Ginny and her brothers (was: Ginny's Behavior)

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 152285

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Alan Wilson"
<bawilson at ...> wrote:
>
> Ceridwen:
> Ron, as her brother, will be more critical of her than anyone else.  
> His underlying concern will also be more personal than another 
> person's - the WW seems like a conservative society where things like 
> this is concerned; he is trying to protect her reputation.  True, he 
> did it poorly.  But, as you imply yourself, siblings have a special 
> relationship.  They will yell when they really only care.
> 
> [snip]
> 
> On who Bill decides to marry, Ginny has no business butting in.
> 
> 
> 
> BAW:
> Hold up a moment!  It is OK for a brother to object to whom 
> his sister dates, but a sister must accept whom a brother 
> hooks up with?  Surely you can't mean anything so sexist. 
> But, if not, what DO you mean?
>

Yb's turn now:
I've noticed a lot of people getting hung up on this - but there is a
difference in the situations. In fact a bit of a handful.
1) Ron is Ginny's older brother. He is expected to look out for her,
most of his family probably expects him to. Fred and George do the
same - I would imagine Percy would if he was nearby.

(BTW, whoever said Ron was Victorian and something to the effect of
'old fashioned', he is. This is the WW. The society hasn't aged as
much as the Muggle world since the Great Seclusion. We see a lot of
old-fashionedness in the WW.) Ron /would/ be held accountable if
'rumors' started flying about a certain redheaded Gryffindor. (I'm not
saying they would; she's not playing anyone, not really playing the
field, and she and Dean were in a shortcut behind a tapestry - not
exactly in the Dining Hall like her older brother and Lav-Lav. I'm
just saying that to an old-fashioned older brother and oold-fashioned
parents concerned about their only sister/daughter, this would not
look good.) 

Ginny, on the other hand, is Bill's baby sister - she isn't expected
to 'look after him'.

2) Ron does sort of step in and call Ginny on her boyfriends. From
what I've seen, Ginny doesn't call Bill out (she may have before HBP
started, but we never see Bill respond to it.) Her feelings are a
passive dislike toward Phlegm and making fun of her behind her back.
Not very nice, not very mature, but more on that in the next point.

3) Bill is Ginny's oldest brother, was probably a babysitter on
occasion when he wasn't at school, maybe even let her play with his
wand or some such when Molly wasn't looking. She has an almost
hero-worship going on for him, and it probably stems from him being
nine(?) years older. She definitely doesn't see Fleur as /worthy/ of
him. Someone mentioned up thread that Ginny probably wouldn't approve
of /any/ girl he brought home. I agree. She's much like Molly on this
issue. They both know that they can't convince Bill otherwise, but
they aren't happy with his choice.

Ron showed this a bit in OotP - he comments on one Michael Corner as
if the guy isn't worthy of her. He wants her to date someone more
suitable (and his body language (though it may be Harry's wishful
thinking) alludes to Harry as being that more worthy person).

Some other things to point out:

Fleur does seem rather annoying - I was going to say condescending,
but I think that's more the juxtaposition with Molly's reaction to her
than anything - to the Weasleys. She twitters on about wedding plans,
not paying attention to the rather open hostility towards her coming
from the matriarch - the lady with the pants in the family. Not asking
for much love, it seems. And she's part Veela - that right there is a
huge turn off to other women - if a supermodel started dating my
brother, I'd likely be a bit hostile too.

Also, Ron /doesn't/ sit down and talk with Dean, like most older
brothers I know would do. (Granted, a year and a half apart - it
changes the dynamics of the relationship - that position would be more
relegated to the twins or Percy.) He doesn't bother her after the
incident with Dean. He didn't corner Michael Corner (sorry, couldn't
resist :) ). They both got hotheaded in the hall after Ron caught her
kissing Dean, but I think that's just their mother's personality
coming out in them - most of the Weasley children (if not all) have a
severe shortage of fuse. 

And again, the twins didn't have a 'talk' with Michael Corner either
(not that we saw, anyway). These older brothers are taking a much less
active role than I would expect them to - granted, I imagine Ginny can
take care of herself.

I don't think that Ginny has any right to control who Bill
dates/marries/ etc. And she doesn't. Ron shouldn't have any control
over who Ginny dates, either. And he doesn't. She doesn't let him tell
her who to date. I feel that due to Ron's age in relation to Ginny's,
the fact that he's the only sibling she has left in school, and
(sexist remark coming, I admit it) due to his gender, he will by
nature have more (maybe more vaild) objections to who she dates, than
Ginny will regarding Bill's choice in women. Not that said objections
will make a lick of difference in either case.

The two situations are quite different, mostly due to the ages of
those involved. 

Yb, who's an old-fashioned girl who comes from an old fashioned family