Ginny

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 33479

Cindy tried to get on my good side by writing:

 > (who will offer up Ginny if it will spare the lives of Sirius
 > or Lupin)

but I can't agree with:

>Part of the trouble with Ginny is that she doesn't seem to have a
very close relationship with Ron.  Oh, sure, he gives a "strangled
cheer" when he learns she is not dead, but that's about it.

>Perhaps if he acted like he cared about his kid sister,
then maybe I could, too.

I don't feel as if Ron needs to be close with Ginny for me to know and like 
her, and I'm rather surprised to hear that Penny, founder of Percy Lovers 
Unite!, does <g>.  But in any case, I always find the scene where Ron first 
hears Ginny has been taken into the chamber very moving.

  "Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed into a chair.  
"Which student?"
  "Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.
  Harry felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside him. 
(16)

Then, later:

  "What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily [to Lockhart] (16)

and

  "Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up.  "Ginny's OK!  I've got her!"
  He heard Ron give a strangled cheer and they turned the next bend to see 
his eager face staring through the sizeable gap he had managed to make in 
the rock fall.
  "*Ginny!*" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her 
through first.  "You're alive!  I don't believe it!  What happened?"
  He tried to hug her but Ginny held him off, sobbing.
  "But you're okay, Ginny," said Ron, beaming at her . . . . (17)

The everyday interactions between them leave so many holes that we can only 
fill them in with our (fortunately hyperactive) imaginations, but some 
suggest they really get on each other's nerves ("Go away, Ginny"/"Oh, that's 
nice," PA 5) while others make it clear they band together in tough moments 
(above passages in CS, Ginny returning to the compartment when the lights go 
out in PA 5, The Unexpected Task in GF 22).  Then there are just the 
neutral, these-people-share-a-family bits like their joint explanation of 
F&G's doings in GF 5.  I like the way JKR creates a realistic, if not 
fleshed-out, sister/brother relationship with just a few touches of the pen. 
  The same is true about Ginny individually; the pickings are slim, but they 
are varied enough to establish a picture of someone who is clearly more than 
a whiny little girl with a crush.  I'll add to Catherine's detailed post a 
reminder that Ginny is not shy (CS 3--though I don't know why readers 
despise her for being shy), and that she has a sharp tongue when she wants 
to (GF 22).

And, of course, she loves cats.  <g>

Some L.O.O.N. should compile a list of every single Ginny moment, but it 
ain't gonna be me.

Penny wrote:

>Her development, book by book, is consistently that of a younger child than 
>just one year younger than Ron.

and

>I still think too that if you contrast how Ginny is depicted in each book 
>with how Ron is depicted in the previous book, there are some glaring 
>differences.  She is, IMHO, depicted much, much younger than just one year 
>off from Ron.

Examples?  After her first scene in PS/SS, which always makes me think JKR 
had pictured her as 7 at the time of that writing, she seems right on target 
to me.  She's pretty much absent from PA, so it's hard to judge 12-year-old 
Ginny.  But 13-year-old Ginny seems just as mature as 13-year-old 
Ron--insofar as it's possible to compare them considering how much more JKR 
develops Ron's character.

Eric wrote:

>Ginny Weasley's behavior toward Harry in the first two books is admittedly 
>immature for a girl of about 10

I'm still not seeing this in book 2.  Everything she does is perfectly 
consistent with an 11-year-old girl with a crush.  Even putting one's elbow 
in the butter dish, while being a bit farcical, doesn't say anything 
condemnatory of one's character.  Is it JKR's description of her as "small" 
that makes everyone think she's so immature?

As for the literary convention of pairing the hero with the first girl he 
sees, however:

Meg wrote:

>Just a thought, but who says that Ginny is neccessarily the first girl in 
>the WW that Harry sees.

No doubt he sees lots of girls in Diagon Alley.  But the first one he has a 
real encounter with, the first one into whose wide eyes he gazes, so to 
speak, is Hedwig.  Simon, are you out there?

Amy Z

---------------------------------------------
Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry's
death, which he found extremely annoying.
                -HP and the Goblet of Fire
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