League 1

Victoria League
Tison Pugh
LIT3482
19 February 2015
Feminist View of Ginny Weasley
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling constructs Ginny Weasley as a feminine
character displaying typical female behavior, placing her firmly in the
gender role of female. Her character has no developed personality, existing
only as a love interest for Harry, and her importance in the second novel
builds her as a weakling and a damsel in distress. This serves to enforce her
gender and her romantic relation to Harry instead of furthering her character
development.
Ginny Weasley is extremely feminine in the Harry Potter novels, which
readers see most strongly in Ginnys persistent crying. In the readers first
encounter with Ginny, she starts to cry as the train leaves with her older
brothers (The Sorcerers Stone 97), already starting her characterization as a
girlish child. Crying is typically associated with females, which makes her
femininity much stronger because it is one of her first actions in the series.
Ginny continues to cry throughout the second book; Percy, one of her
brothers, tells sibling Ron that Ginny has been crying her eyes out and that
he has never seen her so upset (The Chamber of Secrets 157). Tom Riddle,
the novels villain, tells Harry that Ginny, upon entering the Chamber of
Secrets, struggled and cried and became very boring (The Chamber of

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Secrets 313). When Harry wakes her from a magic-induced slumber, she
[draws] a great, shuddering gasp and tears [begin] to pour down her face
(The Chamber of Secrets 322). Rowling goes on to mention multiple times in
the next ten pages that Ginny is still crying: tears were still flooding silently
down Ginnys face (326); tears were still coursing silently down her
cheeks (328). Such persistent characterization of Ginny as a crying girl
feminizes her and indicates that this is an important action or trait of hers.
Elizabeth E. Heilman describes Ginny as the archetypal girl who is
deeply passive, weak, and receptive (230). Ginny displays other feminine
behavior aside from crying. In The Chamber of Secrets, Ginny shriek[s] that
shed left her diary in the house as her family tries to leave for the Hogwarts
train (66), an action that readers would expect from a girl because of both
the shriek and the diary. Later she is described as wailing (The Chamber of
Secrets 210), a verb not often used to describe boys. When a cat becomes
the victim of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets, Ron tells Harry that
Ginny is a great cat lover (146). Cats tend to be linked with women, and
Heilman notes that doting on cats is effeminate (232); this association
further feminizes Ginny. Once her classmate is attacked, Ginny acts
distraught and one of her brothers says that she has been having
nightmares (The Chamber of Secrets 185). The diary returns near the end of
the novel; the reader learns she has been writing in Tom Riddles diary all
year. Tom Riddle says that she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets
to an invisible stranger, writing about all her pitiful worries and woes (The

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Chamber of Secrets 309). These are actions that readers would expect from
a girl, but not from a boy, further placing Ginny in the limiting box of
female. Riddle, although bored with Ginnys writings, kindly writes back,
leading Ginny to tell him that shes so glad Ive got this diary to confide in
(The Chamber of Secrets 309), a girlish statement.
As a typical female, an important part of Ginnys character is romance.
Rowling introduces and thereafter always notes Ginny based on her interest
in Harry, immediately defining her based on a male. When readers first see
her in The Sorcerers Stone, she begs to see Harry for herself: Oh, Mom, can
I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please. (97). Still too young to be
thinking romantically about Harry, her curiosity interest stems from his fame
and reputation. This interest develops into a romantic attraction by The
Chamber of Secrets, where her siblings rescue Harry from his family and
bring him into their home. Upon seeing Harry in her home, Ginny runs out of
the room, presumably from shyness. Ron Weasley says to Harry that Ginny
has been talking about you all summer, and Fred adds, shell be wanting
your autograph, Harry (The Chamber of Secrets 35). Already Rowling is
buildinghas built Ginnys attraction to Harry and setting the stage for their
future romance. As Harrys stay in Ginnys home continues, he notes that
Ginny seemsis very prone to knocking things over and continually blushes
around him (The Chamber of Secrets 43). All of her appearances culminate in
a girly reaction to Harry that indicates her romantic attraction and nothing
else about her personality.

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At Hogwarts, readers hardly see Ginny and when they do, she
continues to act shy and nervous around Harry, continually doing things like
carefully not look[ing] at Harry while in his presence (The Chamber of
Secrets 286). When Harry receives her valentine in front of a line of first
years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy accuses
Ginny of sending it by saying, I dont think Potter liked your valentine
much! (The Chamber of Secrets 237-9). Ginny runs away, embarrassed,
leading the reader to believe that Ginny did indeed send the valentine.
Readers do not doubt Dracos accusation because Rowling has constructed
Ginny entirely on her girly attraction to Harry and this is certainly within the
scope of her interest for him. Draco is not the only one to tease Ginny about
her obvious intentions; Ron , her own brother, proclaims, Youve got
competition, Ginny! when another girl shows interest in Harry (The
Chamber of Secrets 326). Rons comment, said in front of both Ginny and
Harry, enforces the readers conception of Ginny as a lovesick young girl and
nothing more.
The first time we hear Ginny speak while Harry is around, she is
defending him from Dracos insults while glaring at Draco: Leave him alone,
he didnt want all that! (The Chamber of Secrets 61). Draco takes this
chance to taunt Harry further, saying, Potter, youve got yourself a
girlfriend! and Ginny turns scarlet (The Chamber of Secrets 61). This is
the first indication of Ginnys personality further than simply shy and
blushing, but her bravery only appears when defending Harry. This

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characterization plays off her attraction and interest in Harry instead of
developing her personality. When Tom Riddle rattles off a paragraph about
the boring things Ginny wrote in his diary, he emphasizes that Ginny did not
think the famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her. (The
Chamber of Secrets 309). Her other concerns are unimportant; as even
Riddle could deduce, her crush on Harry defines her. Otherwise
indistinguishable from any other girl of her age, save for her near-obsession
with Harry, Ginny does not have a personality of her own.
One could argue that Ginnys flat character construction is a
logicalresults result logically from of her status as a minor character;
Hermione, a character readers see very often in the novels, would of course
possess a stronger, rounded personality. However, the fact that Ginnys
character creation completely revolves around Harry, and the fact that all
notable personality traits relate to her feelings for him, indicate that Rowling
had no other purpose for Ginny besides acting as Harrys future love interest.
aside from romance for Harry. Elizabeth Heilman explains that Ginnys
attraction to Harry disables her instead of allowing her character to grow
(230). Her importance in The Chamber of Secrets actually enforces this,
because she isbecomes a damsel in distress, a young girl easily tricked by
dark magic, and and in needs of a hero to rescue her. This familiar trope
gives her a stronger romantic tie to Harry instead of increasing her
importance as a character of her own right, and is problematic because
women should not be defined by, or created for, men.

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While it is true that Ginny has a central role in the second novel, her
importance is only as a weakling tricked by Tom Riddle and a damsel in
distress. Riddle explains to Harry that Ginny was the culprit the entire year
because he had been able to control her from the diary, opening giving the
possibility impression that Ginny is easily trickedgullible, immature, and
needy for pouring her soul into an unknown diary enough to be controlled by
it (The Chamber of Secrets 310). Heilman agrees, saying that Ginny is weak
enough to be fully possessed and used (230). Riddle forces Ginny to write
her own farewell on the wall and come down [to the Chamber of Secrets] to
wait for Harry Potter to come and save her (The Chamber of Secrets 313).
This places Ginny in the position of damsel in distress, waiting for a hero and
not taking her safety into her own hands. This further diminishes her and
flattens her character into quintessentially female. After Harry finds Ginny
and brings her back to safety, fulfilling his role as the hero, Mrs. Weasley
exclaims, You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it? (The Chamber
of Secrets 327). All of the success is due to Harry as the savior, while Ginny
is merely an object to be saved. The relationship between hero and damsel
in distress often leads to romance, which reemphasizes Ginnys attraction to
Harry and foreshadows a future relationship between them. Upon her rescue,
Ginny cannot stop crying out of guilt, and this typical female response
reminds the reader of her overpowering femininity.that she is a girl.
As a final insult, Ginnys own father blames her for her actions even
though she is the victim of a trick by the most powerful dark wizard in

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history. She sobs to him, explaining with fear, Ive b-been writing in [his
diary], and hes been w-writing back all year and her fathers response is,
Havent I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust
anything that can think for itself if you cant see where it keeps its brain?
Why didnt you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object
like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic (The Chamber of Secrets 329).
Rowlings italics and Mr. Weasleys attitude indicate that he is deeply angry
at Ginny for allowing herself to be tricked by Riddle, when in reality she is the
victim. Some readers will recognize this as a form of victim blaming, a
phenomenon rampant in our society, especially in situations where women
are attacked and others blame the women for bringing on the attack. For
Ginny to be blamed as a victim by her own father is a deeply troubling act,
yet this further solidifies Ginny as a little girl who would be dumb enough to
write in an unknown diary.
Ginny Weasley is certainly an extremely feminized character whose
only character traits revolve around her romantic interest in Harry Potter.
From a feminist viewpoint, this is a disappointing construction of a female
character that could have been well rounded and occupy a worthwhile role in
the storyworthwhile for more than just a man. However, readers must ask
themselves: is it such a bad thing that Ginny is so very girlish? Is it bad to
have archetypal characters that conform to stereotypes and do not
demonstrate the ideal? Perhaps these archetypal characters should not be
banished because they might serve a n important purpose; if all the

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characters in a novel were what readers wanted them to be, there would be
no variety (Pugh). Another argument could be that this is Harry Potters
story, not Ginny Weasleys story. Just as Hermione and her intelligence are
simply part of Harrys entourage, can readers could see Ginny as merely a
part of Harrys development and life? (Nikolajeva 131). Can Rowling throw
her to the side because this is Harrys story, or does she deserve to have her
own, fully developed character? There is no right answer, Feminist criticism
would ask but readers would do well to consider the implications of a
character that fulfills so many degrading female stereotypes, and what the
storys shortcomings caused loses by omitting her growth. Ginnys strong
femininity and lack of anything else represents females poorly and shows the
need for well-rounded female characters embodying the wide range of
personalities that girls possess.

Works Cited
Heilman, Elizabeth E. Blue Wizards and Pink Witches: Representations of
Gender Identity and Power. Harry Potter's World. N.p., n.d. 221-239.
Print.

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Nikolajeva, Maria. Harry Potter A Return to the Romantic Hero. Harry
Potter's World. N.p., n.d. 125-140. Print.
Pugh, Tison. Harry Potter Class Lecture. University of Central Florida.
Health and Public Affairs Building, Orlando, FL. 10 February 2015. Class
Lecture.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. New York: Scholastic
Inc., New York: 1997. Print.
---. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Inc., New
York: 1999. Print.