Cho; It's time to defend Ginny! (some SHIP)

[naamagatus <naama_gat@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52379


I swore I wouldn't participate in SHIPing and/or Ginny discussions. I 
guess I should have taken a formal oath ... I just have a few random 
points to make, though.



Penny:

<snip discussion on Cho>


> David said:
> 
> I quoted Pippin:
> > <<<<As for Ginny knowing Harry beyond the superficial, how can 
> she? 
> > He's never given her the chance. We're privy to his inmost 
> > thoughts, she's not.>>>>>>>>>
> 
> and replied
> > 
> > Don't you mean that *Rowling* hasn't given her the chance?  <eg>
> 
> David responded with: <<<I have to say I see it as Harry, myself.  
It is one of the few ways that he irritates me as a character, how he 
manages to keep Ginny at a distance.  Her approach to him is not that 
of Colin Creevey (more on that below) and while he doesn't treat her 
with the brusqueness reserved for Colin, he does IMO shut her out.  
He acquiesces in Ron's dismissal in POA and apparently does nothing 
to respond to her 
> overtures such as the get-well card.>>>>>>>>>
> 
> But, Harry is acting under Rowling's pen (or keyboard).  I'm not 
sure what you're getting at David - though I definitely agree that 
>Harry keeps Ginny at a distance, very definitely.  
>Again though, there are ways that we the readers could have been 
given enough information about Ginny to be in her corner and care 
about her more than superficially, even if JKR chose to keep Harry 
and Ginny apart for plot purposes.  There's a very subtle build-up of 
the Ron crush on Hermione for example.  There's no build-up necessary 
to Ginny's crush -- it's just fact and isn't the least bit subtle. 

Me: 
But Ginny is not a major character. Of course, if JKR will have her 
as Harry's main love interest, I'm sure she'll bring her much more to 
the foreground and that their romance will be just as subtly built up 
as Ron's crush (not to mention Ron and Hermione's love affair! 
<veg>).  

>But, having Ginny be more than just a star-struck sister of his best 
friend could have been done, and might have foreshadowed H/G.  For 
now, I see no H/G foreshadowing and even completely the opposite 
>really!
> 
> Jenny went on to say: <<<Ginny's crush on Harry: She's what, 10 
years old when he first stays at the Burrow?  How do we expect her to 
behave?>>>>
> 
> About like she did!  I have no quarrel with the depiction of her at 
the Burrow.  I think though that the fact that she's been "talking 
about him all summer," when she can have only laid eyes on him no 
more than twice and had, as best we know, *no* interaction with him, 
>is indicative that she has a celebrity-related crush at that stage.
> 
> <<<<Even Hermione is guilty of superficial attractions and she is 
usually 
> known to think things through quite rationally.  Ginny's crush on 
> Harry is, at least, directed towards someone who is also (IMO), a 
nice 
> kid.>>>>>>>>>>
> 
> But, see above -- Ginny doesn't know that he's a nice kid when she 
develops her crush on him.  Now her crush may be sustained based on 
her observations and interactions ...... but there's not much textual 
support to say that this is or isn't the case.
> 


Me:

It's true that she only saw him twice and had no interaction with 
him. However, Harry is her brother's best friend and has been his 
best friend for the entire school year. She would hear stories of 
Harry through Ron's letters during the entire year and then, during 
the summer vacation, she would hear Harry mentioned very often by Ron 
and the twins. Assuming that in addition to Harry's fame, she also 
found him cute, having this connection with him (as her brothers' 
good friend) is quite enough to *legitimately* feed a 10 year old's 
crush.

> <<<Of course, I am also biased because I was the girl who always 
had the 
> crushes.  I want Ginny to win one for me.>>>>>>>>>>
> 
> Ah yeah, me too!  By all accounts, I should be an ardent H/G 
shipper!  Except, again, I've no idea if Ginny would be the right 
person for Harry or not.  Hermione, OTOH, I know and love and can see 
her paired happily with Harry.  Ginny is a non-entity at this point 
though, and as Judy said, many readers seem to be filling in the 
blanks for Ginny with their own thoughts/wishes.  
> 

I think there's more to it than that. I suddenly realized that the 
reason that H/G is so plausible to me is precisely Harry's almost 
total blindness to her existence (which to you, Penny, is what makes 
it seem implausible, right?). Think about it - Harry is being Darcey 
to Ginny's Elisabeth! The classic romantic story structure - the 
aloof, even contemptous, male, who succumbs, by degrees, to the 
deserving woman's inherent worth and charm. As a young teenager I 
read quite a few Harlequin-type romantic books and almost all of them 
were based on this basic dynamic (AFAIR). Of course, in these books 
(and in P & P) the story is told from the woman's point of view. Here 
we see what may be the same dynamic but from the male point of view - 
which means that there really isn't much to tell, since Harry is 
still at the not-noticing-the-girl stage. 


Naama