[HPforGrownups] Re: The Sleeping Woman

[Laura Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 37605

Pippin said:
> Hermione is far more comfortable with the nurturing aspects of 
> her femininity.  She exercises her maternal skills on  various 
> orphaned characters: Neville, Harry, Hagrid,  and Winky.  It is 
> interesting that Ron resists her attempts to mother him, and  that 
> she in turn accepts a date with Viktor Krum knowing that school 
> loyalty will forbid her to indulge her coaching instincts.

I really just believe that Hermione is quite comfortable with *all* the aspects of her femininity.  I mean, she was a bit bashful about telling Ron and Harry about Victor in GoF, but that seemed to be more about her fear of their reactions (teasing, etc.) than anything else.  I don't know what it's like in Britain, but in the States here there's been quite a bit of noise about how young girls are discouraged socially from showing their intelligence in class, and I think that, to an extent, it's true. (I never really experienced it myself as the boys I went to grammar school with - and there were very few of them to begin with - were so dumb that to try to pretend to be stupider would have been quite a feat -- plus, I'm quite oblivious when it comes to what others think about me)  I believe that Hermione shows a certain measure of bravery in respect to her outspokenness in class -- I mean, we've all seen that others look down on her for it, to an extent.  Most girls her age would do anything to conform to the expectations of her peers.

Jo:
>I've never quite been able to fathom what 
>Krum was doing in fancying her, though.  Perhaps all those fangirls 
>were just too scary for the athletically brilliant but socially 
>backward Krum.

*indulgent smile* Silly.  Because she's brilliant, caring, etc. etc.  Plus, I think she's probably got that potential for a sort of dignified beauty that only adults notice and other kids totally miss -- especially now that her teeth are - erm, normal-sized.  I've known alot of girls like this -- all bone-y angles, bushy hair, and belligerent mannerisms -- but underneath you can just *tell*.

Jo again:
>Maybe this is why a romantic relationship between Harry and Hermione 
>has always seemed to be so violently *wrong* somehow.  It seems that 
>a mature Harry would not be able to romantically connect with such a 
>maternal/domineering type.  I've never been one to believe that 
>males *really* want to marry their mothers ;-).

Why does "caring" always equal "maternal" and "intelligent and independent" always equal "domineering" when people are referring to Hermione? *sighs melodramatically*  It's not that I think she's absolutely *perfect*, it's just that with you all calling out her "bad" points from the rooftops, I feel like she needs my support.

hrm.  I guess this all is a little late...there's other couple-day-old posts I want to reply to as well, but I think I ought to get some shut eye at this point...it's been a very hectic weekend.

laura 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]