Ginny's development (was: SHIP: Harry and Hermione)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92499

> Hickengruendler:
> 
> Yes, but this is not "Harry Potter's diary", but a fictional tale. I 
> can fully understand, that the character Harry isn't able to see the 
> real Ginny, because of her crush, but it is JK Rowling's job, to make 
> Ginny's development believable to the reader, and in my case she 
> failed. I normally think she's excellent in the characterisations of 
> the books, and that's why the way Ginny's development was done, was a 
> negative surprise for me. Harry also didn't see much of Neville in 
> the previous books, yet there were some tidbits, that suggested to 
> the reader, that Neville is more, than he seems. We see Neville 
> standing up to Crabbe and Goyle and later to the trio, we see Neville 
> trying to warn his friends, that Draco wanted to lure them in the 
> trap, we see Neville admitting, that it was him, who lost the 
> passwords.<snip>
> Yes, we were told a lot about how cool Ginny is. But there's one 
> rule: "Show not tell". And in Ginny's case I think there was to much 
> telling, and not enough showing. <snip>

Carol responds:
In the first book, we see very little of Ginny, who is basically
presented as a ten-year-old child who's too young to go to Hogwarts.
But in CoS, just before she has the misfortune to be chosen as the
person to receive Tom Riddle's diary in her cauldron, she does show
some of the spirit that shows she belongs in Gryffindor and is
potentially an interesting character in her own right. 

"'*Famous* Harry Potter,' said [Draco] Malfoy. 'Can't even go into a
*bookshop* without making the front page.'
"'Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!' said Ginny. It was the
first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at
Malfoy." (CoS, Am. ed. 61)

As far as I can see from that scene, Ginny is both brave and fiercely
loyal. And she's eleven years old at the time. I agree that we see
early on that Neville is braver than he thinks he is. But I also think
we see just enough of Ginny that we need not judge her as weak just
because she was chosen by Lucius Malfoy to be Tom Riddle's victim. And
when she stands up to Harry and points out to him (rather sharply)
that she can tell him whether he's being possessed or not, we see that
she has learned from that experience, and though it's still painful to
her, she is not afraid to talk about it when it can be useful to
someone she considers a friend (even a "friend" like Harry who does
not yet return her affection). And I really like the way she stands up
for Neville in OoP. (I actually hope she ends up with him rather than
Harry though I'm not going to argue on that topic.)

Carol, who is not a SHIPPER and is too old to care about adolescent
relationships but had to put in a good word for Ginny