I still hate Ginny Weasley!!!

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 131730

phoenixgod2000" wrote: 
> The end of the book [Order] was another let down when it came to 
Ginny. We 
> here about how great her hexes are, how she's so powerful despite 
> being tiny, and she throws a temper tantrum so she can go to the 
> department of mysteries, and what happens? She's practically the 
> first one down, the first one if I'm not mistaken. Throughout OOTP 
> Ginny is all talk and no payoff. But she's so in your face with her 
> attitude that it makes her character deeply annoying. At least to
me.

Meri here. I would have to disagree that Ginny was the first one down 
at the DoM: That would be Hermione, as far as we know, who was
knocked 
out by one of the DE's curses. Ginny twisted or broke her ankle in
the 
planet room, where Ron went all funny, too. And I also disagree that 
she threw "a temper tantrum" to go with them. She just didn't want to 
be left out nor did she want to be treated like a baby, something she 
has been struggling against for the entire novel (sort of similar to 
Harry's own struggle to be treated like an adult earlier in the book) 
and even earlier that that IIRC: I believe that in GoF there was a 
time when HRH were trying to discuss Sirius and Ron told Ginny to,
"go 
away," to which she reacted a bit hufflily. And remeber, neither 
Neville nor Luna nor Hermione reacted well to Harry's wanting to go
on 
with only Ron and have the others catch up. 

But on the subject of Ginny's character development, I have to say 
that I was neither disappoineted nor unpleasantly surprised. Her 
progression has been slow, and admittedly mostly offscreen as it
were, 
but her progression has been there. In fact we should have probably 
figured that she had a forceful personality, it is there in her first 
scene in SS, on the train platform when she unabashedly asks if she 
can go see Harry while he's on the train and when she begs to be let 
to go to Hogwarts early: she doesn't want to be left behind. Sound 
familiar? 

Ginny is to me an example of how people can change drastically during 
their teenaged years, sometimes with little or no corroborating 
experience or evidence. RL example time: my youngest brother started 
off middle school painfully shy, few friends, little social life and 
so nervous about school that he would often fake illness not to go. 
But now he's near fourteen (Ginny's OOTP age) and is heading to high 
school, he runs track and plays basketball on school teams, is out 
with a large group of friends quite often and actually speaks to
other 
members of the family besides our parents. He changed, he grew up, 
just like Ginny did. Sometimes it just happens. It isn't a foult of 
the storytelling, just a quirk of the character. And remeber, in most 
cases JKR does things for a reason (Mark Evans fiasco aside), so
maybe 
we should hold in judgement till all is said and done. 

And I don't think it is wrong that Ginny and Hermione should have 
become good friends, the foundation for that was laid back in PoA
when 
the pair of them started spending time together with Mrs. Weasley 
during their time in Diagon Alley. Why shouldn't Hermione have a 
bestest girlfriend? She deserves one. 

Anyway, I like Ginny. I think she's a fascinating character that has 
spunk, attitude, doesn't take no for an answer and has managed to 
survive mostly emotionally intact after being possessed by LV and 
growing up with six older brothers, something that couldn't have been 
easy. No, I take that back: I *love* Ginny, in much the same way I 
love Hermione (and to some extent Luna and Professor McGonagall). The 
pair of them are so different from the usual archetypes of fantasy 
heroines that I really can't help appreciate them (for example, Susan 
and Lucy Pevensie from the Narnia books just want to make me vomit or 
poke my eyes out). I was admittedly surprised to see Ginny so 
prominent in book five, albeit pleasantly so, because in truth I
think 
I should have seen it coming. So that's all I have to say about that. 

Meri - thinking that the real personality change we should be
debating 
is Seamus Finnegan, who went from being the charming Gryffindor
fourth 
banana to a raging dork-wad...