Ginny - Love, Hate or On-The-Fence?

[Lith]

Uh, well, in short, I don't know.

I like Harry. And I like Ginny. But by book 6, it begins to feel as though Ginny is only there to be a part of Harry's life, like she got cool only in order to be with Harry. That and she's more than a bit like Lily, which gets rather Oedipal. Maybe (probably) JKR intended for Harry and his generation to mirror his parent's generation, but it just rings a bit hollow.

As for who I would see with Harry, if not Ginny- probably some heretofore unknown character that he meets a couple years after the end of Book 7- I don't like all loose ends being tied up too tightly, and surely there are more witches and wizards in England than those that attended Hogwart's.

 

[Majimaune]

Uh, well, in short, I don't know.

I like Harry. And I like Ginny. But by book 6, it begins to feel as though Ginny is only there to be a part of Harry's life, like she got cool only in order to be with Harry. That and she's more than a bit like Lily, which gets rather Oedipal. Maybe (probably) JKR intended for Harry and his generation to mirror his parent's generation, but it just rings a bit hollow.

As for who I would see with Harry, if not Ginny- probably some heretofore unknown character that he meets a couple years after the end of Book 7- I don't like all loose ends being tied up too tightly, and surely there are more witches and wizards in England than those that attended Hogwart's.

Who said it had to be a witch or wizard he ends up with?

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Controversial!

 

[Majimaune]

Controversial!

How so?

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I don't know it just seemed like a bold statement, like:

WHO SAID IT HAD TO BE A WITCH OR WIZARD HE ENDS UP WITH, YOU BIGOTED A-HOLES?!

I guess its not really. Anyhoo, it sucks being a muggle.

 

[Majimaune]

That it does. I thought it was more controversial with the wizard being in there.

 

[Lilly]

i think most teenage girls can relate to ginny... and most hope to have her happy ending! haha!!
she is alright but definatly not my favourite

 

[Sylanya]

I'm sort of on the fence with Ginny. One the one hand, she was a strong female character with a friendly personality, but on the other...well, she wasn't that striking. When I said she was strong, I meant she doesn't whimper and run away from danger like a frightened kitten (*cough*Hermione*cough*), but as an actual character, she just didn't stick out that much. Rowling could have done much more with her.

 

[Deiros]

Too much of a Mary-Sue, and the "Oh, we must deny our love because I am running off to be a dashing hero" act - difficult to read, difficult to accept.
Then again, she's better than Cho or Hermione.

 

[alexx]

Definitely better than Cho or Hermione. I have to say though, I would've liked to learn much more about her. Her character isn't nearly as well defined as a lot of major characters and, I mean, she ends up with Harry! I don't think we hear enough about or from her in the books and that's why she comes off as the typical Mary-Sue. I think JKR knows and develops all her characters very well, and that a lot of the time the ones we hate for being typical are only hated because we don't know enough about them. There just wasn't the time or place for it. Because we have to follow Harry, we can't hear or see anything he doesn't.

 

[Rivaelen]

I think my problem with Ginny and Harry getting together is that up until Harry is 'in love' with her, he never really voices an opinion one way or another about her. He's very aware that she has a crush on him in the early books but the reader never knows whether he's annoyed by it, flattered by it, embarrassed... In CoS he risks his life to save hers and rather than use that as a way to bring them closer together it really is never mentioned between them again. I actually liked it when Ginny gave up on her crush and moved on because that showed character growth. I would have preferred it if Harry had to woo her a bit before they actually became a couple.

The evolution of his feelings for Cho were much more believable. First he thought she was pretty in book 3 and then in book 4 she was the girl who got away because another guy got to her first. Book 5 I honestly felt like her character did a 180 just to throw people off (even distraught, a girl would have to be absolutely clueless to ask her new bf to talk about watching her ex-bf die on a first date). It was too neatly done that the principal 3 characters each got one relationship with a person who was the complete opposite of the person they were supposed to be with (except I don't think Ginny and Cho were really that different from each other to be honest). Ron dated Lavender, Hermione got Krum, and Harry got Cho.

 

[BenSt]

I think though one thing with Ginny is this: she wasn't a school crush. I don't know about you lot, but when I was a teenager I went through many crushes of guys who were just lustful fantasies. When I got older I then met people who I easily got into relationships with with no real prelude or long winded build up. I think what Ms. Rowling did which was clever was to show the reality of love, that you have crushes and then things change. Harry got to know Ginny when she got older, and it wasn't as predictable as say Hermione and Harry falling for each other.

 

[Munch]

Hmm I'm on the fence here. In the books she comes off as a rather boring character who on the surface at least is very Lily like. I feel however there was opportunity to get to know her better and give her a personality of her own and Rowling should have taken advantage of this and given us a more well rounded character over all. Just my thoughts

 

[AGraceMartin]

She is very plain and lacks development. You would think that the hero's love interest would have a larger role.

 

[Anushka Mokosh]

On the fence, leaning towards dislike. I was never much of a fan of Ginny, but she is so bad when around Harry and I know that the books make a point of her improving, but I don't see it and don't understand it. She should have really moved on. I'm neutral when I judge her separately from her relationship with Harry, but I dislike her when I factor that in.

 

[devilsgrin]

On the fence, leaning towards dislike. I was never much of a fan of Ginny, but she is so bad when around Harry and I know that the books make a point of her improving, but I don't see it and don't understand it. She should have really moved on. I'm neutral when I judge her separately from her relationship with Harry, but I dislike her when I factor that in.

this is exactly how i feel about Ginny. Although perhaps Indifference describes her best for me separated from Harry...

 

[Boaz]

I do not like Ginny... and I do not dislike her either.

The problem with Ginny is her soft and slow introduction. She barely shows up in the first book. The second book is her proper introduction, however she's already under the diary's influence during all interactions at Hogwarts... so her personality is not her own or she's incredibly emotional. And she blends into the background with all the other Gryffindors during the third and fourth books.

For me, it's only in the fifth book that Ginny comes to her real introduction. She joins the Quidditch team. She brings people to the DA meeting. She's determined and resolute. She joins the rescue attempt.

But almost all main and secondary characters had much more definitive introductions. Dumbledore, Hagrid, the Dursleys, McGonagall, Draco, Fred and George, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Percy, Lockhart, Lucius, Neville, Wood, and Molly all are defined quickly in the first two books. Even Crabbe and Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Colin, Ollivander, and Neville's Gran are more easily identifiable characters in the first two books. If Ginny has a real character quality at this point, it is dull. It seems her highest contribution to the story will be to fade into the mass of Gryffindors.

Obviously, Rowling had a definite plan for Ginny... yet by classifying her as insipid for the first four books, Rowling did not set Ginny up for a successful transition. She was too long associated with the scenery and crowd of extras like Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Ernie, Padma, Hannah, Terry, Justin, et al. to become an intriguing character to me.

One of the strongest qualities of the series is character growth over time. Being focused upon the struggle against Voldemort, of course Harry will grow the most.... followed by those youngsters closest to him. We witness Ron, Hermione, Draco, Neville, Fred and George all develop from kids to adults. Since the story follows Harry and since Ginny is a year behind, she falls into the group of people who's growth is undocumented. And it does not help, in my opinion, that she's still underage when the story ends.

 

[nixie]

I liked Ginny.

When we're young we have our circle of friends, generally their siblings fade into the background, we're aware of them but rarely do we interact with them. As we grow older we take more notice and will engage them in conversation, friendship may or may not develop.

I liked the way the Weasley siblings were portrayed, Ron's relationship with them influenced Harry. Percy the annoying older brother, the twins Ron's tormentors and guardians, who treated Harry as an extension of Ron.
Ginny the baby, you don't let your little sister hang with you. When Ron noticed that she was no longer a little girl it made Harry notice too.

 

[Artoriarius]

I don’t really have much of an opinion on Ginny in the books. Romance isn’t really my thing (heck, I always felt Hermione shouldn’t have married), and since a lot of Ginny’s presence in the books is tied up with her relationship with Harry, I didn’t really care. After reading plenty of fanfiction, though, I’ve liked her a bit better—mainly out of spite for the Harmonians* who turn her, Ron, and, for some odd reason, Dumbledore into terrible people to get them out of the way (and they turn poor Hermione into a super-girly airhead who can’t do anything without Her Man), but also because there’s some good fanfics with her in it—Seventh Horcrux has her as the Bellatrix to Voldemort/Harry’s... well, Voldemort, and The Very Secret Diary is a brilliant look at Ginny and Tom Riddle’s interactions in her first year.

* Note that I’m not criticising Harry/Hermione shippers. Harmonians are a particularly bad subset of that group, and not a reflection of the whole. I don’t mind shipping, if people aren’t written horribly out of character just to support the ship; but if it can’t sail with the characters in character, then it’s a pretty shoddy ship, in my opinion.

 

[Boaz]

Just reread book six. Ginny comes across as a more likeable character for me. I think this is because, like Luna and Neville, she went on the rescue mission in book five. She is shown to be one of the seven (the magic number) most dedicated of Harry's schoolmates. (Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, Lupin, Black, Arthur and Molly are seemingly the seven most dedicated adults.)

BUT... Ginny's peripheral appearances and more likeable personality do not allow me to make the jump to Harry's soulmate.

Defending Harry regarding his guilt of wounding Malfoy, Ginny told Hermione stop acting like she knows anything about Quidditch. Harry was truly grateful and they ended up kissing after the win over Ravenclaw. From this point on, the only dialogue between Harry and Ginny was about his rumored hippogriff tatoo. (Ginny told Romilda it's actually a dragon and that Ron has a pygmy puff tatoo.) The rest of their new relationship is described as quiet times on the lawn or by the lake. Ginny was the one who guided Harry from Dumbledore's body to the infirmary.... but that does not really seem enough to me for them to get from snogging to Harry's declaration at Dumbledore's funeral. At the funeral, Harry told Ginny they had to stop seeing each other and that he was leaving to save the world.... and she accepted this at face value.

All that happened over a two week span. Their new romance was now strong enough to survive a break up, a perilous quest, his disappearance, tabloid reports, libel, death threats, her brother's interference, living alone with Hermione, and then be ready for a life long marriage.

I understand that's where JKR wanted to go with the story... and I do not disagree with the timing. Harry's friendships with Ron and Hermione are tested in every book. Harry's relationships with Black, Lupin, Dumbledore, and Hagrid are repeatedly put under pressure. None of these friendships was forged over a two week period that could withstand years of stresses. It's almost like a JKR glued them together with a permanent sticking charm.