. More specially because he neglets his condition as one; but still can't bring himself to stop the naturalistic impulse to fulfill his position.
During the lenght of the books; one very strong theme in the story is that there are no good and evil in the naturalistic way we see them in fairy tales. There are "layers" of good and evil.
There are "layers" of bravery, friendship and love; because a truth about life that is reflected in HP is that life doesn't deal with opposites.
What I'm saying is; that your argument is strictly invalid, because is most terribly incorrect to affirm that "That is the type of hero that Harry is". When the truth is, that Harry is a very composed Hero, where he is characterized by a composition of the different (let's not go into how clichéd they are) fairy tale heroes of the history of literature ( ... )
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Its good to see that you pointed out that Harry does not clamber to BE the hero, but his choices and impulses invariably make him one. So often without him even knowing what is happening, by just following his gut instincts we find him in the position of the hero. So I guess what we are saying then is that he doesn't even have to try, he just IS the hero by consequence and action.
Harry is an emotional hero; conceived within the nature of his humanity; and as that humanized character; he possesses qualities of a human nature that he applies into the fulfilling of his heroic role
Very articulate and well said. *applause*
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Now...
If it comes to opinions; here's mine:
Ron's decision to participate in the war against Voldemort has little to do with any heroic musings about him.
Ron, as opposed to heroic is obnoxious; extremely ostentatious and horrendously selfish.
Ron's motivations are not heroic.
Heroic for Ron would be to overcome his fear of failure. Heroic would be for him to face Harry instead of hiding inside his cupboard everytime Harry is unable to manage is hero role.
Heroic would be for him to actually acknowlegde Hermione's intelligence as a life saviour element about her; as opposed to treating her like a nagging know it all.
...
You know who Baz Lurhman is?
He said this:
"It was very clear that that turned him into a "Raiders Of The Lost Arc" hero. Ultimately, we realised that...is far more heroic for him to try to stay and honour his commitement."I'm sorry if you felt bad about my reply. But I just felt that your point was wavering a lot; and maybe you needed to reconsider... There are far more heroic ( ... )
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Ron's motivations are not heroic.
In the Aeneid, Aeneas comes across a kingdom in the midst of a large celebration to Hercules. The king of the group tells Aeneas how Hercules once slew the monster, Cacus, who had been troubling/hurting/etc his people. When he tells the story though, it is clear that Hercules only killed Cacus because Cacus had stolen some of his cattle. Hercules was not helping the people because he wanted to be helpful and good. He was using his power in a very selfish way so that he could complete on of the Labors he'd been given. Motivation is not necessary for heroism.
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You're right; in the naturalistic sense of literature; it isn't. But in the metaphorical sense it most certainly is.
What kind of hero does Hercules make within that context? It's clear in HP that Harry needs more than a bit of an obnoxious mood to defeat Voldemort.
Selfishness is not nearly enough to be the hero within the context of what happens in HP.
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Ron's motivations are not heroic.
That is completely random. That doesn't have anything to do with anything. Also, about treating Hermione like a nagging know-it-all, she IS a nagging know-it-all [though I love Hermione to bits, it's true. She nags him about everything, but well that's our hermione. lol.]. But yeah, whatever. Ron can be all those things, but him being those things doesn't have anything to do with being heroic AT ALL. He is heroic by helping Harry in battle [or whatever] and those other things you said, which I happen to agree with.
Thanks. I am going to take your criticisms into consideration.
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If Ron tries to be the hero motivated by his ostentatious nature; then he will fail horribly and rather spectacularly.
Ron is eager for power and hungry for attention; that is the losing formula if he ever attempts to use it to be heroic. Voldemort can't be defeated with that. There's got to be more than that.
While I'm not openly stating that Ron hasn't got anything else; his ostentatious nature is very, very predominant for his character and that simply ruins his chances of being heroic within the same context as Harry.
Like I said; he could be heroic, but in a completely different layer.
And about Hermione... the fact that she *is*, doesn't mean he has the right to mistreat her because of that. Is just wrong. She's saved both his and Harry's life countless times, and had it not been for her, they'd both be death by now. He ougth to treat her nagging and her know it all-ness with a little more respect.
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