Blog Post #2: Ron's Coming of Age

The character I like to relate to the theme of “coming of age” is Ronald Weasley. Throughout the entire series, he and Hermione are the famous Harry Potter’s sidekicks and partners in crime. They are relied on by each other, which is expected out of any friendship. Ron is not smartest or richest student, but comes from a pureblood family, and contributes his experience to the adventures. He is a loyal friend, but seems to be pushed to the side and not noticed for his contributions. Ron doesn’t seem to mind, but he definitely matures during his years at Hogwarts.

In the Sorcerer’s Stone, Ron realizes the accomplishments the members of his family had earned, and at that point feels a large amount of pressure to live up to what his brothers had done. The Mirror of Erised describes exactly what I mean: he sees himself as Head boy and Quidditch captain, holding up the house and Quidditch cup. When Ron and Hermione receive their prefect badge in the Order of the Phoenix, Harry becomes jealous, because he think he deserves one just as much, if not more, than they do. I think that is when Ron realizes what he had become, and the responsibility that was put upon him. Between this, his O.W.L. scores, and his new membership to the Gryffindor Quidditch team, his confidence was building. The D.A. also played a part in this, because in the books 1-4, it seemed like Harry was the only one that had the power to defeat the dilemma that lie ahead. After teaching that special group of students, they were also called upon to help battle Death Eaters and face the reality of the dark arts. The last example of Ron’s coming of age experiences is the apparation classes and testing. He wanted more than anything to pass on his first attempt, like his brothers Fred and George, because he believed that is what would make him officially an adult wizard. Ron is very disappointed after the testing, but doesn’t give up and expects to take the test with Harry in the summer.

I think Ron, and all the characters coming of age, helps develop the series by showing how they mature and progress throughout their seven years at Hogwarts, and no matter how many powers or “different” talents they have, they are still normal teenagers, with extremely difficult challenges most teenagers don’t have to face.