3。1 Child-hero 6

3。2 Pierre-E Lacocque’s Type of Hero 6

3。3 Ed MacDonald’s definition of Real Heroes 6

4。 The Reason Why Ron is a “Real Hero” 8

4。1 The Reason why Ron is a Hero 8

4。1。1 Choices of Attitudes towards Friends 8

4。1。2 Choices of Attitudes towards Enemies 8

4。2 The reason why Hero Ron is real 9

4。2。1 The Maturity Process of Ron’s Heroism 9

4。2。1 Ron’s Heroic Behaviors 9

5。 Conclusion 10

References 12 

1。 Introduction 

1。1 Research Background

Harry potter, written by J。K。 Rowling, is a series of magic novels which has been popular for nearly 20 years since the time when it was published in 1998。 “They were the first children’s books to be included on the New York Times bestseller list since Charlotte’s Web was published during 1950s。” (Black, 2003: 238) They are not only for children to read, but also for adults。 They mainly tell the growth of an orphan boy named Harry。 As we all know Harry is the savior of the magic world1 and nobody could deny that he is a real hero。 There are lots of articles introducing the heroism of Harry。 For example, two Chinese scholars once said that “It is Harry’s superstring magic, sense of justice and responsibility and his courage to face the death that make him become the salvation hero。”(于海燕 and 李振 2014: 27)

As for Hermione Granger, a talented muggle2 girl who is one of the best friends of Harry, someone had written articles to show the importance of her to Harry。 Michele Fry said that “Hermione provides Harry with the skills and knowledge which are essential to defeat Voldemort。”(Fry, 2001:71) And Fry also argue that Harry could not defeat Voldemort without Hermione。 

After finishing reading these seven books, people will have deep impressions of Harry and Hermione: the first one is the savior of the magic world, the other one is almost the cleverest female character。 Both of them cover the light of Ron Weasley, another best friend of Harry。 However, from my point of view, the savior Harry is an idealized hero。 He is so mature and calm that he behaves even not like a young boy。 In contrast, it is the childishness, naughty and forthrightness of Ron that attracts me the most。 I think that he is much more real like an ordinary teenage hero。

1。2 The Overall Structure of the Thesis来自优Q尔W论E文R网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ75201.8766

In order to support my idea that Ron is the real hero in Harry Potter series, I pided my paper into three parts。 The first part is about the growth process of Ron。 In this part, I choose to emphasize Ron’s maturity process to introduce him by describing obvious personalities in his different growth stages。 And I will also explain why Ron has these personalities。 Then, I will show some different definitions of hero in the next part。 At last, I connect Ron’s personalities and hero definitions to make comparison between Ron and another two important characters to show the reason why Ron can be regarded as a hero and why Hero Ron is real。

2。 Growth Process of Ron’s Personality

In the thesis On the Multi-Initiation Theme in Harry Potter, the writer holds the view that growth throughout the whole of Harry Potter, “The author Rowling has poured the concept of growth into the novel ”(曲永锋, 2012: Ⅱ )。 Similarly, another writer thinks that Harry Potter series are “initiation stories” (张顺美, 2006)。 In Qu Yongfeng’s thesis, he gives the definition of the initiation stories which is explained by Marcus Mordecai in What Is an Initiation Story?(1960)。 “It refers to the adolescent’s acquirements of the knowledge, ability and confidence, knowing self-identity and values, after a series of ordeals and sufferings in their lives, and the hero enters into a new stage of life——adulthood。”(Marcus,1960: 222) In the first chapter, I choose to introduce the initiation theme from the standpoint of Ron and show the maturity process of him。