Ron's Meeting with Favoritism

Throughout Ron’s life he has always been the younger brother or the side kick. Yet again Ron must learn to cope with being the “unimportant” one. We see why as Ron let’s his frustration out after finding out that he won’t be attending the Slug Club.
Ron: Why is that I always get left behind! Hermione has got the brains, Harry is always the hero, Ginny is good at magic, Neville’s got heroic parents, but what have I got? Now, not only do I know that I am good at nothing, but I’ve got a teacher telling me so that isn’t Snape! I hate how the teacher’s here at Hogwarts have their favorites. On top of that Dumbledore is going to be giving Harry private lessons! It just isn’t fair. I know it’s not my friends fault, it’s just difficult o always be left behind. Who cares anyhow! I bet the Slug Club is as boring as it sounds.

Analytical:
I think it’s pretty obvious as to why Ron would be upset. He is always the sidekick in their adventures and hardly ever gets any recognition for his help. He tries hard in school, but he just doesn’t have the brains Hermione does. We can see Ron’s frustration with the Slug Club on page 234 when he is telling Hermione that Ginny will probably be there. After re-reading this particular scene, it is actually extremely evident as to why Ron would be so upset. Think back to high school and recall a situation in which two of your good friends were talking about something they were going to be doing that didn’t involve you. This is a typical third wheel situation and is obviously going to frustrate you. These types of situations actually occur quite a bit and are most likely to occur if there is a trio of friends. If you look back over the course of Harry’s journey, Ron has been the third wheel for pretty much the entire time. Thus, I feel that Ron has every right to be upset. One thing I noticed though and was pretty happy about was that Ron doesn’t get mad at his friends. He is mad, but the frustration is toward the situation which is a sign of Ron growing up.