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

[naamagatus <naama_gat@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52389

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shauna <wind3213 at h...>" 
<wind3213 at h...> wrote:
> . 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
> 
> Not to be nitpicky, but there are some serious flaws with this 
> analogy.  
> 
> 1) Darcy is explicitly contemptuous to Elizabeth in particular, 
> calling her unattractive.  Harry isn't *contemptuous* of Ginny, he 
> just prefers not to think about her.  Furthermore, how can Harry 
> and Darcy even be compared, when Darcy's main fault is pride, 
> something Harry completely lacks?
> 
> 2) Ginny as Elizabeth - Elizabeth spent most of the book actively 
> disliking Darcy, and making no secret of it.  When Darcy 
> proposed to her, she was the one who turned *him* down.  It's 
> only at the end that she realizes she loves him - and after their 
> relationship has progressed to a far deeper stage than Harry 
> and Ginny's is currently at.
> 
> 3)  Elizabeth's main reason for disliking Darcy was the harm he 
> had done to her sister.  So according to your analogy, Ginny 
> should be currently hating Harry for something Harry did to one 
> of her brothers.
> 
> I honestly don't see the analogy at all.  Sorry.
> 

That's because I wasn't drawing an analogy. You are perfectly right. 
Darcey and Elisabeth are different in many ways from Harry and Ginny. 
I used P&P to point out a certain aspect or basic structure or 
dyanmic that is common to many romantic stories: woman notices man, 
man doesn't notice woman, then man falls heads over heels in love 
with woman. Obviously, a complex story like P&P contains much more 
than merely this simple structure. The antagonism between Darcey and 
Elisabeth has much stronger grounds than the simple indifference 
Harry displays towards Ginny (romantically; he does care for her as a 
friend and as Ron's sister). Elisabeth has to overcome her own 
misconceptions about Darcey. But I do think that one of the main 
reasons that I find P&P so satisfying is precisely this basic 
romantic comedy pattern. After all, who hasn't been snubbed and 
ignored by a gorgeous boy only to secretly dream of the sweet victory 
when he will suddenly *see* and fall hopelessly in love with our 
wonderful selves? <g>  

Naama