One of the main themes of the Harry Potter novels is the coming of age story that is within the series. Throughout the novels we get to watch the characters grow up from the age of 11 to roughly 17 or 18. The relationship between Harry and Ginny is a good example of this, and well as each of them individually. When we first meet Ginny she is an extremely quiet and shy 10 year old girl. She immediately has a crush on Harry, but she can’t talk to him and avoids him most of the time. Harry doesn’t do anything about this but just pretty much ignores it at first. As the books go on they become good friends and Ginny loses her awkwardness as she gets older and explores other relationships. When she and Harry start dating in the sixth book we begin to see both of them a little differently. We realize they are older now and are capable of having a mature relationship.
Ginny and Harry’s relationship changing over the course of the books made me, as a reader, realize that these two were not the same characters that we met in the first book. They have grown and matured and, even though they were still pretty young the reader realizes that they can handle this immense responsibility that has been handed to them. In the earlier books, when Harry as a young boy, defeated Voldemort and many other terrors I thought he was pretty lucky. But once they are older it becomes skill and dedication rather than luck. And that is also reflected in the characters’ dedication to each other.
Even though Ginny is younger than Harry she pushes him to do what is right. In many ways she was more responsible and level headed than he ever was. Without his growing and changing relationship with Ginny, Harry might now have had the courage he did by the end of the series. As he fights he thinks about all his friends, the family he has lost, and he thinks a lot about Ginny. He realizes that he needs to do this for not only himself, but for all of them.
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