Ron's Point of View

What if we didn't just look at how the main character of the books we read, but the other characters within the story? What if we looked at their perspective? In the piece I have written, I have done exactly that with the novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and have given the character Ron a new outlook or things. 

In the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, the stories are told in the 3^rd person point of view. The novels are clearly geared towards the perspective and emotion of Harry Potter, and his two best friends, Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger.  Though there are many things that go on throughout the series, you see how the trio’s friendship evolves, develops, and changes, from being 11, to 17 in what seems like a short period of time with many barriers in the way.

We all know that with growing up there becomes more responsibility and relationships as well. Harry’s companions, Ron and Hermione, have had some obvious chemistry since the 3^rd book (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) when they were starting adolescence. However, we are only given Harry’s point of view on this romance, we only get to understand his emotion’s on them being together. He feels as though his friends are slipping farther and farther away. Almost as though a wedge is driven between the three of them, until Ron and Harry have a falling out. Ron, in a fit of rage, leaves the two of them partway through the novel. Harry and Hermione are both driven into a depressive state that lasts for months, and Hermione blames Harry for the whole hot mess.

           

With Ron gone, we are never given his perspective on the matter of his romance with Hermione and him leaving. He did return, eventually, to his two beloved friends, and both of the boys apologized and embraced in a scene of brotherly love. Only snippets of what Ron went through when he had left, and what his life was like after he left are given in dialogue. We are made to think that it was Ron’s fault for his leaving and the fight that had happened. Really, this is not the case at all.

In the book, Ron was given a necklace that had apparently been hexed or in other words, cursed, which means he was acting out in erratic behavior. He had fits of rage and depression, and we are only given Harry and Hermione’s perspective on him leaving him behind, making the reader think it was all his fault, and making him out to be the one to blame. In all actuality, we are never told what he feels, when he really could have felt depressed, or angry. Perhaps we should feel sorry for him, and not the others. With the curse in place on him, his judgment was impaired, and he was not himself, thus it was not his fault. You cannot control yourself when you are cursed.

While all this was happening, Harry was in a bit of a dazed dream like state himself, always wondering what was going on with his friends. Just like in real teenage life, they had some problems with each other. Hermione, always worrying about things, was beside herself. Ron was unable to control himself because of the curse, thus it cannot be his fault for his unpredictable behavior, and the way the reader feels about him. We are never given his perspective on the matter.

In what seems like a short period of time, ages 11 to 17, Harry, Hermione, and Ron overcome many obstacles with how their friendship evolves, develops, and changes completely throughout the series of Harry Potter. The way that characters see something in all of these books affect how even the reader sees it too, and if the writer switches it up enough to confuse you, it can change the whole way you approach the story.