More on Ginny

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 33202


I am going to respond to Penny's points out of order...

Penny wrote:
>>On a related point, could Pippin (or anyone for that matter) give 
me some examples of novels where this convention (first girl boy 
sees is the one he is fated to be with) is used? I *honestly* can't 
think of any, which is another stumbling block to my perception of 
the theory in general.<<

  It's even older than novels--it dates all the way back to some of 
the oldest popular literature recorded in English: the chivalric 
romance.  Lee C. Ramsey's "Chivalric Romances--Popular 
Literature in Medieval England" describes a subgenre called the 
child exile. His description of the hero's predicament has an 
eerie familiarity.
 
"... a prince who, as a young boy, is alienated from home and 
inheritance, is sent into enforced exile in a land where he is 
unknown or where he has no social position, and must therefore 
reestablish his personal identity and win back his kingdom by 
means of natural strength and virtue. These are stories about 
growing up--growing up in a personal, military, social, and 
political sense--but growth for the heroes does not mean 
change as much as it means regaining something lost."

About the resolution of the story and the role of the heroine, he 
says:
"The resolution of the story comes about when the hero regains 
the family lost at the beginning ...
  The heroine is essential to the re-creation of the old family...in 
all the romances the hero's lady is the first eligible woman with 
whom he comes in contact"

Here's Tennyson's telling of  Sir Lancelot and Guinevere in Idylls 
of the King:
 
Then Arthur charged his warrior 
whom he loved and honour'd most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth
And bring the Queen;--and watch'd him from the gates:
  The Coming of Arthur

Sir Lancelot went ambassador, at first,
To fetch her, and she watch'd him from the walls.
A rumour runs she took him for the King.
So fixt her fancy on him.
  Merlin and Vivien

And lest you think this is all too remote from HP, just remember 
where all the medieval trappings of  modern fantasy came from. 
All the unicorns, swords, dragons, castles, enchanters, "Lord" 
So-and-so, etc.  belong to the chivalric romance. Cervantes 
wrote Don Quixote to ridicule them, inventing the novel in the 
process. It has been a struggle to get anyone to take them 
seriously in a work of prose ever since. :-)

Penny wrote:
>>Because she is so undeveloped & flat<snip>I can't accept that 
Ginny is fated to be Harry's love interest.<<

Funny, ain't it? In Sunday chat our single listies say they'd kill to 
meet  an honest person with a good personality and a sense of 
humor, but for our beloved characters no such dullness will do. 
Pity poor Ron, compared to Harry and fanon!Draco: no charisma, 
no mystery, no exotic appearance. Poor Ginny, who hasn't even 
got green eyes, so hopelessly just like anyone else, the way 
most people are till you get to know them. This compulsion to 
make the love interest INTERESTING is the bane of many fanfic 
writers: hello, Mary Sue, goodbye art. 

A good writer on the other hand, develops the interest in a love 
story from the interactions between the characters. JKR's already 
set up a situation there: how will Harry feel about being attracted 
(if he ever is) to a girl who was once possessed by his worst 
enemy? How will Ginny feel about her crush if she finds out he's 
got a bit of Voldy tucked away inside him? 

Pippin