Ginny Weasley (WAS Book 5 predictions)

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 27742

Penny  wrote:
> 
> The thing about at least one of the deaths in Book 5 is that it is 
a 
> death that JKR said would "half-crucify" her to write (I'm not sure 
> Ginny or Colin fits that bill myself).  

<snip>

> Can't resist -- how exactly is she "prepping" us for a H/G romance, 
> given that Ginny has had very very very little on-screen time & 
> development as a character?  Ginny isn't even mentioned after the 
Yule 
> Ball scene when we see her dancing with Neville as best I recall.  
Nah 

<snip>> 
> > 

Excellent observations, Penny.  

I apologize if this has been discussed to death, but I find myself 
quite perplexed by the minimal character development of Ginny.  At 
this point, I feel we have a good picture of Percy, Fred, George and 
Ron.  Despite the tiny on-screen time given to Charlie and Bill, I 
still think I have a decent picture of both of them, and I'm looking 
forward to a lot more.  

Ginny, though.  I can't get my arms around her at all, even though 
she has been in all four books and was pivotal in one of them.  Even 
compared to other minor characters like Lee Jordan and Neville, Ginny 
somehow comes off as a bit wooden.  The other Weasleys can be 
described in a word or two.  Percy is "pompous"; Charlie is "nice and 
athletic"; Bill is "cool"; the twins are "jokesters"; Ron is "trying 
to stand out" (among other things), for instance.  

This doesn't seem to work with Ginny.  Maybe she is "shy", but that 
isn't a very interesting character trait all by itself.  And by GoF, 
she really isn't shy anymore.  I wonder if this means that JKR just 
has more difficulty writing and connecting with her female 
characters, or if Ginny has no real personality for some plot-related 
reason (some connection to Voldemort).  I don't mean to start us 
again on the "HP Doesn't Have Good Female Characters" discussion 
again, really.  I just wish I had a better understanding of why Ginny 
is the way she is, particularly since (in my experience) a likely 
character trait for a youngest girl with six older brothers might 
be "tough."

Maybe Colin Creevy provides some insight.  He, too, isn't very well 
developed and isn't interesting (to me, anyway), despite his presence 
in three books.  But he and Ginny do have something in common.  They 
both are taken with Harry's celebrity well before they have come to 
know him as a person.  Harry, however, displays great patience for 
Ginny's behavior (pretending not to notice how nervous she is around 
him), whereas he displays much less patience with Colin and actively 
avoids him in CoS and PoA.   

Cindy (hoping that Ginny and the Creevy brothers get either more 
development or less screen time)