SHIPs and Young Love

[talondg]

No: HPFGUIDX 36160

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Laura Huntley" <huntleyl at m...> wrote:

> DG wrote:
> > One of the things that has struck me about this series is that the
> > complexity of the books is growing in synch with the maturing of 
> > the characters

> Now, I would just like to point something out here.  I've heard 
> allot of noise about how Jo is so great at developing the 
> characters/books according to character's age.  However, IRL, can 
> you imagine *any* 14 year old boy just being *on the cusp* of 
> noticing girls

Well, yeah. Having been there myself a while ago, I can attest that 
not everybody develops at the same rate. And furthermore, there's a 
pretty big step between the *noticing*, and the *knowing what to do 
about it* (beyond the purely academic sense of knowing how all the 
various bits fit together)

We know that Harry is smitten with Cho, and we see evidence that 
Ron's feelings for Hermonie run deeper than he seems to realize (or 
allows himself to realize - the moment you realize that the girl next 
door you used to try and feed mud pies to is actually quite the 
hottie can be pretty traumatic :) So we know the boys are starting to 
notice the girls. But their behaviour prior to and at the Xmas ball 
in GoF (and the girls' exasperation with them - a common theme from 
my adolesence as I recall :) shows that they don't yet understand 
what role they are to play in all this romance stuff.

That totally rings true to me. Been there, done that. :)

The other aspect too is that they live in a much more regimented 
environment than the typical American public school. I was in 
military college from the ages of 17 through 22. We were co-ed, to 
the point where the room next to yours might have girls in it 
(although they were outnumbered 10 to 1 or so) Yes, there was sex 
going on, but nowhere near as much as you might think based on the 
numbers, because there was no TIME for it - the schedules were just 
too tightly controlled, and there was almost no privacy.

I would agree though, that as time passes, the sexual aspects are 
going to become harder and harder to ignore. It will be interesting 
to see if she sidesteps the issue (which would be a legitimate 
stylistic choice, given the audience) or if she chooses to meet the 
issue head-on.

My bet is on romance, no sex - but I could be wrong.

DG