[HPforGrownups] OOP: Hermione OOC

[rayheuer3 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 65009

flutterbyhex at yahoo.ca writes:

> Then when she meets them in the forest she get off on the wrong hoof 
> with them right away. I was shocked at her attitude when usually she 
> is very open minded about other creatures (werewolves, house elves) 
> is it because she is so close minded about divination?

It's fairly accepted in literature that all girls (and most women) love 
horses.  I think this is just another way of JKR reminding us that Hermione is NOT 
"all girls".  

Hermione despises Trelawny's method of divination because it is not logical, 
and relies so much on "smoke and mirrors" and, in many cases, fakery.  The 
centaurs' method of divination, from what little we've seen of it, concerns 
itself with great portents and trends of civilization, not with whether your future 
husband will be handsome and rich.  In addition, there seems to be a 
scientific basis to it, since it involves the study of the heavens.

The centaur's method of divination seems to be a form of astrology, which JKR 
has carefully avoided as a subject, but (to me) seems to be the only reason 
to teach Astronomy at a School of Magic (never hear about Civics or 
Trigonometry, do we?).  A friend of mine, a retired Physics professor, held Astrology in 
contempt, except to the extent that it was the way the great Astronomers of 
history put food on the table.

  --  Ray

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