Tough Hermione (WAS What Harry will miss the most/Liking Hermione)

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 38770

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at c...> wrote:

> 
> I asked:
> 
> > > Cindy (who has wondered from time to time if Hermione is 
Tough, 
> > but isn't sure she wants to know the answer)>>>>>>


> 
> Penny replied:
>  
> > I think Hermione is Tough.  I think she is *alot* Tougher than 
> Ron, 
> > even if she does weep from time to time.  Characters who are in 
> > touch with their emotions are typically considerably stronger 
> > individuals.  When push comes to shove, Hermione has the Stuff.  
> And 
> > I think we'll see that more & more & more....
> > 


Cindy responds:
> Weeelllllll . . .  I have a really hard time with the idea that 
> Hermione is Tough, let alone Tougher than Ron.  A really hard 
time.  
> I'd say Hermione is Tougher than Hagrid.  But Ron?
> 
> I mean, look at the Whomping Willow/Shrieking Shack scenes, for 
> instance.  Ron has a broken leg, whereas Hermione got thwacked in 
> the head by the Willow.  JKR writes the scene with the following 
> excerpts (with my emphasis added for the words that trouble me so):
> 
> *************
> 
<Cindy snippage lots of examples of Hermione's wimpy behavior> 
> 
> *************
> 
> OK, that's enough.  
> 
> All this, all of this whimpering and being 
> frightened/terrified/petrified/uncertain in just a few pages.  I 
> guess I have a real gripe with Hermione's characterization in 
those 
> scenes, which are from my favorite part of my favorite book, 
because 
> she is hardly being written as a capable heroine there.  It really 
> starts to get to me, it really does.
> 
> So why does JKR do these things to Hermione, for cryin' out loud?  
I 
> have no idea.  I'd like Hermione better without these Weak 
> responses, to be honest.  


Why does Hermione *have* to be a heroine?  I think JKR has indicated 
that she wrote these books to tell a story (Harry's story), and not 
as a political manifesto.  She's a much more believable and likable 
character as written than she would be as some sort of warrior 
princess.

As Cindy pointed out later in the post, it would be boring if all 
the characters were "tough".  I hope she doesn't compromise 
Hermione's character by giving her a personality change, any more 
than I'd like Ron to lose his sarcastic sense of humor.

Jo S. who loved the bit in PoA, where Hermione bursts screaming out 
of the trunk fleeing the McGonagall-boggart