This post was written in response to the Miami Book Examiner's defense of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley as one of the five most romantic literary couples.
Point One: Great literary romances develop in a believable way.
The Book Examiner would have you believe that because J.K. Rowling had seven books to write that the love story between Harry and Ginny developed naturally over time. To that I say prove it because what I read was not a realistic love story.
Ginny is all but ignored as the younger sister to Ron Weasley until book five. Book five she joins the secret DA club in order to learn how to defend herself when the Ministry was determined to make sure that the children did not know how to defend themselves. The same could be said of Cho, Luna, Hermione, and half a dozen other girls ranging from the Quidditch team to rival housemates.
Then Harry gets a green eyed monster in his stomach in book six and totally acts out of character for the whole book not just when he's around Ginny. Considering Rowling's history of introducing little seeds that explode into a major plot point, I figured it was the Amortentia potion at work. Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the wizarding world and was used throughout book six to show how it influenced Voldemort's life. It made sense for JKR to use it as an influence on Harry's life as she has manipulated several similarities of the same ilk. (Unless there is a book eight that proves this interpretation of the sixth book to be true, Harry/Ginny can't be explained away as a the case of Amortentia. That leaves just bad writing.)
Book seven Harry and Ginny are separated and exchange no communication but by the end of the story they are happily married seventeen years later with three kids. Riiiiight.
Point Two: Great literary romances are based on a mutual admiration and respect for the other's strengths and talents.
So Harry admired feared Ginny's bat boogey hex, but honestly that spell is not the stuff of romance. Harry had more respect for Hermione's brains and puzzle solving skills. In fact, Hermione shows the most strengths and talents in the entire series and by this reasoning alone she should have been Harry's match. After all the smart and witty Elizabeth Bennet fell in love with the popular and wealthy Mr. Darcy and Hermione and Harry play those roles far more convincingly than Ginny and Harry.
Heck, Harry greatly respected Luna even if he thought she was sometimes a little weird. He took her on a date too. Why not Luna over Ginny? Luna would have been a great candidate. She shared loss with Harry and like Harry knew what it was to be lonely. She also admired him for his own worth not because of the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense Ginny was always going on about in the earlier novels.
Point Three: Great literary romances are willingly sacrificial.
What did Ginny sacrifice? Or Harry for that matter when it came to the relationship? For those that read book seven you know the ending and the sacrifice Harry made can back me up that he would have made it whether or not Ginny even existed.
Point Four: Great literary romances feature a well-matched pair.
How are Harry and Ginny a well-matched pair? She's his number one fangirl and he's the savior of the wizarding world. Her talents are limited. Rowling built up the history behind the magical meaning of number seven but never gave the 7th Weasley child anything to make her unique, except perhaps making her the only female sibling in the bunch. Hermione was the smartest witch of the age, Cho the lovliest, and Luna the most unique with the ability to see and process the world in a different way than most. Ginny can't even stand on her own two feet and say she was a challenge to him on the Quidditch Pitch because it was Cho not Ginny who battled Harry in game matches.
Point Five: Great literary romances celebrate the steadfast and unwavering love of the underdog.
Of the girls: Hermione, Ginny, Cho, and Luna. Only Hermione and Luna can be considered underdogs because Ginny and Cho were exceedingly popular in their years. Hermione was ostracized originally because of her intelligence and showy talent and Luna because she was seen as odd for her appearance, speech, and beliefs.
Conclusion:
Harry and Ginny never stood a chance against literary romantic couples. Not only because of those reasons but also because H/G had no real on page romance. Rowling condensed everything about their courtship to a few paragraphs where Harry reminisced in book six that the time spent with Ginny didn't even seem like his own life. Their total time on page is less than 2% of the whole series. Rowling's best romance was the one she didn't expressly show us and that was James Potter and Lily Evans. What are your thoughts?
Originally posted 2009-02-18 17:41:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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