Comments | mksolomon: Sketching and Thinking

mksolomon

Sketching and Thinking

Feb 20, 2012 22:05

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hermione granger, fanfic, fashion, books, harry potter, art, ron weasley, hp books, writing, drawing

Comments 4

hereticalvision February 21 2012, 14:08:48 UTC

I hadn't thought of that but now you mention it, isn't that interesting? I always felt like Ron felt as though he wasn't as smart as the others and therefore would hang back but it didn't occur to me that this might have then made him insecure even about the things he knew himself to be good at. Poor Ron :(

mksolomon February 21 2012, 14:39:54 UTC

That's one take on it, and you may be right. I was thinking less of Ron's insecurity and more of the way in which he and Hermione alter their personalities to accommodate Harry. Hermione doesn't back down and apologize in the face of Ron's anger, but she does with Harry. Ron takes on the role of the Inferior One, and as we know from Harry's internal monologue, Harry frequently enjoys that form of the relationship. But is this really what Ron is, or is he, like Hermione, making personal concessions in order to get on with Harry? Ron does have insecurites, no doubt about it, but you'd think they'd be lessened in the company of his best friend. It just ain't so. No wonder his friendship with Hermione deepened over the years--she was the one who always believed in him.

hereticalvision February 22 2012, 13:30:42 UTC

Ah, see I don't think Ron was totally convinced that she did which was part of what the whole sixth year Lavender thing was about. I think he felt inferior to Hermione ('ever the tone of surprise', his anger at her reaction to the Felix) and of course Harry and so he went for someone to whom he could feel superior. Not kind, but very psychologically plausible.

I often think JKR holds up Harry and Hermione as examples of how people should behave, sometimes at Ron's expense. When Luna says something about how Ron's not always very kind she's right but Ron pays more attention to other people than Harry and is more forgiving and approachable than Hermione I think.

But then, I've often thought that JKR frequently didn't answer the most interesting questions she posed while burning pages on things I didn't care about. YMMV.

mksolomon February 22 2012, 17:46:20 UTC

I agree 100% with your assessment of Ron as compared to Harry and Hermione, especially in relation to which characters JKR holds up as paragons. And amen as well to the scores of unanswered questions in her books, though the unknowns do leave lots of room for fic writers to adventure ( ... )