Ginny's Role in Book 7 (was: Re: Four ponderings)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 144860

> >>va32h: 
> I guess I'm not understanding why Ginny "should have" done 
> this or that. Particularly in regard to the twins. The twins have 
> routinely been dismissive of Ginny, to the point where they don't 
> know any more about her than Harry (or the reader, for that       
> matter). 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
It's not what Ginny should have done, but what JKR should have shown 
the readers if she wanted Ginny to be a full fledged character, like 
Neville.  Because I do disagree with your take on the Ginny/Twins 
relationship.  I don't recall them ever being dismissive of her.  It 
was just that she didn't hang with them as much as she did with Ron 
and Percy.  Until OotP, of course.  Where so much about Ginny 
changed.

> >>va32h:
> Well I do agree that Ginny has been something of an insta-        
> character (just add water, and watch her suddenly become a vital   
> part of the plot!) Hermione's knowledge of Ginny did come out of  
> nowhere for Harry and the reader, but I didn't find it            
> contradictory, because I thought that Ginny was a bit of a blank  
> slate in the first four books anyway. There wasn't anything to    
> contradict! 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Ginny wasn't that blank, though.  That's what I've got issue with.  
GoF leaves the rather distinct impression that Ginny is ho-hum about 
quidditch.  Now maybe that was some sinister plot on her part to 
keep all of her interests a massive secret, but what a weird choice 
on JKR's part, IMO.  Ginny is already a background character, 
there's no need to suddenly add purposeful secrets to the mix.  
Unless the secrets are vital to the plot.  Which I don't see Ginny 
being suddenly quidditch mad as being.

> >>va32h:
> The examples that you cited in your previous post don't strike me 
> as anything more sinister than the difference between 11 and 15.   
> Hadn't Harry changed a bit between the ages of 11 and 15. Many     
> readers were shocked at ANGRY!HARRY! in OoTP - such a departure    
> from his previous self.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
In GoF Harry threw a badge at Ron, hitting him in the head.  So no, 
Angry!Harry didn't come completely out of nowhere.  Just as 
determined!Neville didn't come out of nowhere.  Quidditch-Star!
Ginny, and Third-twin!Ginny, unfortunately, did. At least, IMO.

> >>Peg:
> <snip>
> I've been re-reading and focusing more on Ginny, and her          
> personality change seems less awkward to me than it did when I    
> first read HBP. The combination of puberty and the Harry filter    
> (and we seem to see more of Ginny's personality at the Burrow
> than we do at Hogwarts, when Harry has more important things to    
> focus on) works for me. Or maybe I'm just fanwanking.

Betsy Hp:
The most awkward transition, IMO, occurs between GoF and OotP.  And 
it's about that time that JKR really picks up the tell not show 
aspect to Ginny's character.  Suddenly Hermione is needed 
to "explain it all" and Ginny is mysteriously gifted with her bat 
bogey hex that we never see but apparently she's now famous for.  
(And when on earth did she develop this magical hex?  Was it her 
magical manifisation?  Did the Weasleys let her use her wand at 
home?  I mean, why is it a Weasley family knowledge thing, but not a 
Hogwarts knowledge thing?)

> >>Pippin:
> <snip>
> I think you're trying to make Ginny fit the mold of a romantic    
> heroine, and as a romantic heroine, she fails.

Betsy Hp:
I really wasn't trying to look at Ginny as a romantic lead, just as 
a second string character.  Though maybe I'm fooling myself, because 
I do think the love story between Ginny and Harry is rather flat.  A 
sort of, right, there you go, Harry is happy and he's kissing a girl 
his friends all approve of, and we'll just fade to dark and bring 
the lights back up when he leaves her keeping the home fires burning 
and gets to the important battle stuff that everyone's *really* 
interested in.  

Though I don't honestly feel JKR *failed* at anything here, because 
I got the impression that the love stuff is supposed to be behind 
the scenes.  It's not a part of the action sections of the story.  
That's definitely part of the reason I think Ginny will not be 
taking too much part in book 7.  I think she'll book-end the story, 
but the real meat of the story will not include her.

> >>Pippin:
> She's not. She's an epic character, like Harry himself. What I    
> mean is, she doesn't change dramatically over the course of the   
> story. The drama is in our discovery of what she's always been.   
> Her abilities are *supposed* to be a surprise, just as we're      
> surprised to find that Harry is a natural at flying. But her basic 
> personality doesn't change much.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
What are her abilities though?  Her quidditch skill?  Her hexes?  
Because that stuff all came out of right field for me.  It felt very 
pasted on.  But her ability to calm Harry down, to get him to listen 
or think, which also makes a first appearence in OotP *does* work 
for me.  Because, as you say, Ginny does have an epic role in 
Harry's life.  So while I think Harry was pleasantly surprised by 
her in OotP, as a reader I was not surprised. At least, not at that 
aspect of her. 

But Ginny Weasley, third twin, quidditch star, hexing fool, did 
surprise me, and not in a cool dramatic kind of way.  A sly wit, a 
sense of humor, even her looking at problems in a creative, twin-
like, way would have been fine.  But JKR laid it on a bit too thick, 
IMO.

> >>Pippin:
> <snip>
> Young Ginny perceives Harry only as a celebrity "famous, good,
> great Harry Potter" and this mask in turn masks her real
> self from him. We should get to see the moment when she finally
> realizes he's only human, and we do. It's in GoF, when she finds
> that he's not only got feet of clay, he occasionally sticks them in
> his mouth two at a time.

Betsy Hp:
Where exactly does this moment take place? In the text, I mean, 
because I totally missed it.  Doesn't Hermione have to explain about 
this massive personality reversal in OotP?

> >>Pippin:
> Ginny was a horcrux, of a sort. I wouldn't be surprised if she
> has some abillities that could come in useful for finding and
> destroying them.

Betsy Hp:
Yee gods, I hope not!  Ginny is already far too powerfully cool for 
my tastes.  She's got bigger balls than Ron at this point (having 
stolen his from him, the little minx).  It'll be far too much for me 
if her wand is bigger than Harry's too. <g>

Though, does she have any kind of reaction to the locket in OotP? 
That could be a bit of foreshadowing if she did.

Betsy Hp (who's afraid she may end up liking movie!Ginny far more 
than book!Ginny -- kinda like the twins. huh.)