Mary Sues in Harry Potter - Part II
Part II - Post-HBP release
Note: The essay is supposed to be an expansion of my pre-HBP essay on why Ginny was a possible Mary Sue. It would be better if they were read together, but they can also stand on themselves. :)
I. Introduction
I've been wondering about Ginny's characterization ever since OotP. Back then, I wrote the previously posted essay which questioned some of the elements in Ginny's characterization and advanced the hypothesis that she had the potential to become a Mary Sue. What inspired that essay was what I saw as "Ginny's character make-over". I never really understood how such a drastic change could be just because she decided to act more naturally in Harry's presence; that she's always been the spunky, feisty, excellent Quidditch player etc. Ginny that was described in OotP and HBP, and that the only reason we didn't see her as such was because we never really got the chance. It seemed and it still does seem out of the blue to me.
violaswamp and sistermagpie wrote brilliant and very eloquent essays on why Ginny was different in OotP and HBP, which can be found here and here. I don't have very much to add to them, except for two things:
"Looking for Ron?" she asked, smirking. "He's over there. The filthy hypocrite."
Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.
"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."
Personally, I find it odd that the girl who was blushing about going with a boy at the Yule Brawl can comment so "dispassionately" about such an intimate act like kissing. I think this is one of the many scenes that add up to Ginny's personality make-over and how she has changed from Books 1-4 to Books 5 and 6.
"Harry, you've got a maggot in your hair," said Ginny cheerfully, leaning across the table to pick it out; Harry felt goose bumps erupt up his neck that had nothing to do with the maggot.
"'Ow 'orrible," said Fleur, with an affected little shudder.
I find the above paragraph to be in contradiction with pre-Ootp!Ginny who couldn't even look at Harry. Granted, she grew out of the crush and she is less immature and more in control of her feelings, but I honestly can't see how this is supposed to justify the huge contrast. It seems to me that we're dealing with extremes here: on one hand we have Ginny putting her elbow in the butter and hiding behind slammed doors from Harry and on the other hand we have the Ginny who makes physical contact with Harry in a cheerful manner. While I can understand a more neutral reaction from her, such as her approving of Harry and Luna's "date", I still don't get how she can make physical contact with the boy she has been pining for years and be "cheerful" about it when in the past she could barely look at him. It seems like too much of a contradiction for me to accept. While people do change their behaviour, they seldom make 180 degrees changes in their personality.
I don't think that all the above and Ginny's character make-over add up that much to the Mary Sue hypothesis; the only reason I am mentioning them is because it was a sum of such contradictions that first made me think of said hypothesis.
Anyway, after HBP, I find myself almost 100% sure that Ginny is a Mary Sue; my main objection with Rowling's series is this one. So, no, personally I do not believe Hermione was out of character, nor that Ginny is a sl*t, nor that there are more plot holes than ever and so on. Considering what we got in Books 1-5 (which was not exceptional, in my opinion), I was not taken aback by HBP being that different. Pre-HBP, I applied the Litmus test to Ginny and she scored very high (14 points) in spite of questions which were left unanswered. Now, I wish to expand on my original essay by adding the following: Rowling's comments about Ginny in the MN/TLC interview; an analysis of how she is portrayed in canon; the post-HBP Litmus test; an analysis of the counter-arguments to the premise of this essay.
II. Ginny's Portrait in Canon
Having cleared that one up, the next issue is about Mary Sues and their supposed perfection. First of all, a distinction should be made here and that refers to perfection versus idealism. Mainly, a Mary Sue is not necessarily perfect, but she is what the author sees as perfect. Hence, her being an idealized version of the author and not a perfect one as per the definition of "perfect". Furthermore, from this it logically follows that while some readers might perceive the Mary Sue as perfect, others will not.
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
JKR: Well, no, not really, because the plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt - and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned - initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well. And rather like with Ron, I didn’t want Ginny to be the first girl that Harry ever kissed. That's something I meant to say, and it's kind of tied in.
-snip-
And I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character.
In light of the above and of the Rowling interview, I think it is interesting to remark the repeated mention of the word "ideal". One of the Mary Sue's reasons for existence in a story is to become the love interest of the Hero; this is why she is often so "perfect" - she's an ideal which stands as a wish-fulfillment device for the author. The quotes above practically spell out these two points so it is reasonable to assume that they add up to the Mary Sue hypothesis. A Mary Sue usually takes over the story in her haste to upstage every other character and plot point. In Ginny's case, however, this is less obvious because although her purpose to exist in the story is apparently the same as in any other Mary Sue's case (i.e., to become the love interest), the fact that Harry Potter is a seven book series which focus more around the conflict part than on the romance one, prevents this from happening.
When I say that Ginny displayed no flaws starting with OotP, I wish to point out that this is about the big picture. Saying that she appears flawless just because we see her less often than let’s say Hermione, does not make it less true that even in those few appearances, she is always presented in a positive/neutral manner, never negative. Below, I split into categories several canon quotes which show how this is done.
1. Ginny’s physical features
A Mary Sue will generally be considered pretty/physical attractive by as many characters as possible. In the scenes below, this is shown when random people comment positively on Ginny's appearance: from people like Harry who have a thing for her, to total strangers (in the first quote), Slytherins and even Death Eaters:
"One for your little girl, madam?" he called at Mrs. Weasley as they passed, leering at Ginny. "Protect her pretty neck?"
"Right," said Harry. He felt a strange twinge of annoyance as she walked away, her long red hair dancing behind her; he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school.
"… and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished.
"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at 'the Chosen One,'" sneered Malfoy, "but that Weasley girl! What's so special about her?”
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"
Harry now saw red hair flying like flames in front of him: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while she dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio - Crucio - you can't dance forever, pretty-"
2. Ginny’s popularity
Just like with physical appearance, the popularity of a Mary Sue will be remarked upon and confirmed by as many characters as possible. It is often that only the villains dislike the Mary Sue, and this is because that element is supposed to show what a bunch of evil beings they are to begin with. The majority of the regular characters will like her at best and be neutral towards her at worst when it came to their perceptions of the Mary Sue; some will even fall in love with her. In Ginny's case, one can remark this tendency in the following quotes:
It was as Harry had suspected. Everyone here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential… everyone except Ginny.
"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at 'the Chosen One,'" sneered Malfoy, "but that Weasley girl! What's so special about her?”
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!
"I doubt you'll be alone, Ginny'll probably be invited," snapped Ron, who did not seem to have taken kindly to being ignored by Slughorn.
"Harry, Blaise - any time you're passing. Same goes for you, miss," he twinkled at Ginny. "Well, off you go, off you go!"
Ginny's been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me 'Loony' the other day --"
"He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them - oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. ..."
And to complicate matters, he had the nagging worry that if he didn't do it, somebody else was sure to ask Ginny out soon: he and Ron were at least agreed on the fact that she was too popular for her own good.
He had not dared to return to the Room of Requirement to retrieve his book, and his performance in Potions was suffering accordingly (though Slughorn, who approved of Ginny, had jocularly attributed this to Harry being lovesick.
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
ES: Was James the only one who had romantic feelings for Lily?
JKR: No. [Pause.] She was like Ginny, she was a popular girl.
3. Ginny and Quidditch
I find Ginny's Quidditich performances to be Mary Sue-ish because of two reasons: the first is that in GoF Ginny was shown to be "horrorstruck" at the violence that this game was implying ("He’ll be okay, he only got ploughed!” Charlie said reassuringly to Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box, looking horrorstruck.") while in HBP she was perfectly okay with clashing her broom into Zacharias Smith; the second is the contrived way in which her performance at Quidditich was explained in OotP: “She’s been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren’t looking,” said Hermione from behind her tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.". I find it hard to believe that a six year old - who was shown to be horrified at the idea of violence - would break Fred and George's broom shed at the age of six to learn how to practice a game which implied violence, and also that in a house of 9 people no one noticed this behaviour, not even once. Therefore, Ginny being both a good Seeker (who apart from saving the Gryffindors from a clear defeat in one of the early games, also won the House Cup) and an excellent Chaser add up to the probability of her being a Mary Sue. Examples:
(OotP) "Ron and Ginny not here?" asked Fred, looking around as he pulled up a chair and, when Harry shook his head, he said, "Good. We were watching their practice. They're going to be slaughtered. They're complete rubbish without us."
"Come on, Ginny's not bad," said George fairly, sitting down next to Fred. "Actually, I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us...."
"She's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking." said Hermione from behind her tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.
"Oh," said George, looking mildly impressed. "Well-that'd explain it."
(OotP) "I'm just glad we won, that's all."
"Yeah," said Ron slowly, savoring the words, "we won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?"
(OotP) The miracle was that Gryffindor only lost by ten points: Ginny managed to ***** the Snitch from right under Hufflepuff Seeker Summerby’s nose, so that the final score was two hundred and forty versus two hundred and thirty.
He spent most of his days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (he and Hermione against Ron and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well matched)
and Ginny Weasley, who had outflown all the competition and scored seventeen goals to boot.
After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny, his technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in the mouth.
Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about.
With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor's six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.
4. Ginny’s powers
Yes, the Bat-Bogey Hex is very powerful. Yes, Ginny uses it and people cower. However, do we really need to hear how wonderful and special that curse is every time someone mentions it? Are words such as "superb", "really good", "most marvelous", "pretty impressive" etc. really necessary every time that hex and/or Ginny's powers are mentioned? If they are, do they all need to be superlatives? For these reasons (repetition of excessive superlatives) I count that hex as another Mary Sue-ish trait of Ginny.
(OotP) "Yeah, size is no guarantee of power," said George. "Look at Ginny."
"What d'you mean?" said Harry.
"You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?"
(OotP) "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy-Bat-Bogey Hex-it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things.
"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith," said Ginny. "You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him … when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to got detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"
"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking around at Ginny, who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron’s direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
MA: Does she have a larger importance; the Tom Riddle stufff, being the seventh girl -
JKR: The backstory with Ginny was, she was the first girl to arrive in the Weasley family in generations, but there's that old tradition of the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and a seventh son of a seventh son, so that's why she's the seventh, because she is a gifted witch. I think you get hints of that, because she does some pretty impressive stuff here and there, and you'll see that again.
5. Ginny’s sense of humour
I'm the first one to admit that I don't really have that much of a sense of humour to begin with; I seldom find anything in HP to be funny and the things that I do find laughable were probably not intended as such. This is a matter of personal taste, I suppose; while I find Terry Pratchett a genius with humour, for others Rowling might qualify in this category. However, I genuinely find it interesting with regards to the premise of this essay that all of Ginny's pranks and jokes are supposed to be funny and everyone laughs at them. While it is a matter of debate if imitating Ron's Quidditch performance or pretending to vomit at Fleur and Bill's fluffiness qualify as successful pranks and attempts at humour, that the majority of people who are around usually find them downright hysterical is not. Ginny makes people laugh if she intends it as such; Ginny makes wonderful pranks if she intends them as such; everyone laughs and feels good. Well, this is not that far from what a classic Mary Sue gets as a reward for her every attempt at humour.
(OotP) "There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-"
"Hem, hem," said Ginny in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked round in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get defense lessons?"
"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right...."
"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Whereas Bill and Fleur... well... what have they really got in common? He's a hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's..."
"A cow," said Ginny, nodding. "But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."
"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry and Hermione laughed.
"E is always so thoughtful," purred Fleur adoringly, stroking Bill's nose. Ginny mimed vomiting into her cereal behind Fleur. Harry choked over his cornflakes, and Ron thumped him on the back.
On the landing he bumped into Ginny, who was returning to her room carrying a pile of freshly laundered clothes.
"I wouldn't go in the kitchen just now," she warned him. "There's a lot of Phlegm around."
"I'll be careful not to slip in it." Harry smiled.
"Au revoir, 'Arry," said Fleur throatily, kissing him good-bye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet. Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying good-bye.
"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"
"I can fix that," said Harry, landing beside the two girls, pointing his wand at Demelzas mouth, and saying "Episkey." "And Ginny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Captain of this team -"
"Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should -"
Harry forced himself not to laugh.
"In the air, everyone, let's go. . . ."
Admittedly, it took very little to set her off lately; she had been crying on and off ever since Percy had stormed from the house on Christmas Day with his glasses splattered with mashed parsnip (for which Fred, George, and Ginny all claimed credit).
Her imitations of Ron anxiously bobbing up and down in front of the goal posts as the Quaffle sped toward him, or of Harry bellowing orders at McLaggen before being knocked out cold, kept them all highly amused. Harry, laughing with the others, was glad to have an innocent reason to look at Ginny; he had received several more Bludger injuries during practice because he had not been keeping his eyes on the Snitch.
'You'd think people had better things to gossip about,' said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest.'
Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.
'What did you tell her?'
'I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail,' said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. 'Much more macho.'
'Thanks,' said Harry, grinning. 'And what did you tell her Ron's got?'
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
Ron scowled as Hermione rolled around laughing.
6. Ginny’s temper
Often, a Mary Sue will have a fiery temper: she'll be passionate, strong in expressing her opinions, extraverted in showing her anger, contempt and other negative feelings; she'll put people in their places and this behaviour will not be frowned upon by the majority of the other characters, no matter how out of line it might be in some cases. In addition, she'll be generally cheerful, cool, not taking nonsense from anyone, telling off people who normally wouldn't put up with such behaviour and she'll be praised for all these or reacted positively/neutrally at by the majority of the other characters. She used to blush, put her elbow in the butter and look "horrorstruck" at violence; now she's cool, she's dispassionate, she calls people "idiot" and "cow", she snaps, she's angry, she speaks crossly, she's outraged, she demands. Whatever reaction she displays, it is seldom questioned, and never commented upon negatively by other characters in the story without said comment to be shown as a pseudo-flaw in the end.
(OotP) "Course I will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny-BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din.
(OotP) "We wanted to talk to you, Harry,” said Ginny, “but as you’ve been hiding ever since we got back-"
“I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,” said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.
“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don’t know anyone but me who’s been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.”
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he turned on the spot to face her.
“I forgot,” he said.
“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly.
“I’m sorry,” Harry said, and he meant it. “So…so do you think I’m being possessed, then?”
(OotP) "Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas." Hermione looked down in surprise at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie. Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."
(OotP) "You can't come down here!" Ginny was calling to the crowd. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone’s let off Garroting Gas just along here-" They could hear people complaining; one surly voice said, "I can't see no gas..." "That's because it's colorless," said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, "but if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who didn't believe us...."
"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says " 'Arry ", do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.
"No," said Harry, wishing he hadn't spoken, "I was just saying, Phlegm - I mean, Fleur -"
"I'd much rather have Tonks in the family," said Ginny. "At least she's a laugh."
The door opened again and Mrs. Weasley popped her head in. "Ginny," she whispered, "come downstairs and help me with the lunch."
"I'm talking to this lot!" said Ginny, outraged.
"Now!" said Mrs. Weasley, and withdrew.
"She only wants me there so she doesn't have to be alone with Phlegm!" said Ginny crossly. She swung her long red hair around in a very good imitation of Fleur and pranced across the room with her arms held aloft like a ballerina. "You lot had better come down quickly too," she said as she left.
Zabini gave a tiny little cough that was clearly supposed to indicate amused scepticism. An angry voice burst out from behind Slughorn.
"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented ... at posing..."
"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking round at Ginny who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvellous Bat Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"
Zabini merely looked contemptuous.
Ginny did not seem at all upset about the breakup with Dean; on the contrary, she was the life and soul of the team.
"Don't call her that, Ron!" snapped Ginny, pausing behind Harry on her way to join friends.
"What?" said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"
"No idea, but it's great for us," said Ginny brightly. "They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot."
'And what did you tell her Ron's got?'
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
Ron scowled as Hermione rolled around laughing.
'Watch it,' he said, pointing wamingly at Harry and Ginny. 'Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it -'
"Your permission",' scoffed Ginny. 'Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean.'
'Yeah, I would,' said Ron grudgingly. 'And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public -'
'You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?' demanded Ginny.
But Ron's tolerance was not to be tested much as they moved into June, for Harry and Ginny's time together was becoming increasingly restricted.
"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have -"
"- got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.
"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, and Harry was so amazed, so grateful, he looked up. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"
"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match -"
"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."
7. Ginny getting away with things
From mild things such as calling people "idiot", "cow", "prat", "filthy hypocrite" to bringing to Hogwarts a pet that is against the rules, to lying to her mother without a blush (OotP, about Dungbombs), to finally not facing even a mild telling off for crashing into Zacharias Smith and getting away with no one accusing her for petrifying four people and a cat in CoS, this is again about how when looking at the big picture Ginny presents this particular Mary Sue trait, i.e., she gets away with breaking the rules without acknowledgement from other characters of what she's doing.
"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" said Ginny at once.
"A what?" said Mrs. Weasley warily.
"Look, they're so sweet..."
Mrs. Weasley moved aside to look at the Pygmy Puffs, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione momentarily had an unimpeded view out of the window.
-snip-
Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were bending over the Pygmy Puffs. Mr. Weasley was delightedly examining a pack of Muggle marked playing cards.
and
The Ministry cars glided up to the front of the Burrow to find them waiting, trunks packed; Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, safely enclosed in his traveling basket; and Hedwig; Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon; and Ginny's new purple Pygmy Puff, Arnold, in cages.
In PS we were told via the letter that Harry received from Hogwarts that students were allowed to bring with them as a pet a toad or a cat or an owl. As far as I remember, until HBP, the only exception to this rule was Ron's rat, Scabbers and that was necessary for plot-related reasons. In HBP, however, we find out that Ginny wants a pet; she chooses a pigmy puff, which according to the Harry Potter Lexicon and to Fred and George is a miniature puffskein and hence not even close to being a toad, a cat or an owl. She brings that pet to school, and said pet is still around not getting involved in the plot by the end of HBP, which leaves me wondering what exactly was the purpose of breaking that rule about pets in Ginny's case. I choose to view the Arnold issue as a typical Mary Sue-ish situation when a Mary Sue character owns a cute and sweet pet which no other character has, for no plot-related purpose.
"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who had found hint self trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentators podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring,: Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, "Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."
Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go very quickly.
No comment from Professor McGonagall, who in Book 1, although in the end she let Harry in the Quidditch team, she still scolded him for breaking the rules in the first place (the Remembrall incident). In addition, Ginny's behaviour is further commented positively upon by Luna:
"He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them
"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith," said Ginny. "You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him … when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to got detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"
Usually, when a teacher sees that students use magic because of personal motivations, they take action against it. In Ginny's case, she is praised for it and gets as a reward more popularity.
"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry and Hermione laughed.
But she doesn't stop. And it's still supposed to be funny:
"I wouldn't go in the kitchen just now," she warned him. "There's a lot of Phlegm around."
"I'll be careful not to slip in it." Harry smiled.
...which of course disqualifies what in another case could count as a flaw of Ginny and as her getting a telling-off from another character. By the end of the day, she still gets to do whatever she wants and it is still balanced with positive connotations ("Harry smiled").
"Au revoir, 'Arry," said Fleur throatily, kissing him good-bye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet. Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying good-bye.
Despite being furious, Ron does not confront Ginny about her deed.
Finally, I want to make something clear about the CoS incident. When I mention it as a Mary Sue-ish type of situation, I do not mean that Ginny should have been punished; I am perfectly aware that she was 11 and a victim etc. What I do mean however is that no one ever commenting about her involvement in that episode is Mary Sue-ish when considering that people at Hogwarts frowned at and blamed Harry in similar conditions: when they thought it was him who was guilty of the attacks; in spite of both his young age and lack of solid proof against him. That nobody blamed or at least commented on Ginny's role in the CoS incidents strikes me as being inconsistent with Harry's previous situation and the only way to avoid this lack of consistency is to claim that Ginny's involvement was kept a secret. Unfortunately, this again brings us to a discrepancy, because as per Dumbledore's words in PS:
(Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows.
Again, if what happened with Quirrel was such a big secret and everyone still found it out, then how come not even a rumour transpired in Ginny's case?
8. Pseudo-flaws
A Mary Sue always stands out amongst other characters for certain unique, special traits. It is often that other characters have such traits, but the problem with the Mary Sue is that instead of displaying one or more positive qualities which are balanced by flaws, she will display one or more positive traits unbalanced by any flaws. Even those traits which might appear to the reader as flaws, will be explained away and/or presented in a positive light by the author, via other characters (such as said characters accepting/praising the Mary Sue for her fiery temper which otherwise would be nasty - see Fleur for instance - or other characters being put down in favour of the Mary Sue; this means that in a scene where another character comments on a possible flaw of the Mary Sue, the comment will be presented in such a context that in the end, the commenter will come out as having unjustified claims and the Mary Sue will be the misunderstood/wrongfully accused/the victim-like character). A pertinent example of the latter case is the scene in which Ron confronts Ginny about her love life:
Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around.
"What?" said Ginny.
"I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!"
"This was a deserted corridor till you came butting in!" said Ginny.
Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry a shifty grin that Harry did not return, as the newborn monster inside him was roaring for Dean's instant dismissal from the team.
"Er . . . c'mon, Ginny," said Dean, "let's go back to the common room. ..."
"You go!" said Ginny. "I want a word with my dear brother!" Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.
"Right," said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron -"
"Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want people saying my sister's a -"
"A what?" shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. "A what, exactly?"
He doesn't mean anything, Ginny -" said Harry automatically, though the monster was roaring its approval of Ron's words.
"Oh yes he does!" she said, flaring up at Harry.
"Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Auntie Muriel -"
"Shut your mouth!" bellowed Ron, bypassing red and turning maroon.
"No, I will not!" yelled Ginny, beside herself.
"I've seen you with Phlegm, hoping she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her, it's pathetic! If you went out and got a bit of snogging done your self, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"
Ron had pulled out his wand too; Harry stepped swiftly between them.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched. "Just because I don't do it in public - !"
Ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to push Harry out of the way.
"Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?" You -
A streak of orange light flew under Harrys left arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall.
"Don't be stupid -"
"Harry's snogged Cho Chang!" shouted Ginny, who sounded close to tears now. "And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"
And with that, she stormed away.
I am not saying that in this scene Ginny should have been blamed/ranted at/punished etc. for her dating and kissing boys; this is neither my point nor my interest for that matter. What is of interest for me, however, is that this is one of the very few scenes where another character asserts a flaw of Ginny. Instead of confirming the flaw by having Ginny change her attitude or at least show some other acknowledgement of this flaw, the writer chose to make Ginny the wrongfully accused and Ron the insensitive j*rk who was being horrible with her with no reason. By the end of both this fight and later on of HBP itself, Ginny's behaviour is proven to have been the right and correct one - Ron was acting like that because he was immature (which probably in the HP world translates into lacking snogging).
No one is flawless and in a book an author should try to avoid having characters which appear as such. Ginny was acting normal for her age, and Ron was being a j*rk - fair enough. But then, when correlating scenes like this one with others (be them scenes which point out Ginny’s positive attributes or lack of scenes which should have been present in order to assert/imply the existence of a flaw) - we get back to the argument about the big picture and how in such a picture Ginny comes out as generally flawless, because no other character in the story confirms her flaws as being flaws (as was the case with Ron’s jealousy, Harry’s saving people thing, Hermione’s nagging etc.), which again brings us back to the Mary Sue hypothesis.
Some interesting comments on this scene can be found here.
(OotP) He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told, he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap. "Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can get rid of all this easily." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!" The Stinksap vanished.
This scene is very telling for the antithesis it brings by two means. First, Harry mentions how he would have liked Cho to have found him entertaining a group of "very cool people"; this wish is opposed to the reality, because instead of this, Cho finds him with Neville and Luna, "clutching a toad" and "dripping in Stinksap". It results that Harry thinks that Neville and Luna do not fall into that "very cool people" category. Notice how although present, Ginny is excluded from the contrasting sentence (only Neville and Luna are mentioned), therefore leading to the conclusion that she was not the same category as Neville and Luna. Secondly, please note how the antithesis is further sustained by how Rowling wrote Ginny doing something positive, i.e., cleaning the Stinksap (another "uncool" element from Harry's point of view). The conclusion we get is that, unlike Neville and Luna, Ginny did not fall into the different than very cool people category but rather she was the opposite of it, and thus another thing that could have counted as a flaw of Ginny's is explained away.
Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Do they work?" she asked.
"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question..."
"... and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've..."
"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"
"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, I am," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?"
She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.
"Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"
"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"
"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"
Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil.
"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you'' she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"
Unlike Ron in the scene discussed above, the twins assert a possible flaw of Ginny's with more tact and diplomacy. Authorial intent intervenes however and Ginny still comes out as flawless from this scene, because her anger is justified via the author's words ("Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil" and Ginny having the last word on the matter without the twins ever approaching that subject again).
When correlating all the attributes described above, they can be summed up to the general tendency of a Mary Sue character to being special. Regular rules and types of behaviour and reactions do not apply to her; she gets special treatment from the majority of the characters who usually remark upon her uniqueness; she has special powers, which no other character possesses; she has a more than pleasant physical appearance upon which even the villains marvel; she is funny, spunky, sporty and generally what the author sees as being the ideal girl for the hero; and finally, most of these features are told, not shown and no motivation or backstory is given for them.
Note: Unless specified otherwise, all quotes are from HBP and all emphasis is mine.
Part II.1
Note: The essay is supposed to be an expansion of my pre-HBP essay on why Ginny was a possible Mary Sue. It would be better if they were read together, but they can also stand on themselves. :)
I. Introduction
I've been wondering about Ginny's characterization ever since OotP. Back then, I wrote the previously posted essay which questioned some of the elements in Ginny's characterization and advanced the hypothesis that she had the potential to become a Mary Sue. What inspired that essay was what I saw as "Ginny's character make-over". I never really understood how such a drastic change could be just because she decided to act more naturally in Harry's presence; that she's always been the spunky, feisty, excellent Quidditch player etc. Ginny that was described in OotP and HBP, and that the only reason we didn't see her as such was because we never really got the chance. It seemed and it still does seem out of the blue to me.
violaswamp and sistermagpie wrote brilliant and very eloquent essays on why Ginny was different in OotP and HBP, which can be found here and here. I don't have very much to add to them, except for two things:
"Looking for Ron?" she asked, smirking. "He's over there. The filthy hypocrite."
Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.
"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."
Personally, I find it odd that the girl who was blushing about going with a boy at the Yule Brawl can comment so "dispassionately" about such an intimate act like kissing. I think this is one of the many scenes that add up to Ginny's personality make-over and how she has changed from Books 1-4 to Books 5 and 6.
"Harry, you've got a maggot in your hair," said Ginny cheerfully, leaning across the table to pick it out; Harry felt goose bumps erupt up his neck that had nothing to do with the maggot.
"'Ow 'orrible," said Fleur, with an affected little shudder.
I find the above paragraph to be in contradiction with pre-Ootp!Ginny who couldn't even look at Harry. Granted, she grew out of the crush and she is less immature and more in control of her feelings, but I honestly can't see how this is supposed to justify the huge contrast. It seems to me that we're dealing with extremes here: on one hand we have Ginny putting her elbow in the butter and hiding behind slammed doors from Harry and on the other hand we have the Ginny who makes physical contact with Harry in a cheerful manner. While I can understand a more neutral reaction from her, such as her approving of Harry and Luna's "date", I still don't get how she can make physical contact with the boy she has been pining for years and be "cheerful" about it when in the past she could barely look at him. It seems like too much of a contradiction for me to accept. While people do change their behaviour, they seldom make 180 degrees changes in their personality.
I don't think that all the above and Ginny's character make-over add up that much to the Mary Sue hypothesis; the only reason I am mentioning them is because it was a sum of such contradictions that first made me think of said hypothesis.
Anyway, after HBP, I find myself almost 100% sure that Ginny is a Mary Sue; my main objection with Rowling's series is this one. So, no, personally I do not believe Hermione was out of character, nor that Ginny is a sl*t, nor that there are more plot holes than ever and so on. Considering what we got in Books 1-5 (which was not exceptional, in my opinion), I was not taken aback by HBP being that different. Pre-HBP, I applied the Litmus test to Ginny and she scored very high (14 points) in spite of questions which were left unanswered. Now, I wish to expand on my original essay by adding the following: Rowling's comments about Ginny in the MN/TLC interview; an analysis of how she is portrayed in canon; the post-HBP Litmus test; an analysis of the counter-arguments to the premise of this essay.
II. Ginny's Portrait in Canon
Having cleared that one up, the next issue is about Mary Sues and their supposed perfection. First of all, a distinction should be made here and that refers to perfection versus idealism. Mainly, a Mary Sue is not necessarily perfect, but she is what the author sees as perfect. Hence, her being an idealized version of the author and not a perfect one as per the definition of "perfect". Furthermore, from this it logically follows that while some readers might perceive the Mary Sue as perfect, others will not.
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
JKR: Well, no, not really, because the plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt - and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned - initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well. And rather like with Ron, I didn’t want Ginny to be the first girl that Harry ever kissed. That's something I meant to say, and it's kind of tied in.
-snip-
And I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character.
In light of the above and of the Rowling interview, I think it is interesting to remark the repeated mention of the word "ideal". One of the Mary Sue's reasons for existence in a story is to become the love interest of the Hero; this is why she is often so "perfect" - she's an ideal which stands as a wish-fulfillment device for the author. The quotes above practically spell out these two points so it is reasonable to assume that they add up to the Mary Sue hypothesis. A Mary Sue usually takes over the story in her haste to upstage every other character and plot point. In Ginny's case, however, this is less obvious because although her purpose to exist in the story is apparently the same as in any other Mary Sue's case (i.e., to become the love interest), the fact that Harry Potter is a seven book series which focus more around the conflict part than on the romance one, prevents this from happening.
When I say that Ginny displayed no flaws starting with OotP, I wish to point out that this is about the big picture. Saying that she appears flawless just because we see her less often than let’s say Hermione, does not make it less true that even in those few appearances, she is always presented in a positive/neutral manner, never negative. Below, I split into categories several canon quotes which show how this is done.
1. Ginny’s physical features
A Mary Sue will generally be considered pretty/physical attractive by as many characters as possible. In the scenes below, this is shown when random people comment positively on Ginny's appearance: from people like Harry who have a thing for her, to total strangers (in the first quote), Slytherins and even Death Eaters:
"One for your little girl, madam?" he called at Mrs. Weasley as they passed, leering at Ginny. "Protect her pretty neck?"
"Right," said Harry. He felt a strange twinge of annoyance as she walked away, her long red hair dancing behind her; he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school.
"… and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished.
"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at 'the Chosen One,'" sneered Malfoy, "but that Weasley girl! What's so special about her?”
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"
Harry now saw red hair flying like flames in front of him: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while she dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio - Crucio - you can't dance forever, pretty-"
2. Ginny’s popularity
Just like with physical appearance, the popularity of a Mary Sue will be remarked upon and confirmed by as many characters as possible. It is often that only the villains dislike the Mary Sue, and this is because that element is supposed to show what a bunch of evil beings they are to begin with. The majority of the regular characters will like her at best and be neutral towards her at worst when it came to their perceptions of the Mary Sue; some will even fall in love with her. In Ginny's case, one can remark this tendency in the following quotes:
It was as Harry had suspected. Everyone here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential… everyone except Ginny.
"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at 'the Chosen One,'" sneered Malfoy, "but that Weasley girl! What's so special about her?”
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!
"I doubt you'll be alone, Ginny'll probably be invited," snapped Ron, who did not seem to have taken kindly to being ignored by Slughorn.
"Harry, Blaise - any time you're passing. Same goes for you, miss," he twinkled at Ginny. "Well, off you go, off you go!"
Ginny's been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me 'Loony' the other day --"
"He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them - oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. ..."
And to complicate matters, he had the nagging worry that if he didn't do it, somebody else was sure to ask Ginny out soon: he and Ron were at least agreed on the fact that she was too popular for her own good.
He had not dared to return to the Room of Requirement to retrieve his book, and his performance in Potions was suffering accordingly (though Slughorn, who approved of Ginny, had jocularly attributed this to Harry being lovesick.
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
ES: Was James the only one who had romantic feelings for Lily?
JKR: No. [Pause.] She was like Ginny, she was a popular girl.
3. Ginny and Quidditch
I find Ginny's Quidditich performances to be Mary Sue-ish because of two reasons: the first is that in GoF Ginny was shown to be "horrorstruck" at the violence that this game was implying ("He’ll be okay, he only got ploughed!” Charlie said reassuringly to Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box, looking horrorstruck.") while in HBP she was perfectly okay with clashing her broom into Zacharias Smith; the second is the contrived way in which her performance at Quidditich was explained in OotP: “She’s been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren’t looking,” said Hermione from behind her tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.". I find it hard to believe that a six year old - who was shown to be horrified at the idea of violence - would break Fred and George's broom shed at the age of six to learn how to practice a game which implied violence, and also that in a house of 9 people no one noticed this behaviour, not even once. Therefore, Ginny being both a good Seeker (who apart from saving the Gryffindors from a clear defeat in one of the early games, also won the House Cup) and an excellent Chaser add up to the probability of her being a Mary Sue. Examples:
(OotP) "Ron and Ginny not here?" asked Fred, looking around as he pulled up a chair and, when Harry shook his head, he said, "Good. We were watching their practice. They're going to be slaughtered. They're complete rubbish without us."
"Come on, Ginny's not bad," said George fairly, sitting down next to Fred. "Actually, I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us...."
"She's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking." said Hermione from behind her tottering pile of Ancient Rune books.
"Oh," said George, looking mildly impressed. "Well-that'd explain it."
(OotP) "I'm just glad we won, that's all."
"Yeah," said Ron slowly, savoring the words, "we won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?"
(OotP) The miracle was that Gryffindor only lost by ten points: Ginny managed to ***** the Snitch from right under Hufflepuff Seeker Summerby’s nose, so that the final score was two hundred and forty versus two hundred and thirty.
He spent most of his days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (he and Hermione against Ron and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well matched)
and Ginny Weasley, who had outflown all the competition and scored seventeen goals to boot.
After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny, his technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in the mouth.
Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about.
With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor's six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.
4. Ginny’s powers
Yes, the Bat-Bogey Hex is very powerful. Yes, Ginny uses it and people cower. However, do we really need to hear how wonderful and special that curse is every time someone mentions it? Are words such as "superb", "really good", "most marvelous", "pretty impressive" etc. really necessary every time that hex and/or Ginny's powers are mentioned? If they are, do they all need to be superlatives? For these reasons (repetition of excessive superlatives) I count that hex as another Mary Sue-ish trait of Ginny.
(OotP) "Yeah, size is no guarantee of power," said George. "Look at Ginny."
"What d'you mean?" said Harry.
"You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?"
(OotP) "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy-Bat-Bogey Hex-it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things.
"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith," said Ginny. "You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him … when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to got detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"
"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking around at Ginny, who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron’s direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand
The MN/TLC interview with Rowling
MA: Does she have a larger importance; the Tom Riddle stufff, being the seventh girl -
JKR: The backstory with Ginny was, she was the first girl to arrive in the Weasley family in generations, but there's that old tradition of the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and a seventh son of a seventh son, so that's why she's the seventh, because she is a gifted witch. I think you get hints of that, because she does some pretty impressive stuff here and there, and you'll see that again.
5. Ginny’s sense of humour
I'm the first one to admit that I don't really have that much of a sense of humour to begin with; I seldom find anything in HP to be funny and the things that I do find laughable were probably not intended as such. This is a matter of personal taste, I suppose; while I find Terry Pratchett a genius with humour, for others Rowling might qualify in this category. However, I genuinely find it interesting with regards to the premise of this essay that all of Ginny's pranks and jokes are supposed to be funny and everyone laughs at them. While it is a matter of debate if imitating Ron's Quidditch performance or pretending to vomit at Fleur and Bill's fluffiness qualify as successful pranks and attempts at humour, that the majority of people who are around usually find them downright hysterical is not. Ginny makes people laugh if she intends it as such; Ginny makes wonderful pranks if she intends them as such; everyone laughs and feels good. Well, this is not that far from what a classic Mary Sue gets as a reward for her every attempt at humour.
(OotP) "There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-"
"Hem, hem," said Ginny in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked round in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get defense lessons?"
"Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right...."
"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Whereas Bill and Fleur... well... what have they really got in common? He's a hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's..."
"A cow," said Ginny, nodding. "But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."
"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry and Hermione laughed.
"E is always so thoughtful," purred Fleur adoringly, stroking Bill's nose. Ginny mimed vomiting into her cereal behind Fleur. Harry choked over his cornflakes, and Ron thumped him on the back.
On the landing he bumped into Ginny, who was returning to her room carrying a pile of freshly laundered clothes.
"I wouldn't go in the kitchen just now," she warned him. "There's a lot of Phlegm around."
"I'll be careful not to slip in it." Harry smiled.
"Au revoir, 'Arry," said Fleur throatily, kissing him good-bye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet. Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying good-bye.
"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"
"I can fix that," said Harry, landing beside the two girls, pointing his wand at Demelzas mouth, and saying "Episkey." "And Ginny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Captain of this team -"
"Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should -"
Harry forced himself not to laugh.
"In the air, everyone, let's go. . . ."
Admittedly, it took very little to set her off lately; she had been crying on and off ever since Percy had stormed from the house on Christmas Day with his glasses splattered with mashed parsnip (for which Fred, George, and Ginny all claimed credit).
Her imitations of Ron anxiously bobbing up and down in front of the goal posts as the Quaffle sped toward him, or of Harry bellowing orders at McLaggen before being knocked out cold, kept them all highly amused. Harry, laughing with the others, was glad to have an innocent reason to look at Ginny; he had received several more Bludger injuries during practice because he had not been keeping his eyes on the Snitch.
'You'd think people had better things to gossip about,' said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest.'
Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.
'What did you tell her?'
'I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail,' said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. 'Much more macho.'
'Thanks,' said Harry, grinning. 'And what did you tell her Ron's got?'
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
Ron scowled as Hermione rolled around laughing.
6. Ginny’s temper
Often, a Mary Sue will have a fiery temper: she'll be passionate, strong in expressing her opinions, extraverted in showing her anger, contempt and other negative feelings; she'll put people in their places and this behaviour will not be frowned upon by the majority of the other characters, no matter how out of line it might be in some cases. In addition, she'll be generally cheerful, cool, not taking nonsense from anyone, telling off people who normally wouldn't put up with such behaviour and she'll be praised for all these or reacted positively/neutrally at by the majority of the other characters. She used to blush, put her elbow in the butter and look "horrorstruck" at violence; now she's cool, she's dispassionate, she calls people "idiot" and "cow", she snaps, she's angry, she speaks crossly, she's outraged, she demands. Whatever reaction she displays, it is seldom questioned, and never commented upon negatively by other characters in the story without said comment to be shown as a pseudo-flaw in the end.
(OotP) "Course I will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny-BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din.
(OotP) "We wanted to talk to you, Harry,” said Ginny, “but as you’ve been hiding ever since we got back-"
“I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,” said Harry, who was feeling more and more nettled.
“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don’t know anyone but me who’s been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.”
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he turned on the spot to face her.
“I forgot,” he said.
“Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly.
“I’m sorry,” Harry said, and he meant it. “So…so do you think I’m being possessed, then?”
(OotP) "Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas." Hermione looked down in surprise at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie. Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."
(OotP) "You can't come down here!" Ginny was calling to the crowd. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone’s let off Garroting Gas just along here-" They could hear people complaining; one surly voice said, "I can't see no gas..." "That's because it's colorless," said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, "but if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who didn't believe us...."
"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says " 'Arry ", do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.
"No," said Harry, wishing he hadn't spoken, "I was just saying, Phlegm - I mean, Fleur -"
"I'd much rather have Tonks in the family," said Ginny. "At least she's a laugh."
The door opened again and Mrs. Weasley popped her head in. "Ginny," she whispered, "come downstairs and help me with the lunch."
"I'm talking to this lot!" said Ginny, outraged.
"Now!" said Mrs. Weasley, and withdrew.
"She only wants me there so she doesn't have to be alone with Phlegm!" said Ginny crossly. She swung her long red hair around in a very good imitation of Fleur and pranced across the room with her arms held aloft like a ballerina. "You lot had better come down quickly too," she said as she left.
Zabini gave a tiny little cough that was clearly supposed to indicate amused scepticism. An angry voice burst out from behind Slughorn.
"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented ... at posing..."
"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking round at Ginny who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvellous Bat Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"
Zabini merely looked contemptuous.
Ginny did not seem at all upset about the breakup with Dean; on the contrary, she was the life and soul of the team.
"Don't call her that, Ron!" snapped Ginny, pausing behind Harry on her way to join friends.
"What?" said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"
"No idea, but it's great for us," said Ginny brightly. "They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot."
'And what did you tell her Ron's got?'
'A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.'
Ron scowled as Hermione rolled around laughing.
'Watch it,' he said, pointing wamingly at Harry and Ginny. 'Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it -'
"Your permission",' scoffed Ginny. 'Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean.'
'Yeah, I would,' said Ron grudgingly. 'And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public -'
'You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?' demanded Ginny.
But Ron's tolerance was not to be tested much as they moved into June, for Harry and Ginny's time together was becoming increasingly restricted.
"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have -"
"- got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.
"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, and Harry was so amazed, so grateful, he looked up. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"
"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match -"
"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."
7. Ginny getting away with things
From mild things such as calling people "idiot", "cow", "prat", "filthy hypocrite" to bringing to Hogwarts a pet that is against the rules, to lying to her mother without a blush (OotP, about Dungbombs), to finally not facing even a mild telling off for crashing into Zacharias Smith and getting away with no one accusing her for petrifying four people and a cat in CoS, this is again about how when looking at the big picture Ginny presents this particular Mary Sue trait, i.e., she gets away with breaking the rules without acknowledgement from other characters of what she's doing.
"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" said Ginny at once.
"A what?" said Mrs. Weasley warily.
"Look, they're so sweet..."
Mrs. Weasley moved aside to look at the Pygmy Puffs, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione momentarily had an unimpeded view out of the window.
-snip-
Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were bending over the Pygmy Puffs. Mr. Weasley was delightedly examining a pack of Muggle marked playing cards.
and
The Ministry cars glided up to the front of the Burrow to find them waiting, trunks packed; Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, safely enclosed in his traveling basket; and Hedwig; Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon; and Ginny's new purple Pygmy Puff, Arnold, in cages.
In PS we were told via the letter that Harry received from Hogwarts that students were allowed to bring with them as a pet a toad or a cat or an owl. As far as I remember, until HBP, the only exception to this rule was Ron's rat, Scabbers and that was necessary for plot-related reasons. In HBP, however, we find out that Ginny wants a pet; she chooses a pigmy puff, which according to the Harry Potter Lexicon and to Fred and George is a miniature puffskein and hence not even close to being a toad, a cat or an owl. She brings that pet to school, and said pet is still around not getting involved in the plot by the end of HBP, which leaves me wondering what exactly was the purpose of breaking that rule about pets in Ginny's case. I choose to view the Arnold issue as a typical Mary Sue-ish situation when a Mary Sue character owns a cute and sweet pet which no other character has, for no plot-related purpose.
"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who had found hint self trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentators podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring,: Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, "Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."
Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go very quickly.
No comment from Professor McGonagall, who in Book 1, although in the end she let Harry in the Quidditch team, she still scolded him for breaking the rules in the first place (the Remembrall incident). In addition, Ginny's behaviour is further commented positively upon by Luna:
"He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them
"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith," said Ginny. "You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him … when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to got detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"
Usually, when a teacher sees that students use magic because of personal motivations, they take action against it. In Ginny's case, she is praised for it and gets as a reward more popularity.
"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry and Hermione laughed.
But she doesn't stop. And it's still supposed to be funny:
"I wouldn't go in the kitchen just now," she warned him. "There's a lot of Phlegm around."
"I'll be careful not to slip in it." Harry smiled.
...which of course disqualifies what in another case could count as a flaw of Ginny and as her getting a telling-off from another character. By the end of the day, she still gets to do whatever she wants and it is still balanced with positive connotations ("Harry smiled").
"Au revoir, 'Arry," said Fleur throatily, kissing him good-bye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet. Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying good-bye.
Despite being furious, Ron does not confront Ginny about her deed.
Finally, I want to make something clear about the CoS incident. When I mention it as a Mary Sue-ish type of situation, I do not mean that Ginny should have been punished; I am perfectly aware that she was 11 and a victim etc. What I do mean however is that no one ever commenting about her involvement in that episode is Mary Sue-ish when considering that people at Hogwarts frowned at and blamed Harry in similar conditions: when they thought it was him who was guilty of the attacks; in spite of both his young age and lack of solid proof against him. That nobody blamed or at least commented on Ginny's role in the CoS incidents strikes me as being inconsistent with Harry's previous situation and the only way to avoid this lack of consistency is to claim that Ginny's involvement was kept a secret. Unfortunately, this again brings us to a discrepancy, because as per Dumbledore's words in PS:
(Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows.
Again, if what happened with Quirrel was such a big secret and everyone still found it out, then how come not even a rumour transpired in Ginny's case?
8. Pseudo-flaws
A Mary Sue always stands out amongst other characters for certain unique, special traits. It is often that other characters have such traits, but the problem with the Mary Sue is that instead of displaying one or more positive qualities which are balanced by flaws, she will display one or more positive traits unbalanced by any flaws. Even those traits which might appear to the reader as flaws, will be explained away and/or presented in a positive light by the author, via other characters (such as said characters accepting/praising the Mary Sue for her fiery temper which otherwise would be nasty - see Fleur for instance - or other characters being put down in favour of the Mary Sue; this means that in a scene where another character comments on a possible flaw of the Mary Sue, the comment will be presented in such a context that in the end, the commenter will come out as having unjustified claims and the Mary Sue will be the misunderstood/wrongfully accused/the victim-like character). A pertinent example of the latter case is the scene in which Ron confronts Ginny about her love life:
Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around.
"What?" said Ginny.
"I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!"
"This was a deserted corridor till you came butting in!" said Ginny.
Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry a shifty grin that Harry did not return, as the newborn monster inside him was roaring for Dean's instant dismissal from the team.
"Er . . . c'mon, Ginny," said Dean, "let's go back to the common room. ..."
"You go!" said Ginny. "I want a word with my dear brother!" Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.
"Right," said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron -"
"Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want people saying my sister's a -"
"A what?" shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. "A what, exactly?"
He doesn't mean anything, Ginny -" said Harry automatically, though the monster was roaring its approval of Ron's words.
"Oh yes he does!" she said, flaring up at Harry.
"Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Auntie Muriel -"
"Shut your mouth!" bellowed Ron, bypassing red and turning maroon.
"No, I will not!" yelled Ginny, beside herself.
"I've seen you with Phlegm, hoping she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her, it's pathetic! If you went out and got a bit of snogging done your self, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"
Ron had pulled out his wand too; Harry stepped swiftly between them.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched. "Just because I don't do it in public - !"
Ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to push Harry out of the way.
"Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?" You -
A streak of orange light flew under Harrys left arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall.
"Don't be stupid -"
"Harry's snogged Cho Chang!" shouted Ginny, who sounded close to tears now. "And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"
And with that, she stormed away.
I am not saying that in this scene Ginny should have been blamed/ranted at/punished etc. for her dating and kissing boys; this is neither my point nor my interest for that matter. What is of interest for me, however, is that this is one of the very few scenes where another character asserts a flaw of Ginny. Instead of confirming the flaw by having Ginny change her attitude or at least show some other acknowledgement of this flaw, the writer chose to make Ginny the wrongfully accused and Ron the insensitive j*rk who was being horrible with her with no reason. By the end of both this fight and later on of HBP itself, Ginny's behaviour is proven to have been the right and correct one - Ron was acting like that because he was immature (which probably in the HP world translates into lacking snogging).
No one is flawless and in a book an author should try to avoid having characters which appear as such. Ginny was acting normal for her age, and Ron was being a j*rk - fair enough. But then, when correlating scenes like this one with others (be them scenes which point out Ginny’s positive attributes or lack of scenes which should have been present in order to assert/imply the existence of a flaw) - we get back to the argument about the big picture and how in such a picture Ginny comes out as generally flawless, because no other character in the story confirms her flaws as being flaws (as was the case with Ron’s jealousy, Harry’s saving people thing, Hermione’s nagging etc.), which again brings us back to the Mary Sue hypothesis.
Some interesting comments on this scene can be found here.
(OotP) He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told, he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap. "Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can get rid of all this easily." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!" The Stinksap vanished.
This scene is very telling for the antithesis it brings by two means. First, Harry mentions how he would have liked Cho to have found him entertaining a group of "very cool people"; this wish is opposed to the reality, because instead of this, Cho finds him with Neville and Luna, "clutching a toad" and "dripping in Stinksap". It results that Harry thinks that Neville and Luna do not fall into that "very cool people" category. Notice how although present, Ginny is excluded from the contrasting sentence (only Neville and Luna are mentioned), therefore leading to the conclusion that she was not the same category as Neville and Luna. Secondly, please note how the antithesis is further sustained by how Rowling wrote Ginny doing something positive, i.e., cleaning the Stinksap (another "uncool" element from Harry's point of view). The conclusion we get is that, unlike Neville and Luna, Ginny did not fall into the different than very cool people category but rather she was the opposite of it, and thus another thing that could have counted as a flaw of Ginny's is explained away.
Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Do they work?" she asked.
"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question..."
"... and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've..."
"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"
"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, I am," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?"
She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.
"Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"
"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"
"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"
Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil.
"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you'' she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"
Unlike Ron in the scene discussed above, the twins assert a possible flaw of Ginny's with more tact and diplomacy. Authorial intent intervenes however and Ginny still comes out as flawless from this scene, because her anger is justified via the author's words ("Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil" and Ginny having the last word on the matter without the twins ever approaching that subject again).
When correlating all the attributes described above, they can be summed up to the general tendency of a Mary Sue character to being special. Regular rules and types of behaviour and reactions do not apply to her; she gets special treatment from the majority of the characters who usually remark upon her uniqueness; she has special powers, which no other character possesses; she has a more than pleasant physical appearance upon which even the villains marvel; she is funny, spunky, sporty and generally what the author sees as being the ideal girl for the hero; and finally, most of these features are told, not shown and no motivation or backstory is given for them.
Note: Unless specified otherwise, all quotes are from HBP and all emphasis is mine.
Part II.1