is Hermione gifted?

[vulgarweed]

> 
> Hermione is definitely gifted, IMHO, and that of many other people 
involved in 
> advocacy. 
> Harry also fits another gifted profile - he's less interested in 
academic work, but 
> certainly seems capable, and he does seem to have an inquiring 
mind, etc. If I 
> wanted to get psychological (-8, I'd suggest that part of the 
reason he has less 
> interest in academic work is the likelihood he was not challenged 
before he went to 
> Hogwarts - somehow I doubt the Dursley's took much interest. He 
also has 
> Quidditch, and other things in his life, as real priorities.
> 
> Ron could very easily be gifted as well - it's not incredibly 
obvious, but giftedness 
> quite often isn't. Skill at Chess shows some logic skills are 
likely. Being a younger 
> brother in a large family can tend to 'disguise' giftedness to an 
extent.
> 
> Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
> Shaun Hately |webpage: 


I agree that all three of them are gifted in different ways. Yes, I 
think definitely Hermione is gifted. Maybe she needs to work to 
achieve her high marks, but one of the biggest signs of giftedness is 
an insane hunger for knowledge, which she definitely has. She doesn't 
study because she _has_ to (at least not entirely), she studies 
because she _loves_ to. 

Funny, this thread. When I first read HP & the S/PS, it took me back 
immediately to the first summers I got to leave my crappy little town 
and go to various University's summer programs for gifted kids, and 
kids interested in wildlife, and young writers: I felt like I had 
gotten a mysterious invitation to study at a wondrous place where I 
_belonged_ as I had never belonged before. So in my highly subjective 
emotional reading (that was very similar to my readings of Madeleine 
L'Engle's Time trilogy and Susan Cooper's _The Dark Is Rising_ series 
and the Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) I took magic and the ability to 
see workings of the universe others don't (and being reviled and 
misunderstood for that ability) as an extended metaphor *for* 
giftedness.

AV