| moving |
[Aug. 31st, 2008|01:50 am] |
I haven't touched this journal in a long time.
Origanlly I started this with as part of the Harry Potter community, focusing on the charcter of Ron Weasly. And in fact Ron behaved in the last book pretty much as I suspected. his jealously caused him to abandon Harry, although in the end Ron returned and overcame his feelings.
Actually, I thought the book was well written in comparison to the previous one. The only real blemish was the epilogue. It is an antithesis to the entire series. Such an unimaginative ending for such an imaginative writer.
Anyway, Im now living in Houston. This is actually the first time I have ever been here (or to Texas for that matter). Im trying to get used to the muggy weather. Very uncomfortable riding my bike for more than 10 minutes.
Well, I should go to sleep already. It's after 2 am. |
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| The Ron Weasly File #46 |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|12:04 am] |
Chapter 27
This is another very shippy chapter, although it reveals a few other aspects of Ron.
So first to R/Hr:
In this chapter Hermione reveals to Ron and Harry that Victor invited her to visit him and that he has special feelings for her. Was this an attempt to make Ron even more jealous, or did she simply not care? I interpret this as not caring, since I don't see why she needs to make him any more jealous than he already is.
But what is even more interesting is when we discover in HPB that Ron failed to realize how serious the relationship between Victor and Hermione had become. This is partly because Snape interrupted their conversation and he never even discovered Hermione's response to Victor's proposal. However, unless Victor is completely immature, I would expect that Victor expressed his special feelings for Hermione only after they had reached some minimal level of intimacy. Although this doesn’t mean that the relations were physical, they must have had more than just a few superficial dates. Even the long letter that Hermione writes Victor in OOTP (and I doubt it was the only one) should have indicated the level of friendship that had developed between Hermione and Victor. Yet poor Ron never figured this out.
In fact in the meeting with Sirius the interaction between Ron and Hermione seems to have returned to the normal routine of bickering and insults, and Ron once again starts criticizing Hermione's elf-rights obsession.
Now, some other observations:
The chapter starts with a description of Ron's tendency to take credit for saving Gabriel. Here we get an example of his yearning for fame. However, unlike Lockhart, Ron eventually reverts back to telling the real story after Hermione makes fun of him. Thus, despite his urge for fame, Hermione's opinion is more important.
We also get another example of Ron's tendency to disregard risks taken by other people. Just as he expects that everything in the end will work out for Harry, he's optimistic about everything working out for Sirius too. |
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| The Ron Weasley Files #45 |
[Jun. 22nd, 2006|08:18 pm] |
Book IV, Chapter 26
After excluding Ron and Hermione from chapter 25, chapter 26 seems to indicate that the relations between Ron, Harry and Hermione have returned to normal. They are once again working as a Trio, trying to help Harry, and in the process the regular contrast between Ron and Hermione resurfaces. Ron's poor magical abilities are compared to Hermione's superb abilities (even Harry does surprisingly well) and of course Ron and Hermione are arguing as usual with each other again. Ron as usual presents his absurd suggestions and Hermione as usual "squashes" ridicules suggestions (Are these two really a perfect match? I wonder).
Chapter 26 also provides some interesting Ron moments.
The first is Ron's initial reaction to the discovery that Harry "saved" Gabriel. Instead of praising Harry, like Hermione does, Ron criticizes Harry's "save people" character. Although Harry agrees that Ron is correct, he is also annoyed with Ron, because Ron fails to understand Harry's POV and the emotional stress that accompanied the task. Interestingly, also Fleur seemed to fear the fate of her sister too.
Ron's lack of empathy is consistent with Ron's attitude in the previous book and the beginning of this book, underestimating the difficulties facing Harry. Yet Harry prefers not to express his anger with Ron, again afraid of losing him (the person who Harry would miss the most). Harry maintains his silence even when they reach the beach and Ron takes credit for saving Gabriel. At least Ron eventually praises Harry's "moral fiber" after the judges give him extra credit for his behavior.
A major question that remains unanswered is Hermione's reaction to Ron's taking credit for Harry's deeds. Was she angry because of this or because Fleur kissed Ron? I have always thought and still think that it was not the kiss, but instead because Ron is behaving like Lockhart. Still, the fact that she disregards Krum indicates that he is not that important for her. However this doesn't mean that she prefers Ron, and I continue to interpret Hermione's behavior as a refusal to admit that she had feelings for Ron.
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| The Ron Weasley File #44 |
[May. 28th, 2006|10:33 pm] |
Book IV, Chapter 24
Also this chapter continues with the R/Hr saga. However, the “Anvil Sized Clues” that appear in this chapter seem to indicate that the development of a relationship between these two characters is not yet very likely.
First, at the beginning of the chapter Ron and Hermione seem to understand that the fight they had in the Yule Ball differed from any other fight they had before. Unlike other fights, where they would stop talking to each other, in this case they reacted quite differently. Now they were actually trying to skirt the issue and pretend that the fight never happened, as well as try as much as possible to avoid a second round. This is implied by the formal manner they adopt, which is a good way to prevent conflict. I would say that this is the biggest clue indicating that there might be something going on between them. But the problem is, is that they were afraid to confront the issue.
But why should they? What are they afraid of? This hesitation indicates that they were having doubts about developing a romantic relationship. And there are two reasons to doubt such a relationship. The first is when there is uncertainty regarding whether the other person has mutual feelings of love, and the second is when one is uncertain about his or her own feelings towards the other.
It appears that Ron suspects that Hermione might prefer Krum to him. In addition to all the clues from the previous chapter, Harry finds the broken arm of the Krum model and Ron expresses his hope that the giant squid will attack Krum. Hence, in contrast to Harry’s jealousy of Cedric, Ron’s jealousy of Victor is quite vicious.
On the other hand, I think that this chapter indicates that Ron’s concerns are at least partially correct. When Ron expresses his contempt of Krum, rather than being happy with Ron’s reaction (she has triumphed), Hermione frowns and attempts to appease Ron and persuade him that Krum is a nice guy. Although Hermione’s concern about Ron’s attitude towards Krum does not necessarily mean that she has romantic intensions towards Krum, it at least indicates that she was intending to maintain some sort of relationship with him. Of course later we discover that this was not a platonic relationship. So now I ask, should this scene lead a reader to the conclusion that Ron and Hermione would eventually get together? Although JKR insists that we should have figured this out, it doesn’t make sense. The only thing that I agree with is that there is definitely no indication about H/Hr.
Besides R/Hr, there are some other issues about Ron that are repeated in this chapter
First, at end of chapter 23 we are reminded that Harry has never really gotten over the fight he had with Ron when Harry was chosen as a champion:
“Harry didn't say anything. He liked being back on speaking terms with Ron too much to speak his mind right now”
It appears that Harry is still afraid of losing Ron’s friendship, and therefore prefers not to tell Ron what he thought about Ron’s behavior towards Hermione. This is really bad, and I think this explains why in OOTP Harry starts to become closer to Hermione and drift away from Ron.
Second, again Ron’s attitude towards Percy’s ambitious character is expressed when Ron notes that Percy is enjoying the fact that Crouch is indisposed. Contrary to his other siblings, Ron seems to know Percy pretty well.
Third is Ron’s fear of getting into trouble. This is revealed by his reaction towards Hermione’s confrontation with Rita. While Hermione has confidence in her ability to fight back, Ron is unwilling to take such risks, especially because of how his family’s reaction (or more probably his mother’s).
Fourth, we again are shown that Ron is prejudiced. When Hermione suggests that the hysteria of wizards towards giants is similar to the prejudice against werewolves, Ron “looked as though he would have liked to reply scathingly.”
In addition to revealing once again Ron’s attitudes towards other magical beings, we also observe just how afraid he is of disrupting his relations with Hermione. Although he strongly believes in his prejudices towards Giants, he is careful not to show what he thought about Hermione’s attitude forwards Giants.
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| The Ron Weasley File #43 |
[May. 9th, 2006|12:11 am] |
Book IV, Chapter 23, part II.
And now for my analysis of R/Hr:
Early in the chapter it becomes apparent that Ron had become obsessed with Hermione’s mysterious date. The fact that Malfoy overheard him indicates that Ron had become indiscrete. However, I’m not sure that Ron had yet realized what his feelings were for Hermione. I’m also not sure if Hermione realized Ron’s feelings towards her. The fact that it took him so long to notice that Hermione had changed her teeth isn’t a strong indicator of paying a lot of attention to Hermione. The same can be said about Harry, although this could be because Harry was obsessed with Cho.
Even after Ron achieved his wish to have as his partner one of the “best-looking girls of the year” (according to Seamus), Ron completely disregarded his prized date and continued scouting for Hermione. He was so obsessed he didn’t even care anymore about the awful dress robes he was inclined to wear.
But the major moment that clearly revealed Ron’s feelings was when at last he opens his mouth and retorts “"Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?" Thereby indicating concern about Krum’s intentions towards Hermione.
While Ron’s behavior is quite obvious, I found Hermione’s behavior to be more difficult to decipher. First, Harry notes how she suddenly forgot about how hard the elves were working (the hypocrite). Then when at last she confronts Harry and Ron, she expresses surprise at Ron’s attitude.
There are two ways to interpret this.
The first is that Hermione was really enjoying herself and Ron was the last thing on her mind. Thus she forgot about SPEW and failed to notice the manner in which Ron was watching her. Just as Hermione had advised Ginny (as revealed in the last chapter of HPB), also she had decided to “get over” Ron.
The second possibility is that Hermione was quite aware of how Ron was watching her. Hermione’s conjugality towards Victor and her surprise with Ron’s attitude was simply an act. This was the moment of revenge for not inviting her to the ball, and she was determined to make Ron as jealous as possible.
Whether or not Hermione was acting is open to debate, although I at least did not originally think it was an act, and I would say that Ron didn’t either think so. And this made him quite angry, although it seems he didn’t yet know why. If Hermione was in fact acting she pretty much messed things up because Ron retaliated and eventually succeeded (as usual) in hurting her. Just like Pansy Parkinson who insinuated that Hermione slipped Krum a love potion, Ron also suggested that Krum could not have really been attracted to her. First, he accused Hermione of approaching Krum with her SPEW project. Otherwise why would he notice her? Next Ron suggested that Krum was using Hermione as a means to beat Harry by gathering information about Harry. Finally, he suggested that Krum needs a smart person to help him win. Thus, even after successfully making Ron jealous (whether this was intentional or not), Ron refused to acknowledge that Hermione might attract another man (or boy).
While Ron might have succeeded in rationalizing his anger towards Hermione, his feelings of jealousy remain obvious. Not only has Victor become Vicky, but also he suggests that Victor might be looking for her, thus reiterating his concern that Victor is really attracted to Hermione or at least pretending to be romantically attracted to her, and he’s quite happy when Victor returns to discover that he “lost her.”
Hermione’s angry reaction to Ron’s accusations is usually taken as proof that Ron is very important to her, although I think that any girl would have a good reason to be angry with a “friend” who fails to appreciate them and acknowledge that they are attractive. Harry, who we know is not in love with Hermione, reacted differently from Ron. Of course, Harry wasn’t jealous of Victor.
While Hermione’s attitudes towards Ron were a bit ambiguous, I would say that also Ron behaves in a slightly curious manner. After making a big emotional scene, he seems to completely forget about the whole episode. There is no indication that Ron is bothered or disturbed. Only at the end of the evening when Ron observes Krum and Hermione departing does he again become worked up. The only way I can explain this behavior is that Ron still hadn’t realized that he was jealous. Otherwise he would have continued to be obsessed with Hermione’s relationship with Victor during the rest of the Ball. It could of course be that JKR simply needed for plot purposes that Ron and Harry get out into the garden, and so there was no choice. In any event in the next chapters (and next book) it seems Ron had at last realized what he feels.
Probably the moment of realization was at the end of the chapter when Hermione tells Ron that the only reason she went to the Ball with Victor and not with him was because Victor asked her first. While this statement is always used as the ultimate indication of Hermione’s feelings towards Ron, I have always interpreted this “anvil sized clue” quite differently. If in fact Hermione was in love with Ron, then shouldn’t she have canceled her date with Victor once Ron asked her out? She should have at least reacted like Cho, who was uncomfortable and sorry. She should have told him that she really would have liked to go out with him, but couldn’t break her commitment (just like she later advises Harry after his fight with Cho). Therefore, while Ron blamed Hermione’s choice to date Krum as not serving Harry’s best interests, he really meant that Hermione wasn’t serving his own best interests. Krum was really Ron’s nemesis, not Harry’s, and the most important thing was to win, to win Hermione’s heart. Therefore Hermione’s decision not to break off her date with Krum after Ron invited her can indicate two things: The first is that it really didn’t matter to Hermione who invited her first, which means that Ron was not that important. The second is that Ron had failed to convince Hermione that he loves her. Instead he invited her for a date as a last resort (and she specifically says this), so that obviously there was no justification for breaking her engagement with Krum.
The second interpretation leaves Ron with the opportunity to possibly correct the situation. All he has to do is convince Hermione that he really is attracted to her. Yet it seems that by the end of the Ball she should have realized that Ron was in fact attracted to her. However, based on Hermione’s behavior during the rest of the book and in OOTP, she seemed to behave as if she had no interest in Ron. My original interpretation of this was that this indicated she was never really attracted to Ron. The other explanation is that she had not forgiven him. Maybe she was expecting that Ron (against his own nature) would apologize, send her flowers, write her a poem, and make an effort to court her, while she pretends to be indifferent. Because we were provided with “anvil sized clues,” indicating that Hermione is in love with Ron, this apparently must be the correct interpretation. But I find this interpretation very disturbing and disappointing. And Hermione in the end pays a price for continuing to discourage Ron. Luckily for her, Lavender wasn’t smart and bossy enough. Otherwise Hermione might have completely lost him.
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| The Ron Weasley File #42 |
[Apr. 15th, 2006|10:46 pm] |
Book IV, Chapter 23, part I.
This chapter is probably the most important for the R/Hr ship, and was constantly used as evidence for this ship. However, when putting this chapter in the context of the entire book, as well as OOTP, I find many problems with the R/Hr interpretation of this chapter. The major problem is with Hermione’s behavior, although also Ron’s behavior is slightly inconsistent, but to a much lesser extent.
It should be noted, that this chapter also has a few non-shippy moments, and so in this post I’ll deal with the non-shippy items, and devote the next post to R/Hr.
First, is Ron’s poverty issue: As usual he is embarrassed when Pigwidgeon comes with Harry’s mail. At that moment when everybody was making fun of Pidwidgeon, Ron probably wanted to strangle the owl. Luckily, everybody was looking, or he might have done something nasty to poor little Pigwidgeon (although I doubt he would have really strangled him).
It is interesting in this respect that Ron scolds Pigwidgeon for showing-off. We latter discover how much of a show-off Ron is. In fact Ron is worse because he takes credit for things he didn’t do. Pigwidgeon at least is proud of his own accomplishments, even if they are relatively minor, they are still very important (a letter from Sirius).
Second, Ron continues attempting to counter Hermione and distract Harry from dealing with the next task, under the assumption that Harry will eventually get away with it, as usual. He thus tempts Harry to play chess, the only thing that Ron has proven he is better at than either Harry or Hermione. Therefore, while Ron might be more fun than Hermione, he doesn’t necessarily prove to be a better friend, but instead pursues his own interests at the expense of Harry’s.
A very revealing and ironic moment is when Ron offers Dobby socks as a Xmas present. This short scene, contrasting Ron and Harry is very telling.
If we compare the socks Harry gave Dobby to the socks Ron gave Dobby, then definitely Ron’s socks were better. Harry gave Dobby the most disgusting socks he could find. But the major difference is the intention. Harry felt guilty that he didn’t have a present for Dobby, and guessed Dobby would like the socks that Harry chose. He wanted to make Dobby happy and therefore also made an effort to wear the socks Dobby gave him as a present (he even wears them to the ball). Ron on the other hand, although he gave a new pair of hand knitted socks to Dobby, was simply throwing away the trash (in fact this shows how little he appreciates his mother’s efforts to give him a Xmas present in contrast to Harry’s attitude towards Dobby’s present). For Ron, giving Dobby a disgusting pair of socks as a Xmas present was a joke. There were no noble intentions, and therefore he doesn’t even let Dobby finish his words of thanks (which were completely false praises). Although he was pleased to have received these false compliments, Ron rudely cut Dobby off in mid-sentence and opened one of Harry’s presents. At this stage Harry, who apparently noticed that Ron’s behavior had hurt Dobby’s feelings, opened up Dobby’s present, put Dobby’s ridicules socks on his feet, “causing Dobby's eyes to leak with happiness again.” Would Ron do something like that for his mother, Harry or Hermione? I doubt it.
Finally, there is Ron’s reaction to the discovery that Hagrid is a half-giant. Ron is very aware of the prejudices against such half-breeds, and it is very likely that if he had not thought Hagrid’s size was a magical accident, he might have been very reluctant to have anything to do with Hagrid. Again here Ron is shown to be the anti-thesis to Harry.
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| The Ron Weasley File #41 |
[Mar. 12th, 2006|08:15 am] |
Book IV, Chapter 22 (last part)
The end of chapter 22 addresses two issues.
First, the Fleur debacle:
This is supposedly another comic relief moment, but I see this as yet another clue illustrating the weakness of Ron’s ability to resist magical influences. Even though Fluer’s Veela powers are diluted by a quarter (her grandmother was a Veela), she has a strong effect on him, just as Moody’s imperious curse had a strong effect on him. I in fact suspect that in book 7, Ron might fall victim to the imperious course.
Second, the discovery that Hermione has a date:
This I assume was the moment Hermione was waiting for after she discovered a week before that she was not a suitable date (at least not suitable for Ron and Harry). Now that Ron had become desperate, he was willing to reach a compromise and even go out with Hermione, which of course once again gets Hermione really angry. Although Hermione’s anger could be seen as yet another “anvil sized clue,” when I originally read this passage I thought that any girl would be pretty angry if someone talked to her in such an insensitive and degrading manner, and I still think so even after I know in retrospect Hermione’s true feelings towards Ron.
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| The Ron Weasley File #40 |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|10:52 am] |
Book IV, Chapters 20, 21, and part of 22
Following the first task it seems that Harry and Ron’s friendship was repaired. The reunion was exactly in the same manner Harry had sarcastically told Hermione it would be: Only after Ron would see for himself how dangerous the task was would he would realize that someone is trying to harm Harry. So while Harry was initially surprised that Ron did not believe him, Harry pretty quickly figured Ron out.
Yet despite Ron’s behavior, Harry missed Ron so badly, that the moment Ron admitted his mistake, Harry immediately forgave him. Thus Ron’s moral support, which is rather childish, is more important than the fact that Karkaroff was an unfair judge. However, has Ron really overcome his jealousy? Apparently not.
First, Ron again starts to disregard the danger of Harry’s status. Rather then encouraging Harry to work on the egg, he does the opposite. This is especially bad because Harry seems to fear reigniting tensions between him and Ron, and therefore prefers to engage in joint activities with Ron instead of getting to work on the second task.
But if anyone has any doubts that Ron has overcome his jealousy, in chapter 22, when Ron remarks that because Harry is a champion he will have no problem finding a date for the Yule Ball Harry notices that: “In tribute to their recently repaired friendship, Ron had kept the bitterness in his voice to a bare minimum.”
Besides Harry and Ron’s relationship, chapter 22 also presents a very important R/Hr incident, which I misinterpreted when I initially read this book, and this is Hermione’s anger at Ron’s decision to seek out a good looking girl as a date. Because there was never any indication regarding Hermione’s attraction to Ron, I didn’t realize she was hoping he would invite her, and so this is how I missed this “anvil sized clue.” While I admit I missed this clue, I still insist that until this moment there was no previous indication of Hermione’s attraction to Ron. Therefore her anger could be interpreted just as anger with Harry or anger with the attitudes of both Ron and Harry. I at least at the time thought she was mad with both boys, because Ron seemed to be speaking for both of them.
Anyway I suppose that this is the incident that caused Hermione to cook up the plan to get Krum. Who knows, maybe she even prepared a love potion, which is what is insinuated in chapter 27. It is interesting in this respect that in chapter five of POA Mrs. Weasley revealed to Hermione that she herself had made one, and I’m sure Hermione could easily create such a potion if she wanted to. So this possibility cannot be completely ruled out. Yet even if Hermione did not create a love potion and Krum was genuinely attracted to Hermione, we discover in HPB that Hermione seems to believe that making the person you love jealous of you is a good method for getting attracting the attention of your love interest. In fact, not only does Hermione use this tactic herself, but also she even recommends Ginny to do likewise.
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| The Ron Weasley File #39 |
[Jan. 28th, 2006|10:56 pm] |
Book IV, Chapters 17-19
The end of chapter 17 presents possibly one of the most critical moments in the relations of Ron and Harry. I am not even sure if their friendship was completely restored since this incident.
The reason this moment was so critical is because Harry was placed in an extremely difficult and dangerous situation, and he needed any help he could get. Very few people were willing to believe that it was not Harry who had entered his name into the Goblet, and those who did believe him clearly understood that this was an attempt to harm Harry. And so this was a time when Harry really needed his surrogate parents, but Ron just wouldn’t believe Harry. Thus, Ron turned out to be an unreliable friend.
Ron’s refusal to believe Harry seems a bit surprising if we recall his willingness to believe Harry in COS. Yet the situation in COS was different in a very important aspect. In COS Harry was considered to be the villain whom everybody feared, while in GOF he is a champion. The scene between Ron and Harry at the end of chapter 16 corresponds completely with Hermione’s interpretation that Ron was blinded by jealousy. In fact, Harry was apparently subconsciously aware of this. The moment he saw “Ron’s odd, strained sort of grin… Harry suddenly became aware that he was still wearing the scarlet Gryffindor banner that Lee had tied around him.”
But if anybody still has any doubts of Hermione’s interpretation (and I read all kinds of attempts to provide alternative explanations), Ron’s final line in the chapter, "You want to get to bed, Harry. I expect you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something," is what I would expect Draco to say. Draco made similar remarks in COS and repeated them in the next chapter.
Ron’s attitude must have hurt Harry immensely, but Ron finishes the dialogue in chapter 17 by running away. He closes the curtains around his bed, thereby not giving Harry a chance to reason with him. Therefore not only does he not believe Harry, but he abandons Harry too. This of course is a logical conclusion as far as Ron is concerned. Once Ron has decided that Harry preferred not to share with him the secret method for entering into the tournament then this means that it was actually Harry who had abandoned Ron in the first place.
This also illustrates an important gap between Ron and Harry. While both boys might have wanted to be champions, Harry understood that it was dangerous and he really wasn’t qualified. Ron, however, never realized this. He really wanted to participate, completely disregarding the price he would have had to pay in order to participate. This is consistent with Ron’s reflection in the Mirror of Erised, which revealed his outmost desire was to be a champion.
Anyway, just how hurt Harry was can be observed in the next chapter. All Hermione’s attempts to persuade Harry to talk again with Ron were futile. To make matters worse, after Hermione was hit by Malfoy’s hex, Harry remained entirely alone and abandoned. Ron was quite aware of this, but would not yield. Thus by the end of chapter 19 Harry uses violence against Ron. Harry had already been imagining the possibility, and the combination of losing his contact with Sirius plus Ron’s jibe about the interview was just too much. This scene is actually really sad because it seems that Ron had been concerned about Harry and this was probably why he went looking for Harry, so that maybe Ron was starting to realize what Harry was facing. However, the moment Harry started insulting him, Ron as usual could not resist the urge to retaliate, and the chance of reconciliation was lost.
Harry's final line is the most painful. At last for the first time Harry ackowledges what has been clear from the beginning. Ron would have liked to be Harry Potter.
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| The Ron Weasley File #38 |
[Jan. 15th, 2006|09:39 pm] |
Book IV, Chapters 15-16
Like in the previous chapter, these chapters provide a lot of Ron time.
Chapter 15 starts out with Harry’s reassessment of his relationship with Sirius versus his two close friends Ron and Hermione. Until Sirius entered Harry’s life Ron and Hermione partially served as Harry’s surrogate parents. These were the people Harry regularly confided in and sought advice. But in the beginning of GOF Harry tries to rely on Sirius as a parent and thereby limit Ron and Hermione’s roles to merely friends. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as Harry had hopped, and there seems to have been a reversal of roles between Harry and Sirius. Harry’s fear of endangering Sirius results in an attempt to protect Sirius rather than rely on his aid. We see this tendency again in OOTP, which eventually leads to Sirius’ death. As far as Ron and Hermione are concerned, this causes Harry to once again start confiding in his two friends. However, the problem is that these two friends provide completely opposite reactions. Hermione, who takes very seriously the role of surrogate parent, criticizes Harry’s attempts to persuade Sirius not to return to Britain, while Ron, who refuses to assume the role of a surrogate parent, completely supports Harry’s decision.
Another important issue is JKR’s attempts to illustrate Ron’s weakness as a wizard in comparison to Harry’s strength.
We first see this in DADA. On the one hand Harry succeeds in throwing off an imperious curse, something that even grown up wizards (including Couch himself) have considerable difficulties doing. Ron, on the other hand I suspect is weaker than the average student. Even after the curse is lifted there seems to be an aftereffect, something that is not mentioned about other students.
The meeting with Fleur again illustrates just how weak a wizard Ron is. Fleur is partially Veela (by grandmother). This apparently was sufficient to have a significant effect on Ron, who immediately recognized this effect. Harry clearly was not affected. Although most of the boys looked at Fleur, probably because she is so stunning and attractive, only a few are described as becoming “temporarily speechless, just like Ron.” These were probably the weaker wizards, who like Ron were having a hard time resisting Fleur’s Veela charms.
There are a number of R/Hr moments, although they seem to indicate that Hermione is becoming critical of Ron.
First is Hermione’s reaction to Ron’s excitement over Krum. Although idolization is quite common among children, both Hermione and Harry do not behave in such a manner. But unlike Harry, Hermione reminds me of how Ron usually behaves towards her, snorting at his remarks. Actually, Ron’s idolization of Krum might explain why he wants so much to be famous, so that others will idolize him. We see this again during Ron’s exchange with Hermione about Cedric. While Ron is correct about Hermione’s infatuation with Lockhart during second year, now she’s two years older and not anymore attracted by outer appearances. Instead she admires Cedric for his intellectual qualities. Still, I think Hermione was wrong about Ron’s attitude towards Cedric. I think he’s also jealous of him. Cedric has achieved Ron’s ambition to be become a perfect and a Quidditch star.
Hermione telling Ron he’s “gapping like an idiot” at Fleur might be interpreted as jealousy of Fleur. In my original analysis I doubted this interpretation. Instead I saw this as just one more of Hermione’s criticisms of Ron. It is similar to her snorting at Ron’s reaction to Krum (or does this mean she’s also jealous of Krum?).
Another reason I doubted Hermione was really attracted to Ron was in the difference Ron and Hermione regarded foreign (French) food (Bouillabaisse). Clearly they represent two different intellectual levels. However, the same can be said about Harry and Hermione, and this is why I always thought Hermione would seek an older or more sophisticated person as romantic partner. I mistakenly thought this was why she was attracted to Krum, although since HPB I have doubts about this.
While Hermione seems to have taken a critical attitude towards Ron, Ron stopped making fun of SPEW. He at last seemed to realize how important this is to her. In this respect the Fred and George also stopped making fun of Hermione. Instead, like Hagrid, George tries to persuade her. She took his advice and discovered that maybe freeing the elves is not so simple.
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