Hermione as Heroine -- Krum/Harry/Hermione

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 27184

Hi --

A.E.B.Bevan at open.ac.uk wrote:

 > Watch out for Michele Fry paper "Heroes and Heroines: Myth and Gender
 > Roles in the Harry Potter Books" in December issue of New Review of
 > Children's Literature and Librarianship  <snip>
 >
 > Michele Fry, 32, argues that Hermione - Harry's sidekick - is the
 > true heroine of the books.
 >
 > "Most critics argue Hermione is an accessory but I would say she is
 > the real power behind Harry Potter," said Ms Fry.
 > <<<

Oh, I absolutely can't wait for this! I tried to start a thread on this 
very subject some months back & got very few takers (see messages #3338, 
3395, 3416). Being the huge Hermione fan that I am, it's no surprise 
that I agree completely with that basic statement. I'll be most 
interested to see what she says in support of her thesis. I won't be 
around much in the next couple of days, but would love to discuss this 
again if it might generate more interest this time around. I just cannot 
wait to see this article. :--)

Amy Z wrote:

Me: >>Or, maybe he pesters her at the Library & she was trying to get rid of him
>>by talking Harry up.
> 
Amy:> Gasp!  <Rubs eyes>  Is that *Penny* writing?  Did she just offer R/Hers an
> elegant response to the "why does Hermione talk to Viktor about Harry"
> evidence, that pillar of H/H reasoning?
> 
> There you go.  She talks about him because she is trying to send the signal
> that she is not serious about him (Viktor).  Harry makes a better subject
> for going on and on about than Ron because Harry is Famous Harry Potter and
> is ahead of VK in the tournament and is therefore likely to irk Viktor more.

Nice try, Amy, but nothing doing.  :--D

Talking up Harry because he's already on her mind & serves the 
additional purpose of getting rid of Krum is very different than just 
using her friend the Famous HP as a tool to get rid of unwanted romantic 
attention.  I may have left you a bit of a hole with the way I phrased 
that sentence admittedly, but my intent was always that it she was 
talking up Harry because of her interest.  <g>  Picture the scenario: 
she's talked about Harry alot because she thinks about him alot ... she 
suddenly notices that Krum looks decidedly grumpy every time Harry's 
name comes up ... knowing she'd rather discourage further attentions 
from Krum, she makes a conscious effort to talk about Harry even more. 
:--)

In any case, the alternative is that she, without any particular motive 
of getting rid of Krum, *talks about Harry all the time,* with the 
result that Krum is very jealous of Harry as a romantic rival.  Where's 
Ronniekins in that scenario?  If she really talks about him all the time 
"because they're friends" as Harry asserts (perhaps even defensively), 
then wouldn't she also talk about Ron all the time too?  Nah, the girl's 
got feelings for Harry I tell you.  :--)

Penny