Gender balance/strong women

[Kimberly]

No: HPFGUIDX 15059

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:
> I think she has potential as a character.  But, I remain skeptical
> because I'm not convinced that JKR is heading that route.  I know 
she's
> said we'll see more of Ginny, but I think we all thought that would 
be
> true in GoF and it wasn't.  

We didn't see tons of Ginny in GoF, but what we did see, I think, was 
some simple, subtle character development that would be wasted if 
there was nothing more to come, and JKR is good at being vague when 
she wants to, so I don't think she'd need to resort to complete 
misdirection - if she didn't mean to develop Ginny further, she 
certainly wouldn't say she did, would she?  Maybe book 4 wasn't 
Ginny's, but I believe her time will come, and we will get to know 
the strong female character that's been under Harry's nose the whole 
time.  

It's my perception that if Ginny were going
> to be a key player, she would have more than a few lines in PoA & 
GoF.
> What was she -- number 29 in terms of lines/space according to that
> analysis someone posted earlier today?  That says alot to me.

Well, if the analysis had been done before GoF, going by that who'd 
have thought Dobby'd have any importance again?  He'd disappeaered 
completely in book 3 - not a single mention of him, but he came back 
and was important to the plot in GoF.  Sirius was only mentioned 
twice before PoA, and he's in the top 10 now, and Arthur Weasley went 
from a total of less than 100 in the first 3 books combined to 340 by 
the end of GoF.  There's no way I'd be willing to decide who's going 
to be key in the next book(s) other than, say, the trio Hagrid & 
Dumbledore, by who's gotten the most page time so far. 

> 
> BTW, whoever compiled that "lines/space" analysis deserves 200% on 
any
> HP obsessiveness quiz!!

Couldn't agree with you more - how handy to have such a reference!

kimberly