The Sleeping Woman

[dfrankiswork at netscape.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 37446

The Sleeping Woman

We have from time to time here discussed a number of issues that I believe are related:
-             Ginny's character is undeveloped;
-             Lily has received far less treatment than James
-             There is dissatisfaction among some listies with the way women are presented in general in HP.

I believe the common thread is that JKR has been suppressing femininity in the books, because this side of Harry's character, or rather, of the reader's perception of themselves, is yet to develop.

There are images of this.

In the Chamber of Secrets, a sort of Potterverse equivalent of Moses' Holy of Holies with its sacrificial altar, its winged creature, its spirit-filled book, its snake to be grasped and its special headgear and jewelled accoutrement, in short, in the secret place of Harry's heart, a girl lies sleeping, kept from consciousness by Harry's evil shadow.

(I have wondered if JKR's room of desire, the one she would visit, given an hour at Hogwarts, is the chamber.  It would be a typical piece of misdirection for her to describe it as 'mentioned' in Book 4, and it is a place plausibly with magical properties that Harry hasn't discovered yet.  We have certainly not been given any reason for its name - what secrets?  Everyone knew about the monster.)

She is wakened when set free from the shadow that has oppressed her, free to walk in the upper world again.

Poor Devin got a lot of flack for pairing Ginny with Harry a few weeks ago because she is the only other character to have had a serious run-in with Voldemort.  I believe he is on to something, though.  Postulating a romantic relationship may be a little premature, rather I see Ginny as symbolising the feminine complement to the predominantly masculine development we have so far seen.

Pippin too had a hard time living down her observation of the timing of Harry's first meeting with Ginny: again, I see this as symbolic, as is Ginny's apparent immaturity showing how far we have to go with Harry.  She has been characterised as behaving like a six year old, five years younger than Harry - when five books have passed, will she have caught up?  Likewise her overshadowing by no less than six brothers.  When he next meets her, visiting the Weasleys in COS, she is wearing sleeping clothes, just to make the point.

That this is about to wake is foreshadowed by Hagrid's relationship with Maxime (see post 36704 for the shameless imitation of reasoning that supports this), and hinted at by JKR in her recent television interview when she said Harry would ask questions that the reader would wonder why he had taken so long to get round to asking - surely a reference to Lily.  The increasing activity of Harry's scar (the sign on his visage of his mother's sacrifice - not a sign of Voldemort as AK per se leaves no mark) also points the same way.

Lily has been dormant too but at the end of GOF she finally emerged for the first time from Voldemort's imprisoning wand, *after* James, of course, who was already out through Harry's Patronus.

So, Book 5, lots more Ginny, lots more Lily, probably the much-speculated-on female DADA teacher (I feel that the distinctive characteristics of each DADA teacher should somehow reflect the theme of their book, but the clue to it eludes me.)  That femininity has its dark side ought to call Mrs Lestrange into activity, too.

In the longer run, some sort of mystical union between Harry and Ginny, which may or may not look like SHIPping, but symbolises the next stage of the completion of his character.  (If someone should contend that it is misogynistic for a girl to be used in fiction in this way, I reply that *all* the characters in HP ultimately serve as adjuncts to and completions of Harry as POV character.  This is fantasy: the whole series describes a parallel world which represents the reader's inner life and the characters, like Pullman's daemons or Ged's shadow twin (LeGuin: The Wizard of Earthsea), are but parts isolated for internal dialogue.  That brick in Diagon Alley is a window into your own soul, O Privet Drive dweller.  Solipsistic, yes, gloriously so; misogynistic, no.)  The final stages of Harry's completion to be the subject of another post.

The implications for Harry's development?  This depends, I guess, on JKR's conception of what it is to be feminine, or at any rate, to display femininity: she may lose some readers over it as she can hardly please everybody, even among current fandom.  The fact that Ginny is said to talk a lot until Harry's presence subdues her is an intriguing indication.  That Lily's wand was good for charms (cf animagus James' transfiguration wand) means what?  Mrs Lestrange, it would appear, has some sort of declarative or prophetic gift - she would be a mesmerising public speaker, far more convincing than Trelawney.

David



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