Hermione's growth (was Why Ron Loves Hermione)

[hermionegallo]

No: HPFGUIDX 81714


David wrote regarding Hermione:

She presumes to direct Harry's love life without checking whether he 
wants her to.  She confidently explicates Cho's feelings without any 
sense that it might be good for Harry to verify her opinions by 
seeking Cho's own view.  She dismisses Firenze.  She rewrites the 
rules of her bargain with Rita Skeeter, just because it suits her.  
She decides what Sirius thinks of Harry, and has the cheek to assume 
that Sirius' support of an idea is a counter-recommendation.
 
Kneazle responds:

Hermione does not direct Harry's love life. I thought she was rather 
neutral about the whole thing. She does not comment on who Harry 
should be dating, only explains the situation to an extremely 
flummoxed Harry.

She dismisses Firenze in response to Lavender and Parvati's girlish 
squealing over the centaur. She is dismissive of Lavender and 
Parvati, not Firenze.

She rewrites her agreement with Rita to aid in a WAR. And incidently 
helps Rita as well get back into journalism, forcing her into writing 
the most important article of her career.   

Finally, Sirius is generally wrong about everything in this book. It 
is a counter-recommendation.  Sirius does appear to see Harry as the 
second coming of James and actaully gets angry at Harry for not being 
James at one point.  She has every reason to be suspicous of Sirius. 
He's a bit mad in OoTP.

David wrote regarding Hermione:

Most tellingly to my mind, she makes no effort whatsoever to check 
whether her elf clothes are having the desired effect.  This is a 
cause that is supposedly dear to her heart, into which she puts a 
great deal of effort.  Yet she simply does not test herself and the 
world around her.  She has lost interest in rigorously finding out 
and discerning what the evidence is really telling her.

Kneazle responds:

This is an expression of Hermione's weakness that she has had all 
along. She can be insensitive other people's feelings when they 
contradict her logic. I don't think this is arrogance. More like 
blindness. It reminds me of the scene in GoF where she tears apart 
Lavender over the dead bunny and Trelawney's prediction. She simply 
doesn't see that Lavender is upset of the death of a pet.

David wrote regarding Hermione:

Much has been made of Harry being the typical teenager in his 
anger.  But Hermione has become a typical teenager of a different 
kind. The word that comes to mind is 'arrogant'.

Kneazle responds:

She needs practice with empathy and that is common enough with 
teenagers. That does not make her arrogant.