The Hermione Thread (was the Ron thread)

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 4980

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Ebony " <ebonyink at h...> wrote:
> A little surprised at the lack of response to my rant the other 
> day.  :)  That one must have tanked!  All right...
> 
> I've had to lurk more than usual lately.  After reading the Ron 
> thread, I reflected on some readings I've been doing lately on 
> feminist representation in literature.  I have some Hermione-
related 
> observations and subsequent questions.
> 
> 1)  Does Hermione as a character get a bad rap?  Does the fact that 
> she is the only female main character (and the most well-developed 
> female) adversely affect our critique of her?

i would have said "no" until i read the most recent comments about 
her and about Molly......but one could argue we've been hard on Ron 
lately....(while Snape has his apologists -- oh, well, if I could 
just get that this is LITERATURE rather than reality, I'd probably 
understand better)


> 
> 2)  It seems to be generally assumed amongst fans that Hermione's 
> role in the last three books will remain about the same or 
increase.  
> Can anyone counter this prediction (with canonical evidence)?
> 
> If, for instance, R/H occurs in Book 5 or 6 I am positive 
Hermione's 
> on-stage time will decrease.  I'll post more on this later if 
needed.

This goes back to my thoughts about how most of the prominent female 
characters were wives/partners/mothers or objects of desire. 

It'll be fun to watch. I wonder, though, since she JKR's alter ego....
what we need is a grown-up advisory council to JKR, so that we could 
directly convey our thoughts to her.


> 
> 3)  How does our perception of Hermione, the author's perception of 
> Hermione, and the other character's perception of Hermione differ?  
> Are there any significant intersections?
> 
> 4)  Observation:  There seems to be a *clear* correlation between 
> personality and birth order in many families.  I would posit that 
the 
> correlation can be extended to character identification.
> 
> Sorry if this isn't more clear.  :)
> 
> --Ebony
> 
> Update:  Currently, I am working on the abstract of my PoA analysis 
> (which is turning out more postmodern/Derridian than psychoanalytic-
-
> after trying for two months, I've reconciled myself to the fact 
that 
> there are aspects of the Freud/Lacan paradigm I just don't buy).  
All 
> in all, it's coming along.  I'll post the draft here around 
Christmas 
> if all goes well.