Art by Nastja.
Sarah Gailey wrote an amazing essay about Ginny Weasley (of Harry Potter fame) at Tor.com. Often considered a more minor character, Sarah looks into how truly awesome Ginny really is, and why she. Is. Not. Impressed. As I’m doing¬†another Harry Potter re-read of my own, it’s nice to find new interpretations of characters I already know well, or‚Äìin the case of Sarah’s review of Ginny‚Äìfind an interpretation¬†that I heartily agree with.
Six brothers. That’s how many brothers it takes to make a Ginny Weasley. That’s how much familial finally-a-daughter pressure is required to make a Ginny Weasley. That’s the weight of hand-me-down boy’s-jeans and you-can’t-do-it-you’re-a-girl that’s necessary to make a Ginny Weasley.
Ginny let herself be impressed once. She let herself be impressed by Harry Potter—the Boy Who Lived, big brother’s best friend, Quidditch star. She let herself be impressed, and she let herself be infatuated, and she let herself blush and hide. She let herself be soft.
And into that moment of softness—of weakness—she wound up vulnerable. And look at how that turned out.
Ginny Weasley is angry. She’s angry because she let her mind become a chew toy for a sociopath. She’s angry because she hurt people, and she doesn’t care that she was just a puppet for Tom Riddle, that doesn’t matter, she still hurt people. She’s angry because nobody noticed. She’s angry because everyone forgets. She’s constantly having to remind them that she went through it, she spoke to him, he spoke back. And when he spoke back, it wasn’t just an endless deluge of taunts about her parents or jabs at her youth or threats to kill her. Harry’s never had a conversation with Voldemort, never really talked to him.
Ginny has.
To discover Ginny’s full awesomeness, you can read¬†all of Sarah’s essay here.
-Katie Weidmann
Social Media Manager
Girl Museum Inc.