The Female Students (WAS On Ron's relationship with Ginny - )

[christi0469]

No: HPFGUIDX 33149

> Cindy wrote-
>> 
> And that's the problem for me.  Ginny has been cheated.  She has 
been 
> robbed of a personality, of interests, of life experience.  Does 
she 
> play an instrument?  Is she passionate about politics?  Is she 
> desperate to break out of her humble financial circumstances?  
Does 
> she like animals? Does she like to cook?  I have no idea.
> 
> What bothers me most about Ginny's lack of development is that the 
> other Weasleys are so thoroughly developed.  In the case of 
Charlie 
> and Bill, JKR develops them in just a few paragraphs here and 
there.  
> By the end of GoF, we know Bill is a loyal rebel banker.  Charlie 
is 
> a rugged dragon-keeper who will help is kid brother out of a tough 
> spot.  But Ginny is . . . um . . . a girl with a crush on Harry.  
> Give me something -- anything -- to go on here, and I'd be happy 
to 
> join a Ginny group.  
> 
> In fact, there are a lot of female students who are cheated out of 
> personalities in the HP books.  Other than Hermione, the women 
> students (from memory) are Cho, Fleur, Lavender, Ginny, Pavarti, 
> Angelina, Katy and Alicia.  Four play Quidditch, two like 
Professor 
> Trelawney.  Other than that, we know next to nothing about what 
these 
> young women like to do.  I know that JKR can't flesh out every 
minor 
> character, but I'd like to see a few given more substantial 
> treatment.   
> 
  I think that female characters(other than Hermione)will start to 
get a much more substatial treatment as soon as Harry starts to 
notice them more (and gets the guts up to get to know them better). 
Since we are limited to Harry's POV we only know people who either 
interest him or impact him in some other way. If JRK started giving 
us tidbits about every minor female character we would be tempted to 
read something more into it. When Harry's hormones kick in and he 
starts to take a real interest in girls he will try to get to know 
them better. I think we would know Cho better if Harry had developed 
a real interest in her, as opposed to a content-to-dream-about-her-
from-afar crush. We know so much more about Rons's brothers because 
they are gregarious (Fred and George), in charge and somewhat 
imperious (Percy), or cool (Bill and Charlie). We know about Dean 
Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnigan because they share a 
dormitory room with Harry. I could go on in a similar fashion about 
why we know Harry's teachers, classmates, and enemies. If Harry 
starts to notice Ginny, then we will know her better as well. I 
think we would know what instruments people play if Harry was 
particularly interested in music.

Christi