Blog Post #2: Ron's Progress

Being part of the main trio with protagonist Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Ron Weasely's role in the overall story seemed to be simply comic relief. However, as the story progresses and Ron becomes more vital to the survival of the "trio" you start to see significant changes in his maturity.

Ron's troubles, although pale in comparison to Harry's, begin before he even enters Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Coming from a "pureblood" family, Ron was raised as a normal boy would in the Wizarding World, however Ron has been faced with the pressure put on by the success of his 5 brothers before him. All very succesful, their roles include being prefects, head-boys, captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team, succesful entreprenuers, and all hold succesful jobs positions. Ron's desire to live up to his family's standard is foreshadowed when he see's himself in the Mirror of Erised as Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, holding up the Quidditch Cup.

Ron also has the trouble of being overshadowed by his newest best friend Harry Potter, whom is quite possibly the most popular person at Hogwarts, if not the entire wizarding world (both for good and bad reasons). Despite this, Ron has always been there for Harry and stayed strong in times of despair even when Harry and Ron are at odds like in The Goblet of Fire when Ron is jealous that Harry has been mysteriously entered into the Triwizard Tournament.

All of this pressure aside Ron progresses though his years at Hogwarts, he finally achieves his goal of becoming Prefect and eventually gains the position as Keeper on Hogwarts' Quidditch team. He also grows emotionally in the later part of the series when Ron finally has his first kiss and has to eventually break up with Lavender, this seems to almost deem him emotionally worthy of Hermione, and their awkward relationship turns unresonvingly romantic.

There are more "coming of age" scenarios played out by Ron weasely but I feel that these are some of the main ones. Additionally with Ron growing as a wizards and helping his two best friends defeat Voldermort and Death Eaters time after time, Ron grows into a solid character.

Rons maturity progresses throughout his 7 years at Hogwarts, and with the growing friendship between him Harry and Hermione, they are all able to quickly grow and realize the trouble ahead and that it is up to them (as it has been in every book of the series) to save the day.