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 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

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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 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

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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.
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.

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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 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

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importance as a character of her own right, and is problematic because women should not be
defined by, or created for, men.
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 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

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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 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

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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.
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.