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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 girlish behavior, placing her firmly in the
gender role of female. With no developed personality, Ginny exists only as
a love interest for Harry, and her importance in the second novel builds her
as a weakling and a damsel in distress to further her romantic relation to
Harry. From a feminist viewpoint, this character construction enforces
societally expected gender roles and does not allow Ginny to surpass the
expectations of her gender or grow into a well-developed character.
Readers most strongly see Ginny Weasleys extreme femininity in the
first two Harry Potter novels through her persistent crying. In the readers
first encounter with Ginny, she cries as the train leaves with her older
brothers (The Sorcerers Stone 97), already starting her characterization as a
girlish child. People typically associate crying with females, which makes her
femininity much stronger because tears feature in 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

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of Secrets, struggled and cried and became very boring (313). When Harry
wakes her from a magic-induced slumber, she [draws] a great, shuddering
gasp and tears [begin] to pour down her face (322). Rowling goes on to
mention multiple times that Ginny continues to cry in the next scenes: tears
were still flooding silently down Ginnys face (326); tears were still coursing
silently down her cheeks (328). Such persistent characterization of Ginny as
a crying girl feminizes her and indicates that such feminine behavior defines
her.
Elizabeth E. Heilman describes Ginny as the archetypal girl (230),
embodying the essence of female quite strongly. Ginny displays other
feminine behavior aside from crying that enforces this archetypal
conception. 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 Rowling describes her as wailing (210), a verb not often
used to describe boys. When a cat becomes a victim of the monster in the
Chamber of Secrets, Ron Weasley 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. After
an attack on a classmate, 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 wrote all
year in what ends up identifying itself as Tom Riddles diary. Riddle says that

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she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger,
writing about all her pitiful worries and woes (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. Acting distraught, having nightmares, and
pouring out secrets into a diary all fit well into a female archetype. Riddle,
although bored with Ginnys writings, kindly writes back, leading Ginny to tell
him that she is so glad Ive got this diary to confide in (309, emphasis in
original), a girlish statement.
As a typical female, Ginny must concern herself with romance as a
crucial part of her character. Rowling introduces and thereafter always notes
Ginny based on her interest in Harry, immediately defining her based on a
male. When readers first see her in The Sorcerers Stone, she begs to see
Harry for herself: Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh
please. (97). Still too young to be thinking romantically about Harry, her
interest stems from his fame and reputation. This develops into a romantic
attraction by The Chamber of Secrets. Upon seeing Harry in her home, Ginny
runs out of the room from shyness. Ron says to Harry that Ginny has been
talking about you all summer, and Fred Weasley adds, shell be wanting
your autograph, Harry (The Chamber of Secrets 35). Already Rowling has
built Ginnys attraction to Harry and set the stage for their future romance.
As Harrys stay in Ginnys home continues, he notes that Ginny seems very
prone to knocking things over and continually blushes around him (43). All

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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 acts shy
and nervous around Harry, continually doing things like carefully not
look[ing] at Harry while in his presence (286). When Harry receives a
valentine in front of a line of first years, which happened to include Ginny
Weasley, antagonist Draco Malfoy accuses Ginny of sending it by saying, I
dont think Potter liked your valentine much! (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. Teasing about
Ginnys obvious intentions comes from others, too; Ron proclaims, Youve
got competition, Ginny! when another girl shows interest in Harry (326).
Rons comment, said in front of both Ginny and Harry, enforces the readers
conception of Ginny as a lovesick young girl who mainly concerns herself
with wooing Harry.
The first time readers hear Ginny speak near Harry, she defends him
from one of Dracos insults while glaring at Draco: Leave him alone, he
didnt want all that! (61). Draco takes this chance to taunt Harry further,
saying, Potter, youve got yourself a girlfriend! and Ginny turns scarlet
(61). The reader finally sees an indication that Ginnys personality
encompasses more than simply shyness and blushing, but her bravery only
appears when defending Harry. This characterization plays off her attraction

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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. (309). Her other concerns hold no importance; 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 results
logically from her status as a minor character; Hermione, a character readers
see 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 Ginnys sole purpose as a romantic option for
Harry. Elizabeth Heilman explains that Ginnys attraction to Harry disables
her instead of allowing her character to grow (230). While Ginny does have
a central role in the second novel, her importance actually enforces
Heilmans idea of a character disabled by attraction because she becomes a
damsel in distress, easily tricked by dark magic, and needs a hero to rescue
her. This familiar trope gives her a stronger romantic tie to Harry instead of
increasing her importance as a character of her own right, and causes
problems in feminist discourse because women should not be defined by, or
created for, men.

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Ginnys damsel in distress trope begins when Tom Riddle explains to
Harry that Ginny performed the school wide attacks all year. Riddle
controlled her from the diary, which depicts Ginny as gullible, immature, and
needy for pouring her soul into an unknown diary (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 (313). This firmly places Ginny in her position as
damsel in distress since she waits for a hero and does not, or cannot, take
her safety into her own hands. Agency belongs to the hero, not the woman,
and her inability to take responsibility for herself under this trope further
diminishes and flattens her character into quintessentially female. The
relationship between hero and damsel 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.
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 father responds with,
Havent I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust
anything that can think for itself if you cant see where it keeps its brain?

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Why didnt you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object
like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic (329, emphasis in original).
Rowlings italics and Mr. Weasleys attitude indicate his deep anger at Ginny
for allowing Riddle to trick and control her, when in reality Riddle forced
her into her actions. Some readers will recognize this as a form of victim
blaming, a phenomenon rampant in our society, especially in situations
where perpetrators sexually assault women and others blame the women for
bringing on the attack. For Ginnys own father to blame her as a victim
indicates troubling cultural and gender standards, yet this further solidifies
Ginny as a weak little girl who would write in an unknown diary and fall
under its control.
Rowling clearly writes Ginny Weasley as an extremely feminized
character whose only character traits revolve around her romantic interest in
Harry Potter. From a feminist viewpoint, her potential as a well-rounded
character occupying a worthwhile role in the story contrasts disappointingly
with the reality of her construction. However, readers must ask themselves:
why is it bad that Ginny is so very girlish? Should stories have archetypal
characters that conform to stereotypes and do not demonstrate the ideal?
Perhaps writers should not banish these archetypal characters, because they
might serve a purpose; if all the characters in a novel embodied idealized
versions of people, there would be no variety (Pugh). Others may argue that
this story belongs to Harry Potter, not Ginny Weasley. Just as Hermione and
her intelligence are simply part of Harrys entourage, readers could see

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Ginny as merely a part of Harrys development and life (Nikolajeva 131). Can
Rowling throw her to the side because this story belongs to Harry, or does
she deserve to have her own, fully developed character? Feminist criticism
would ask readers to consider the implications of a character that fulfills so
many degrading female stereotypes, and the storys shortcomings caused by
omitting her growth. Ginnys strong femininity and lack of anything else
represent females poorly and show 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.

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Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. New York: Scholastic
Inc., 1997. Print.
---. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.
Print.