I still hate Ginny Weasley!!!

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 131745

Luna:
> I have to step here on behalf of Ginny and Jo. Jo did leave clues 
> regarding Ginny's personality and strength of character.

> In COS Ron said she never shuts up. 

I agree with Phoenixgod and Hickengruendler -- this is not enough. 
It's not even really that indicative of the personality she develops 
in OotP, anyway.  All it says is that she talks a lot, which she
never really did.

Luna:
> Then we see how she fiercely 
> comes in defense of Harry at the bookstore (scene with Drako). By 
> that time, Ginny was already receptive enough to realize that Harry 
> didn't want all that fame (see, she already knew he wanted to be a 
> quiet hero).

That wasn't really what I meant by "quiet hero".  I meant someone who
has a lot of inner strength and bravery, but is never really given
credit for it because they never do anything "big" and/or they're
personality is not compelling to others. Basically, Neville is, in 
many ways, as stoic and brave as Harry, but he'll never be a Hero 
in the same way, IMO.  Hermione, to me, is another "quiet hero", 
because of her willingness to do the right thing over the opinions 
of her peers. Now, she's not as good an example of what I am trying 
to get across as Neville, but I think we can both agree she is not 
"quiet" in the traditional sense. ^_~

As for Ginny, of course she defends him -- he's her idol!  I thought
her defense of Harry in CoS was a bit ironic, really, because 
although she is smart enough to see that Harry is uncomfortable 
on a pedestal, she can't seem to take him off of it.

Luna:
<SNIP Clues>
> So, after all the clues she has been giving us, it shouldn't been a 
> big surprise Ginny character evolution in OOTP.

> I know some people, for one reason or another, just don't like her 
> character
 But I think it is unfair to say that Jo didn't give 
> clues regarding Ginny « true self »
 Jo did give us plenty 
> of them


Meri:
> 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 [. . .] <SNIP>

The thing is, before OotP came out, there were very, very few people
(at least on this list) who suspected that Ginny was actually 
KickAss!Girl.  In fact, most Ginny defenders and Harry/Ginny 
SHIPpers praised Ginny for *not* challenging Harry and being 
contentious with him.  They argued that Hermione was too quick 
to point out when Harry was wrong.  They said he needed his 
life-mate to be someone who wouldn't argue with him all the time
and who would quietly support and respect him (with dignity, 
of course) no matter what.

I may not have agreed with them at the time, but I certainly couldn't
argue that Ginny didn't fill this role more easily than Hermione. 
In OotP, however, Ginny made Hermione look like Miss Restraint 
when it came to telling Harry off.  IMO, this is just one example of 
the way in which JKR did a bad job of defining Ginny's personality
for the readership.

I guess I just don't buy the argument about Harry's POV.  JKR did a
good job of developing Neville, for instance, even though he never 
got much attention from Harry.  There are ways around the POV 
problem, and -- as I have said before -- JKR usually pulls them off 
brilliantly.  I just think she failed with Ginny.

Laura