Ginny comes out of nowhere, but how about Ron?

[Brian Brinkman]

No: HPFGUIDX 122688


Sure enough, Ginny is in the spotlight much more in OOTP.  Some of 
her traits might come as a surprise.  Her behaviors seem realistic, 
though, for somewhat who is the youngest in a family of males.  Her 
brothers seem to fill out a good range of potential personality 
types as far as males are concerned, so it seems Ginny would be hard 
to surprise.

Yeah, she's going to take some getting used to, unless you are 
automatically comfortable around high-intensity people. Most of us 
are not (at least at first).  I once read a book about personality 
types that discussed the difference between levelers and (non)
levelers (I think the "non" term might have been different).  
Anyway, the levelers tend to like things to be easygoing and 
predictable.  The non-levelers tend to provoke conflicts, even seek 
conflicts.  Ginny's behavior in OOTP shows her potential as a "high 
strung," non-leveler person.  For example, when Neville, in the 
early part of OOTP responds to Luna with "I'm nobody," Ginny 
contradicts him and sets the record straight with, "Your Neville 
Longbottom."  Now, that's a very positive, value-affirming response, 
but it's still a contradiction and an assertive one at that.  She's 
not afraid to set things right and she doesn't care who is 
embarrassed.  The people in the world who are more reticent will 
find actions like this noticeable.  Not everyone is comfortable in 
such a role.  Quite a few people notice when someone around them is 
like that (that is, a non-leveler).

So it's possible to decide whether or not you like or dislike such a 
person.  A fairer (and less value-laden) discussion could be, "How 
much do I enjoy being around such a person, regardless of his or 
her "good" value?

Onto Ron...
I had a hard time taking in what I perceived as Ron's "new" 
persona.  When Ron re-enters the scene in OOTP, he seems different.  
In fact, he seems more life Steve Irwin from "Crocodile Hunter" than 
the Ron I came to know in the first four books.  Since when did he 
begin speckling his addresses to Harry with "mate"?  Or is this 
simply an example of my misunderstanding of British English.  I was 
aware of the "mate" designation, but its relative infrequency in GOF 
vs. its frequency in OOTP had me wondering, "What does it mean?"  Is 
JKR attempting to show Ron employing a strategy in dealing with 
Harry's new emotional state? 

What do you think?

Brian B.