The Ginny Weasley Quotient

[Judy M. Ellis]

No: HPFGUIDX 44816

Judy originally wrote:> >
> >      What bothers me about Ginny is her nearly total self-
> absorption.  <snip> Then consider her rescue:  We know that 
>  Harry was very dirty and covered in blood as well because JKR 
> says  so...  <snip> but she never once asks if he is hurt or 
manages a "stammering thank you," even after she is safe with her  
parents and absolved. Don't you find that the least bit odd? 
 Pippin answered:
> Not really. How do you thank someone for something like that? 
> Especially at age eleven. I don't recall that Hermione ever 
> thanked the boys for saving her from the Troll, or that Harry ever 
> thanked Snape or Hermione for saving him from Quirrell's curse 
> or Hagrid for rescuing him from the Dursleys or Dumbledore for 
> saving him from Voldemort in the end.

Judy responds: 
> Hermione thanked them by covering for them with McGonagall, 
pretending she'd done something wrong to keep them out of trouble.  
Since she'd never done anything like that in her life, it was a 
tremendous gesture of gratitude.  Harry's gratitude to Hermione in 
the potions chamber was also, knowing how difficult it is for a young 
adolescent to say anything "mushy" to a girl.  He said, in essence, 
that she was a better wizard than him and she returned the 
compliment. That was her way of thanking him for caring about their 
world and caring whether Voldemort returned or not.  As for 
Dumbledore, he'd already established himself as Harry's "protector."  
kids generally do not thank parents or other adults they feel are 
guardians for their protection.  My problem was that since Ginny was 
so infatuated with Harry, you'd think she'd at least wonder if he'd 
gotten scratched or a bit bumped around by the basilisk seeing as how 
he was covered in blood and had obviously been engaged in some kind 
of confrontation with the gigantic snake. That would have been a form 
of 11-year-old gratitude and one that Harry would have understood.

Judy had previously said:
> If she is the chatterbox Ron says she is, and brave enough to be 
sorted into Gryffindor, why not stammer, stumble and mumble her way 
through asking Harry to take her  to the Yule Ball as Harry did Cho 
and Ron did Fleur?  Even a Hufflepuff girl managed it. 

Pippin responded:
> Because she was a third year. She couldn't invite *anyone* to the 
> ball. It'd be pretty pushy to ask Harry or anyone else to invite 
her to a function she wouldn't otherwise be entitled to attend.

Judy responds:
JKR makes a point of mentioning that the Hufflepuff girl who asked 
Harry was also a THIRD YEAR Ch, 22 Pg 389 (American edition) and that 
she hadn't spoken a word to him in her life.  (Obviously admiring him 
from afar, as had Ginny.)  As least Harry and Ginny had exchanged 
pleasantries and had a shared adventure. All he could have said 
was "no."  That would have been a difficult thing for her to do and a 
way to hint at Ginny's latent courage and perhaps foreshadow bigger 
things to come.
   I truly believe there was a reason JKR did not allow us to see 
Ginny's sorting and I think there is a big reason all the other 
Weasleys appear as developed three-dimensional characters and Ginny 
is presented to us as a 'sketched-in stereotype with some of her 
lines missing.'
--Judy