OOP: Boys & Girls in the Potter World

[susannacedric]

No: HPFGUIDX 67190

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kiricat2001" <Zarleycat at a...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> 
> > So Ladies, how about Hermione and Cho? Did JKR capture the 
essense 
> of
> > the teenage girl for you?
> > 
> 
> I thought Cho was fine, being a bundle of emotions, still dealing 
> with Cedric and having that attitude that some teenage girls (and 
> some women have) that, of course, the guy is going to know exactly 
> what is going on in her mind, and it will be his fault if he screws 
> up!
> 
> Hermione is 15 going on 45. She is a smart cookie, book-wise, and 
has 
> a good understanding of how Ron and Harry think. But, she has a 
> special relationship with them. We haven't seen her in a 
> boyfriend/girlfriend situation yet. Viktor doesn't count. 
> 
> What I find a bit off-putting about her is that she seems blessed 
> with very precise insights on lots of people, including adults, 
that 
> I find a little too precocious for someone of her age. I read 
> someplace that JKR uses either Dumbledore or Hermione to present 
the 
> reader with important explanatory information.  So, we have 
Hermione 
> giving pithy one-sentence summaries that effectively highlight key 
> elements of the characters (see her statements about Sirius). Her 
> reads on characters are often correct - she just seems too young 
with 
> too little life experience and relationship experience to have 
quite 
> the level of understanding that she's presented as having.
> 
> Did that make sense?
> 
> Marianne

I personally love the fact that JKR has written Hermione as a strong 
person who doesn't define herself and her self worth according to the 
typical rules. True, most girls, like Cho are very girlish and 
insecure and need other people's approval, but Hermione will have 
none of that! And now Ginny seems to develop into a person with a 
strong sense of integrity aswell. In many ways both Ginny and 
Hermione are similar. And always when a girl is assertive it is seen 
as something bad. but I think that maybe JKR is writing them from her 
own life, more like she is or would want to be and less like 
girls 'should' be. She named her daughter after a strong, brave woman 
who knew what she wanted. True, the main character is a boy and his 
male friends, but the girls closest to them are definetly no sissies.


Susanna Cedric