Hermione and DU (was: CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 33 - Fight and Flight)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 119447


> > Vivamus replied:
> > 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 wasstupid 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.)   
> > 
> *snip*
> 
> > 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.

> 
> Tammy replies now:
> 
> I don't think Hermione is like DU. Umbridge is arrogant and
> self-serving. DU is a racist, plain and simple, which is what 
leads to her downfall with the centaurs. She expects them to 
realize they are "lower creatures" and to respect her higher 
status.<

Pippin:
The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles has two entrances. 
One is a door marked "Prejudiced" -- the other is marked 
"Non-prejudiced." The Non-prejudiced entrance is permanently 
sealed. I don't know if that could have inspired JKR's own locked 
door, but I think Hermione would feel uncomfortable walking 
through the "Prejudiced" entrance. 

Of course one point is that one of the things people are not 
open-minded about is whether they are open-minded. The other 
is that we all cling to our pre-conceived ideas. It's a survival
trait, IMO. Our ancestors wouldn't have lasted long in the jungle if 
they waited to see whether this particular tiger was dangerous 
before they reacted. Hagrid's absurd inability to be afraid of 
monsters is a playful reminder that fear of the abnormal isn't 
entirely bad.

Hermione differs from Umbridge in that she recognizes that 
prejudice can lead to bad choices. But they are equally the 
victims of the tendency to cling to pre-conceived ideas.When the 
House Elves or the Centaurs don't act the way Hermione expects 
them to, she behaves as if they'd made a mistake, not her.

I think the centaurs have a point, actually. Hermione would have 
been  as upset as they were if someone had dealt with a 
dangerous enemy by leading them toward Harry without so 
much as asking Harry whether he wanted to help. 

Pippin