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diff --git a/literature/what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst b/literature/what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7de968 --- /dev/null +++ b/literature/what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +What’s wrong with Ginny? +######################## + +:date: 2019-07-17T23:50:28 +:category: literature +:tags: review, harryPotter, blogComment, zettelkasten, plot, story + +(my comments on “`The Character Development of Ginny Weasley`_” +by `u/goodlife23`_) + +For me the main idea of everything written (originally, I have +this from an excellent book by Walter Kerr “`How Not to Write +a Play`_”) is that the plot (and character development and many +other things in any literary work) is about a character moving +from point A to point B. That’s all the play (novel, short story) +is about! Why did she move from A to B? What were the obstacles +on the way? How did she overcame them? Actually points A and +B are not so important as the travel between them. + +One of the most horrible sins of any literary work is when in the +first act of a drama the character (let’s say Draco Malfoy or +Severus Snape) is in point A (marked Death Eater believing +honestly in the pureblood ideals), and in the second act he is in +point B (member of the Order of Phoenix fighting pureblood +mentality). Change happened sometime during the intermission. +That’s completely and absolutely wrong! The most important part, +the only part we are interested in, is how he changed. What moved +him to leave the Voldemort’s camp? Was it difficult? What +obstacles he had to overcome? What precious things he had to +sacrifice and leave behind? This is for example problem of most +stories with Severus Snape as the main character. In books we +have rather horrible person persecuting Harry just because he +looks like his dad. Then suddenly in the story he is fair, a bit +hurt by the nasty Dumbledore, smart guy who is the best friend +with Harry without much problems. WHAT? How did they get there? +Why Severus changed his attitude towards Harry? How did Harry +struggle to accept this change? etc. The story in this area +I rather like (“`Becoming Harriet`_” by Teao; another problem is +that amount of smut is so big that it hurts the narrative) is +exactly with this problem. Suddenly without any transition, Snape +is the only professor who was always honest with Harry (WHAT?), +desperately hoping for just treatment for his Slytherins, etc., +and Harry (well, Harriet, it is a gender bending story) accepts +it immediately without any objections (WHAT?). + +The similar thing happened to Ginny in the books. She starts as +a very shy girl with her elbow in the butter dish when seeing +Harry, then she is a damsel in distress (OK, that part is +covered, that’s what CoS is about), a princess saved by her +knight in (not so much) shining armour from a dragon, and then +… she is completely forgotten. Suddenly she shows up two and half +books later as a self-confident sport-loving the most pretty girl +at Hogwarts well prepared to be the girl for Harry (and there is +not much else for her goals in life apparently). We are told, +that Hermione had told her (behind the scenes, we don’t even know +when that conversation happened) to date around to get +a confidence (pretty stupid idea, if I may say so) and she +changes somewhere behind the scenes (aside from one scene when +Harry and Ron found her kissing somebody, we don’t even know +anything about that process). There is a hint to something in my +beloved line ‘“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly.’, but it has never +been developed into proper substory (which is huge mistake, +IMHO). That’s COMPLETELY WRONG! We are interested in the process +how a girl, who was shy and horribly abused by Tom Riddle +(emotionally, physically, perhaps even otherwise), changes into +the fiery Ginny we all know and love. We don’t know and we are +never told. + +Difference between Luna and Ginny is interesting. The story arch +we are here following is not actually change in Luna herself (she +is mostly the same all time she is present), but the journey is +Harry’s (and ours) discovery who she is. He first thinks (with +everybody else including Hermione) she is just Loony, crazy girl +spitting out nonsense. And gradually he finds out she is actually +rather smart, shockingly honest, and absolutely faithful to her +friends, so he ends to take her to the Slughorn’s party, and she +then follows the group to the Department of Mysteries and +co-leads the Dumbledore Army during DH (another horribly +situation where everything interesting with Ginny happens +somewhere in background). However, given Luna is not the main +heroine of the story (contrary to Ginny, who should be the one), +it is possibly easier to forgive her disappearance in the +background, when she is not needed for the main storyline. + +.. _`The Character Development of Ginny Weasley`: + https://www.reddit.com/r/HarryandGinny/comments/ceiyfj/the_character_development_of_ginny_weasley/ + +.. _`u/goodlife23`: + https://www.reddit.com/user/goodlife23/ + +.. _`How Not to Write a Play`: + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Not_to_Write_a_Play + +.. _`Becoming Harriet`: + https://archiveofourown.org/works/4876630 |