[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 33 - Fight and Flight

[Vivamus]

No: HPFGUIDX 119440

> > 3. Hermione's remarks to the centaurs nearly spell doom for her and
> Harry.  What does this say about her understanding of them?
> 
> Tina:
> Man, I just wanted Hermione to shut up!  With every word she 
> spoke it got worse and worse (kind of like Umbridge...).  She 
> has the book knowledge but clearly needs to work on her 
> understanding of applying some of that knowledge.

Vivamus:
Me too on wanting her to shut up, but isn't it interesting that she *didn't*
shut up?  How she did not respect the Centaurs enough to stop what she was
doing and think when they reacted badly?  I thought it was almost *exactly*
like Umbridge.  I wondered if perhaps JKR isn't making the point that there
isn't as much difference between the "good" and "bad" characters as our
fantasy-trained minds would have us believe.   Hermione is far more
intelligent than DU, but made the same stupid blunder (and it was stupid not
in a lack of understanding the Centaurs in the first place, but in not
shutting up and thinking when they reacted badly to the first statement.)   

To me, it shows that even the brightest and best have to tread carefully at
times, and even the best of intentions can cause bad things to happen, if
actions are not done with respect for others.  DU was a fairly simple
character, for all her power and abuses, so there isn't a whole lot we can
learn from her encounter with the Centaurs.  Hermione, as a much more
complex character, can show us more.  Remember how much trouble she caused
Harry by minding his business and doing his moral thinking for him?
Remember her deleting his potion?  Here is an example of Hermione, once
again, showing the same disrespect for other persons' free choices, and
potentially causings some very serious consequences.

She was rescued by very unlikely timing in the form of Grawp, but she almost
got herself and Harry killed (and may yet, if they have to go into the
forest again.  The Centaurs aren't likely to let their humiliation with
Grawp go by, and are likely to blame Harry and Hermione for it.)  I liked
the scene, because it showed a definite character flaw on the part of
"perfect" Hermione.   She is certainly bright enough to learn from it, but I
don't think she will.  She has a huge blind spot when it comes to other
people's freedom -- the house elves are a perfect example of that.  She
knows what is "best" for them and they do not.   She is going to give it to
them even if it gets everyone killed in a WW race war.  

In that respect, Hermione and DU are not all that different.  The question
for me is whether Hermione is going to learn to let other people make their
own choices.  I think she will by the end of the series, but only because I
think JKR really wants Hermione to mature into a healthy adult (well, I do,
too.)  But I don't think the encounter with the Centaurs was sufficiently
disastrous enough to get her attention.  In her own way, I think she is as
blind as Hagrid is about monsters -- and that may well be JKR's point.

Vivamus