[HPforGrownups] Hermione & JKR (Long)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 3460

Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer wrote:

> So . . . is she [Hermione] the heroine or not?  <g>

Hmm . . . well, the hero/heroine is the person the reader is emotionally invested
in--and the person whose decisions will critically affect the action.

I think Harry, Ron and Hermione all fit these definitions.  Indeed, the three are a
team and in fact, having three heroes allows a wide range so that many readers will
be able to find SOMEONE with whom to identify--but Harry's efforts and decisions,
perhaps, are the most pivotal.  He's the one who's there to face Voldemort at the
climax of the action in the first, second and fourth book, but it took the efforts
of both Ron and Hermione to help him get there to that point.  And he's the one who
has to make the crucial decision in book 3 (whether to save Peter Pettigrew or not)
because he was the one who suffered the most at Peter's hands (i.e., the
betrayal/murder of his parents), but he got there, again, with Ron and Hermione's
help, and it's Hermione, in particular who jointly helps him rescue Sirius.

"Simon J. Branford" wrote:

> JKR said: "She is the most brilliant of the three and they need her.  Harry
> needs her badly."
>
> How to disagree with the author?
> IMO this does not come across in the books. In CoS and PoA Hermione is not
> in the story for a while and Harry copes fairly well. I do not get the
> impression that he does need her badly.

Oh, I disagree!  Well, Ron is the one with him in CoS, but Hermione is the one who
researched the polyjuice potion.  She's with Harry throughout all the action in
PoA.  She's the one who resists when Snape tries to run roughshod over them all in
the Shrieking Shack, and she's got her wand out to knock Snape unconscious, too.
She's the one who, with Harry, rescues Sirius; and she's right beside him, facing
the dementors.

[Oh, I see Penny made these same point.  *Sigh* this is the problem when you're
trying to answer a question that 20 people have answered before you]

Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer wrote:

> Simon added:
>
> > Go for the one you love. How important someone is should not enter into a
> > discussion on true love.
> >
> Well, I agree with Simon's basic point.  But, I think what Carole is
> driving at is that we have an author who completely controls what
> happens with these characters.  Whether she's consciously aware of the
> fact that Hermione is her own surrogate in the series or not, one has to
> assume that her conscious or subconscious feelings may play into the mix
> *if and when* she puts the characters into romantic relationships.  I
> think JKR's favorite character is Harry.  If it were Ron, the stories
> would center around Ron.  We all know Lupin is one of her favorites but
> I really think that Harry must be her absolute favorite.  So . . . . if
> you're pairing "yourself" off in a fictional universe with one of
> several potential romantic partners, aren't you the least bit likely to
> put yourself with the *hero,* who happens to be your favorite character?

Speaking from personal experience, I think that authors can have "favorite"
characters, but as for me, they're all "mine" in a way, and so there's also a
resistance to choosing between them.  My characters become my children, so to speak,
and who wants to choose between one's own children?

"Simon J. Branford" replied:

> Making something out of Hermione getting further in the three book endings
> that Ron is taking things a bit far. CoS and PoA have Hermione and Ron at
> similar levels. In PS the situation would not have worked if we had had
> Snape's puzzle before the chess. Part of the point was that Hermione was to
> go back and get help. Ron sacrificed himself to get the others through the
> chess game. I think they have had equal involvement in the book endings
> (this can be extended to include GoF as they did nothing to help Harry get
> away from Voldemort).

I still think you're a little too dismissive of Hermione's contributions.  She was
the one who taught him the Accio spell that allowed him to grab the Triwizard cup
back in the graveyard to get back to Hogwarts.  And it was also in his practices
with Ron and Hermione that Harry learned the Impedimenta spell, which he used to
slow down the Deatheaters chasing him.

> Does she do anything but solve problems? Surely she has to be able to offer
> something else to Harry? There will come a time when Harry has no problems
> to solve (well there maybe!), what will she do then?

Hmm.  Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?

Steve Bates wrote:

> <Does she do anything but solve problems? Surely she has to be able
> to offer something else to Harry? There will come a time when Harry
> has no problems to solve (well there maybe!), what will she do then?>
>
> That's a pretty utilitarian point of view regarding friendship.
> Hermione's "worth" shouldn't be judged by what practical things she
> has to offer Harry; isn't the fact that they are friends enough?
> Instead of focusing on the things she does, think of the reasons she
> does them: for instance, how she helps Harry study his spells out of
> genuinely caring for him.  She is as good a friend to Harry as Ron is.

Applause.  Also, very important: Hermione models compassion to Harry (and Ron).  She
notices people who are weak (Neville, the house elves) and refuses to allow others
to take advantage of them.  That is a very important thing for Harry to learn--what
if he became all powerful, but allowed only his own arrogance to regulate his
behavior?  Hermione won't let him do that.  BTW: this characteristic of Hermione is
also from JKR's own life.  She worked for Amnesty International, and this experience
is a real catalyst in the her creation of the house elves story line.

Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer wrote:

> "Simon J. Branford" wrote:
>
> > Also we have Sirius in there as well. There is just a lack of female
> > characters in the story - too many are bit parts.
>
> Interesting that as a female, I'd disagree.  I don't really see it as a
> male-centered series at all.

I think JK Rowling made the point in one of her interviews: that she was careful to
balance the gender ratio among the professors at Hogwarts.  And yet there's this
complaint that "there are no women"!  Ever read the James Tiptree, Jr.'s story "The
Women Men Don't See"? (Do you know what James Tiptree, Jr.'s gender is?)  [Please
note: the tone I am attempting here is gentle teasing irony, which sometimes fails
to come across very well on email, so I'm spelling it out, just to avoid
misunderstandings ;-) ]

"Simon J. Branford" wrote:

> I wrote: "Does she do anything but solve problems? Surely she has to be able
> to offer something else to Harry? <Snip>
>
> I was joking with my comment. I know that Hermione offers more but you,
> Penny, made out in the message that I responded to that Hermione and Harry
> are friends for the problems she could solve for him (or at least that is
> how I interpreted it).

See!  I told you there was a trouble with getting gentle irony across in email!




> I think the problem is that I do not like Hermione. She annoys me. Quite a
> few of the things that people see as being faults in her (taking her studies
> far too seriously, especially the PoA too many subjects incident, and taking
> the political stuff too far) are problems that I know, looking back at my
> teenage years, that other people had with me. I can see her doing things
> that I did, things that I now realise where either stupid or irrelevant and
> an inner voice in me is screaming: "Don't do it - there is no need"

Really?  This impatience strikes me as . . . sad.

I think that the things that we complain about, in Ron and Hermione in particular,
are partly a function of the fact that they are entering the gawky adolescent
stage.  When you're an adolescent, everything is larger than life, and so while some
of their extremes make us cringe, I can simultaneously see the admirable adult in
there, barely, struggling to emerge.  And so I feel very tender and protective of
them, rather than annoyed.

(But then, I don't have to live with them.  Hope I'll be able to say the same thing
when my kids are adolescents.)

Peg

P.S.  I tried to reply to everyone.  I probably tried too hard. This is TOO LONG!
Sending it on its way, anyway.  Aargh.