that Ginny meta I always meant to write

[static_pixie]

Please create the standard disclaimer about how this essay is a peice of crap and I'm so sorry I wrote it and please don't judge me if it's horrible in your heads because I can't be bothered to write it all out. *laughs* But, really, I've wanted to write something about what I think Ginny's character was meant to come off as and what JKR was

Comments

[gunderpants]

I'm really glad that this is a public entry, because it's one that I feel deserves to be read by a lot of people on either side of the argument.

I think there's a great deal of truth in this essay - especially the part about Ginny wanting to be with Harry - and not necessarily because she likes Harry the person rather than Harry the image, and it's the turning point at the end that really makes her look at Harry and what he needs and wants. It's definitely a more mature Ginny that emerges at the end of HBP, and I'm interested to see what she does towards the end of the series.

[static_pixie]

Yeah, me too. She's definitely one to watch and I want to see exactly what happens in the next book. I get the feeling JKR is going to turn quite a few things over on their heads genre-wise and just in terms of her own story and Ginny may be a part of that

[ellecain]

It's why she hexes Zacharias for just asking about what happened at the ministry; maybe she's embarrassed because she really doesn't have all that much to say.

Ahahaha! That's a great explanation. I can't believe you wrote an essay that makes Ginny seem sympathetic to me! This is fabulous, especially the bits about her being jealous of Ron. Gives you a lot to think about, this one...

[static_pixie]

Thanks! It's hilarious, I've had this essay on H/G sitting on my computer for weeks because I can't get it to where I want it and then I sort of turned around and wrote this in like 2 seconds. It's rough, I admit, very rough, but I'm glad you got so much out of it!

I'm in such a weird place with Ginny. On one hand, I want to try and understand her character better because I think there may be more there than meets the eye and on the other, reading her dialogue and the scenes she's in still kinda make me want to, well, do the head-beating thing because she's never really called on anything. Even this essay is mostly conjecture. I guess I feel like I rail and rail against how people tend to just write Draco off without really thinking about him and so I felt kind of like a hypocrite doing the same thing with Ginny and also, well, at the end of the day, I kinda do wanna think that Rowling knew/knows exactly what she's doing.

[melisus]

Speaking as a fellow eye-roller when it came to suffering through the Harry/Ginny "romance" in Book 6, I found your essay to be rather thought-provoking. You can begin to see that as much as the reader may at first loathe the Ginny we see in HBP, she is going through some sort of character development. And I can see now where Rowling would say that Ginny is everything that Harry needs. At the end of the book it isn't her looks or her spunk that is good for Harry, it's the understanding she has of his situation. I suppose I could get on the Harry/Ginny ship as viewing Ginny as being wise enough to know that what Harry needs is to be allowed to do what he has to do (which is what Ron and Hermione give him... along with a little bit of council and guidance).

So a very nice essay. And now, if only Tonks would wisen up and take a leaf out of Ginny's book.

[static_pixie]

Well....I kinda like Tonks the way she is. She went through a journey of her own, I feel, she just reacted to very similar stimuli in a different way.

But thanks. I've been trying to make this all make sense. Although I could be completely wrong, of course, it really all depends a lot on what happens in book 7 and this is mostly conjecture since you don't quite see the consequences to Ginny's worse actions. But I saw the evidence there and I tried to present it as well as I could and this is what I got. I'm not an Orange Crusher either, though, and I think that even if I'm right about Ginny here, I'm not sure I could ship them together. Just because she may be his ideal woman, but I'm not so sure he's her ideal man.

[tree_and_leaf]

This was an interesting read, even though - or because - I like Ginny a lot more than you do, though she wasn't at her best in parts of HBP (mind you, who was?)

I actually think that the dynamic you've identified applies to a lot of the younger characters in HPB - it's almost as if Harry, Ron and Hermione too have retreated from the reality of what happened in the MOM and are attempting rather desperately, to be 'just normal teenagers'. Hence the whole obsession about dating, because - they seem to be thinking, probably subconsciously, That's What Teenagers Do . They can't yet cope with the prospect of fighting a war - it's possibly significant that Harry, when he is worrying about Voldemort's palns, still reduces it to his school-boy feud with Malfoy, even though, ironically, he's right.

Over the course of the book, but at the latest when Dumbledore is killed, the major teenage characters have to grow up and accept emotionally as well as intellectually that they - well, have to grow up.

[static_pixie]

I think the thing about Harry and Draco is just that Draco had actually been the one constant in Harry's life up to that point. Even his relationships with Ron and Hermione fluctuated at times, and in book 3, Voldemort was strangely absent. But he could always count on Draco Malfoy giving him a hard time no matter what. So when Draco stopped, Harry was sort of thrown for a loop. He even tried to provoke Draco that one time in the dining hall, even though it meant he might have missed out on an opportunity to hear what it was Draco had planned. I don't think Draco was just a cover for worry about Voldemort, I think some of it had to do with Harry's own issues with Draco. Otherwise, I doubt he would have cared as much because Voldemort wasn't actually doing anything, Draco was trying to carry out his orders, and Harry thinks Draco is so inept. It wouldn't have been as urgent

[static_pixie]

I love, LOVE Harry and Draco's interaction in book 6, it's just so interesting. I feel like at the end, Harry's going to have to...somehow love, or at least empathize with, Voldemort to some extent in order to defeat him, but he's got to go in steps, otherwise his black-and-white view of the world will screw him over. First he sympathizes with Draco, comes to understand Snape, then gets to Voldemort. And I bet Draco will come to feel a lot more empathetic of Harry's plight if he hasn't already (which may be too much to hope for, it is Draco). In fact, I bet they'll have to work together in some capacity, meaning their will need to be some level of mutual understanding.