SHIP: JKR Interview (what she said and what she didn't say)

[anguaorc <fausts@attglobal.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52042

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer <jferer at y...>" 
<jferer at y...> wrote:
> If the interviewer had wanted to know if Harry and Hermione would 
ever
> have a date, he or she would have said so.  JKR used the present
> tense, "are," to describe the platonic sense of H/Hr's friendship; 
and
> nobody has ever accused JKR of tipping off much of the distant 
future
> (as in more than a book ahead).

Hi, Jim!  I think you are erroneously assuming that the question was 
asked by an *interviewer*.  The question was written on a card in a 
stack of cards that JKR riffled through and picked from.  It was made 
clear in another question that the question was written by a child.  
I think it is obvious that this one was, as well.  Either that, or a
–
 well – not-very-literate person.  

The thing that doesn't make sense is that JKR or the questioner would 
automatically be thinking or talking about *Book 4*.  It wasn't a 
Book 4 interview -- it was a Book 3 one.  The only two times Book 4 
was mentioned, it was specifically brought up:  "Are we going to 
learn more about Harry's mom *in the next book*" and she 
answers:  "There is something very important about Harry's mother 
that he hasn't yet discovered but he's not going to find it out in 
the next book. It's too important for Book 4. He finds it out later 
in the series."

Note how careful she is to delineate which book she is talking about, 
even though the questioner had already made it clear.  For the "date" 
question, she made no such attempt.  She just said "No."  Simplest 
explanation:  it doesn't MATTER which book or books the questioner is 
referring to.  The answer will be the same in any case.  "No."

Jim:
> I'm struck that it's RON who "doesn't know it yet," when we all
> thought Ron was the one that *did* know it.

Angua:
Yes, I'm struck by that as well, because it implies that Hermione 
*does* know it.  Which is how I've always interpreted Book 4, and is 
also what Harry says:

"he somehow thought that Hermione had gotten the point much better 
than Ron had."

*Who* thought that Ron *did* know it?  We R/Hers have always had the 
position that Ron still doesn't realize his own feelings, just as 
Harry implied.  We think Hermione *has* realized hers.

Jim:
> Not many people answered the first time I asked, but consider this: 
as
> an R/H'er, what would you consider to be the vindication of the R/H
> POV? An R/H romance in year 5, or another year, or a long term
> partnership/marriage?  As an H/H'er, I believe in nothing less than
> Harry and Hermione are excellently suited to be partners for life. 
> They both get and will get too much out of it to give it up.  I 
won't
> figure I was wrong about Harry and Hermione unless Ron and Hermione
> are together at the end of Book 7, assuming they all live that long.

Angua:
I can't pretend, even in my own mind, that these are real people with 
real futures.  What R/H means to *me* is that JKR has planned these 
books so that Ron and Hermione will be a romantic couple and Harry 
and Hermione will be platonic friends.  I do *not* believe that Harry 
and Hermione are "excellently suited to be partners for life" -- and 
I think it's abundantly clear in the books that they're not.  To be 
quite honest, I think that your idealistic romanticism in that regard 
is preventing you from reading these books as JKR intended them.  

Jim:
> R/H'ers and H/H'ers arrive at their opinions from different
> approaches, I believe.  R/H'ers look to canonical evidence and 
predict
> the future on the present, and interpret JKR's current intent as 
being
> her long-term intent as well; H/H'ers (at least this one) seek to 
look
> into the characters' hearts and minds as canon reveals them and 
decide
> that Harry and Hermione is destiny.  We're both giving full faith 
and
> credit to canon, but we're using it different ways; I believe our 
way
> is truer for the long run.

Angua:
Err, I'm not sure how to respond to this.  I, as an R/Her, am making 
a prediction about how the entire series of books will turn out, 
based on my observation of the patterns and clues JKR has given us, 
the foreshadowing she has used, and the genres of literature she has 
drawn from.  I don't actually believe that Harry, Ron, or Hermione 
have "hearts and minds" that I can somehow "look into".  I *do* 
believe that she is writing Ron and Hermione to be imperfect people 
who are perfect for each other (in a comedic way), and that she is 
preparing a similarly perfect partner for Harry (not necessarily 
comedic).

It is fairly easy for me to see the ways JKR has portrayed Hermione 
as NOT a suitable partner for Harry, and to hypothesize the qualities 
that the girl who IS a suitable partner for Harry will have.  She 
will be, for instance, less bossy and argumentative than Hermione is, 
and will have a subtler, more continuously-active sense of humor.  
She will be a better listener and less judgmental than Hermione is, 
and will be able to get Harry to confide in her about the feelings 
and fears he currently keeps secret from both Ron and Hermione.  
Harry will feel entertained and comforted around her in a way he does 
not feel with Hermione (see the Ron-Harry fight in GoF, for 
instance).  And Harry will find her far more sexually attractive than 
he finds Hermione.  

And, come on, let's state the obvious -- her name will be Ginny 
Weasley.


I will consider myself to be "vindicated" when the series ends, and 
Harry and Hermione are not partners, and are not stated to be 
partners in the epilogue.  Frankly, the platonic nature of the Harry-
Hermione friendship is the core of my prediction.  The non-platonic 
nature of the Ron/Hermione relationship is simply an entertaining 
secondary plot.  I actually *do* expect Ron and Hermione to 'get 
married and live happily ever after,' as the saying goes, but I don't 
think that's central to the books and I don't insist on it.  It is 
Harry who matters, after all.


Angua