Ginny’s apparent lack of trauma over being psychically violated by a psychopathic sixteen-year-old is one of the many mysteries of Ginny’s wildly inconsistent character.
I definitely see the transformation into “new Ginny” as deliberate. “Natural Ginny” was quiet and shy. Her defiance of her family over learning to play Quidditch was done in secret, whereas “spunky Ginny” would have acted boldly and openly. (Perhaps, like Percy, Ginny was not a natural Gryffindor, and had to persuade the Hat to put her into the House of Jocks as a legacy.) But acting according to her natural inclination was not getting Ginny what she wanted, so starting in her fourth year she intentionally modeled her behavior on the twins, without the (marginally) mitigating factor of their sense of humor.
And it worked. She became one of the “popular girls” (like Lily), and eventually snagged her prince.
There's this lovely, lovely dark!fic about Ginny's diary entries told in 1st person, but I can't for the love of God remember the link anymore. (I'm pretty sure it's not on fanfiction dot net) It evolves upto the point where Ginny sensed the diary was evil and can't let go, and diary!Tom acts like a chillingly accurate abusive boyfriend. Does it ring a bell to anyone here? Because that and this fic of terri's make great companions of one another.
ETA
Found it, Ha! It's called "The Very Secret Diary", and is available on archiveofourown dot org.
We do see quiet, shy Ginny at the beginning of Book One when she is still Tom-free. It's only a short glimpse, but she gives no sign of being bold and spunky.
Original Ginnyterri_testingOctober 17 2014, 06:27:21 UTC
POint! But slight correction--Ron expresses surprise that she's so shy. OTOH, aside from her crush (how serious, in a ten-year-old?), we never see the family at the Burrow interacting with outsiders. So houseguest Harry might be the only person outside her family Ginny's ever had occasion to speak to--reason enough for shyness! If Ron's to be believed, original!Ginny is a chatterbox in the bosom of her family
( ... )
Re: Original Ginnyjana_chOctober 18 2014, 01:49:14 UTC
It’s about the right age for it to happen, too. I went through a social crisis when I was ten and eleven years old-nothing like as serious as actual abuse, but a crisis none the less, that lasted for two full years. Before that, my mother told me I used to come home saying, “I made a new friend today; I found out her name.” Since then I’ve had a devil of a time making friends. I sometimes blame it on living in Seattle, where everyone is friendly but it’s hard to make friends, but it was just as true when I lived elsewhere. Really’s it me.
This sort of thing happens as one grows up. I can’t say the Jana who made friends by finding out their names was the “real” Jana, and the current friendless Jana is a warped and distorted version. We all change as we grow up, and not all the changes are positive, even when one has not suffered the sort of trauma you and Ginny have suffered. The “real” Jana is the one who has gone through the changes, good and bad.
Well, the original Terri was religious, morbidly obsessed with being good (internalized for a girl as hyper-obedient, unquestioning, feminine, and quiet) and girly (I wore dresses for quite some time after jeans had become fashionable; I played with dolls, I baked, I did crafts because that's what girls were supposed to like, I tried to hide my reading or to restrict it to acceptable girls' stories
( ... )
(The comment has been removed)
I definitely see the transformation into “new Ginny” as deliberate. “Natural Ginny” was quiet and shy. Her defiance of her family over learning to play Quidditch was done in secret, whereas “spunky Ginny” would have acted boldly and openly. (Perhaps, like Percy, Ginny was not a natural Gryffindor, and had to persuade the Hat to put her into the House of Jocks as a legacy.) But acting according to her natural inclination was not getting Ginny what she wanted, so starting in her fourth year she intentionally modeled her behavior on the twins, without the (marginally) mitigating factor of their sense of humor.
And it worked. She became one of the “popular girls” (like Lily), and eventually snagged her prince.
Reply
ETA
Found it, Ha! It's called "The Very Secret Diary", and is available on archiveofourown dot org.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
This sort of thing happens as one grows up. I can’t say the Jana who made friends by finding out their names was the “real” Jana, and the current friendless Jana is a warped and distorted version. We all change as we grow up, and not all the changes are positive, even when one has not suffered the sort of trauma you and Ginny have suffered. The “real” Jana is the one who has gone through the changes, good and bad.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment