Ginny and the Platform Scene

[jrober4211]

No: HPFGUIDX 33110

  I read the recent posts regarding Ginny, with her mother, seeing 
the boys off for school at the platform. My take on the scene was 
that Ginny was crying because she wanted to go too, and did not want 
to be left behind. Having been the oldest of four, I remember my 
siblings getting upset when I went off to summer camp, not so much 
that they would miss the bossy elder sister, but that I might 
possibly have more fun than they would be having all summer. 
  Ginny being the youngest and the only daughter out of seven 
children, it stands to reason that the whole family is over 
protective of Ginny. The scene where Ginny has a cold in her first 
year at Hogwarts and Percy forces her to take the cold medicine that 
made smoke come out of her ears is a good example of this. 
   I get the impression that the Weasley's do lead an isolated 
existance by Mrs. Weasley's remark when she sent the letter to the 
Dursley's asking if Harry could come with them to the QWC, " It would 
be best for Harry to send us an answer in the normal way, because the 
Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I am not sure he 
even knows where it is." I got the impression that the Burrow, which 
is held together by magic according to Harry's impression of how 
incongruent the whole structure was when he first saw it, is probably 
invisible to muggle eyes. Since Ron was unfamiliar with how to 
correctly speak in a telephone when he called Harry over the summer, 
I think its safe to say the Weasley children have had very little 
interaction with Muggle society.For this reason, I can understand why 
Mrs. Weasley would be holding Ginny's hand at the platform for fear 
that she might get seperated from her in an unknown environment, even 
if it wasn't Ginny's first trip to the platform. 
   Based on these things , I did not see Ginny's behaviour at age 10 
particularly immature considering her upbringing and circumstances. 
Ginny's brothers were probably her only constant companions and Ron 
was the last brother to leave for school ,leaving her home alone with 
just her parents for several months before seeing them again on 
Christmas holidays. That would have made me cry at age 10.

Jo Ellen