Weasley is our King

[afroelf]

I am now, quietly, as all the hype is behind us, rereading the whole series in one go to get the big broad picture. Unfortunatly I must now admit that I don't think Ron Weasley is a very nice person. Granted, maybe JKR wanted to make him a realistic character, but he is irritating me so much - I am on The Half Blood Prince, that I have come to the conclusion that he is rather a weak reed and actually quite a jealous, self centred loser that results in HP spending far too much time trying to keep him on board and happy. By this point I could just smack the idiot.
Any thoughts on this?

[The Ace]

In book one, he befriended Harry and sacrificed himself to win the chess game so that Harry and Hermione could continue.

He has his moments, but apart from the fallout in GoF, he's stuck with Harry through thick and thin, risking, beatings, abuse and expulsion because he's Harry's friend.

None of us are perfect but Ron's courage and loyalty while being relegated to the back seat through no fault of his own and still not knocking Harry's teeth down his throat took some doing.

[afroelf]

Sorry, still want to smack him.
Maybe its because as an only child I cannot relate to someone with such a bad case of younger child syndrome. Harry spends far to much time trying to keep the peace, and I am still only on HBP.

[Majimaune]

It could be that, I related to Ron quite easily. Wanting to do better than the older siblings is natural when you are the youngest or one of the youngest.

[The Procrastinator]

"I could just smack the idiot"...how often does this apply to Harry, actually, as well as Ron? Neither Harry nor Ron made particularly attractive teenagers and I regularly wanted to slap their pimply little heads around the earhole, especially in the later books. I console myself with the thought that they will grow out of it. (Let me think that, as it gives me comfort.)

Anyway aside from being annoying, how much more loyal can you get than Ron? As much of a clot as he is, he is a good friend and no bones about it.

[Majimaune]

Originally Posted by The Procrastinator

"I could just smack the idiot"...how often does this apply to Harry, actually, as well as Ron? Neither Harry nor Ron made particularly attractive teenagers and I regularly wanted to slap their pimply little heads around the earhole, especially in the later books. I console myself with the thought that they will grow out of it. (Let me think that, as it gives me comfort.)

Male teenages, written from a female's point of view.

[The Procrastinator]

Originally Posted by Majimaune

Male teenages, written from a female's point of view.

Yes - perhaps, being female, she was kind and wrote them as less annoying than they actually were...females do that kind of thing.

[Majimaune]

Originally Posted by The Procrastinator

Yes - perhaps, being female, she was kind and wrote them as less annoying than they actually were...females do that kind of thing.

Or maybe she thought back to the times when she was a teenager and totally misjudged the males around her when all they were wanting to do was go and play [insert appropriate thing here] and then chase after girls, not the other way round. Thats what she portrays in Ron.

[Boaz]

Ron is very irritating at times, but who isn't during puberty? The Potter series is not the same as Archie comics. Potter and his friends go through growing pains and seasons of life. Archie and his friends are caricatures from the start... Archie is the boy next door, Betty is nice, Veronica is a snob, Reggie is a jerk, Moose is a musclehead, Dilton is a brain. Those kids never change. But Ron does.

He's kind, courageous, adventuresome, and faithful at his best. He's lazy, self-asorbed, manipulative, and spiteful at his worst. We view the progression of his character through the series because Ron is Harry's best friend. We see Ron's family... he's constantly compared to his elder brothers Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, and Fred. Which of his five brothers will he emulate? Bill and Charlie are stand up guys. Percy is a prat. George and Fred are loose cannons. It seemed to me that Ron was mostly a blend of Bill and Percy... which one would he follow? If he followed Bill, then Harry would have an easier time of it, but if Ron became another Percy then Harry might be done for.

The entire series was published before I picked it up. I'd heard about the themes, the setting, and the theology. I wondered if Ron would play Sam or Boromir to Harry's Frodo. Would Ron abandon Harry or betray him? Or would Ron hang in there all the way to Mount Doom?

How much fun would it be if Ron was Dick Grayson aka Robin? Batman's sidekick is honest, organized, prepared, athletic, intelligent, resourceful, brave, obedient, and trusting. Robin never talks back nor second guesses the Caped Crusader. Of course Batman always won, if he'd been saddled with Ron then the Joker would have killed Batman by the end of WWII. Robin is basically a cross between Lassie and the Robot from Lost in Space.

The point is that Rowling has tried to give us more than just a caricature. Ron got on the train collecting wizard cards. In a few years, he's forgotten them and is looking for girls to snog. I wonder how many times adults wanted to smack me when I was an adolescent? I'm thankful that they trusted that I'd stop being a hairball and grow up.

I think Hermione and Ginny are less realistic than Ron. They have more of Robin's qualities and fewer of Ron's flaws.