Ginny's (arrested) development - some SHIP

[David <dfrankiswork@netscape.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52186

Penny Linsenmayer wrote, of Ginny:

>   If JKR were going to be setting her up as the ultimate love 
interest of our beloved hero, don't you think she ought to spend 
just a wee bit of time here and there mentioning Ginny every so 
often so the reader doesn't forget who she is?!  

I suspect a small degree of sardonic intonation here, but taking it 
at face value...

I think that is exactly what JKR does.  My belief that Ginny is 
being kept in reserve - for thematic, not shipping reasons - along 
with Lily and some of the other feminine characters.  I think 
Ron's 'Go away, Ginny' in POA is thematicly motivated, not just 
convenient for the plot.  It establishes her as a character, like 
Neville, who has to be removed from the action (remember Harry's 
machinations over the vampire essay?) from time to time to establish 
the expectation is that she is part of it.

However, 'just a wee bit of time' *is* what Ginny gets.  A card for 
Harry in POA, a brief exchange with Molly about Bill's hair, a cameo 
before the Yule Ball, and so on.  She has little visibility, but the 
reader isn't allowed to drop her mentally either.

Whether that is enough to 'set her up as the hero's love interest' 
is, of course, up to the reader, but I think it may depend on 
whether the love interest is itself considered to be a secondary 
feature of the narrative.  My guess is that the choice of Harry's 
eventual partner will not be dictated by romantic considerations but 
symbolic ones.

David