Coming of Age - Ron

One of the main themes of the series is coming of age considering the series is begins when the main characters are eleven. Harry of course is a huge focus of the coming of age theme, but I think this theme greatly applies of Ron as well. Harry and Hermione grew up in the muggle world, so Rob is the reader's only in depth glimpse of a character who grew up in the wizarding world. He grew up in a loving family full of older brothers and a younger sister and with magic all around him. Since all of his brothers attended Hogwarts before him and had been greas as Qudditch starts or Prefects and no one could forget Fred and George, Ron believed he had to prove himself from the very beginning. This is what makes his coming of age different from others such as Harry's. His first year at Hogwarts began his journey to coming of age even though he wasn't considered of age for another six years.
When Harry took Ron to the Mirror of Erised in the Sorcerer's Stone, Ron said he saw himself as Quidditch captain holding the Quidditch cup and all these great things that his brothers had been before him. He wanted to be better than his brothers. I think in the beginning of the series Ron believed in order to live up to his brother's standard, he had to be all these things his brothers were such as Quidditch captain and a prefect.
As the series progresses, I think Ron begins to realize being a prefect or on the Quidditch team isn't what will make him stand out. I think Ron really came of age after they fought the Death Eaters at the Ministry. People began the recognize Ron for different reasons than his brothers. This is when Ron realizes trying to be more than his brothers is not going to make him greater than them. Ron finally saw that by not following in his brother's footsteps that he was able to become great and get out of their shadows. Ron's coming of age involved seeing past the little things like being prefect and Quidditch captian and realizing what mattered was fighting for a cause he really believed in.