JKR's Messages (was Re: Hermione In Trouble?)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 120717



> 
> SSSusan again:  I think these two seem to support what I was 
saying  upthread about Hermione (and Harry):  that the 
INTENTION of the  person matters when evaluating her/his 
actions.  JKR sees the trio  as "innately good," making their own 
choices, trying to do the right  thing.  I think this means JKR isn't 
especially likely to think that  Hermione needs a comeuppance 
or punishment for her behaviors to date.<

Pippin:

I'm not sure I agree. For one thing, Hermione has already had 
some comeuppances. The potion she made with stolen 
ingredients turned her into a cat-creature , and her attempt to sic 
the centaurs on Umbridge put her in mortal fear. I bet she will 
think twice before using the xenophobia of others as a weapon 
again.

Both incidents use the human/beast metaphor which FBAWTFT 
makes explicit: the difference between a Being and a Beast is 
not intelligence or moral sense but the agreement to be 
governed by laws. Those who think there are universal moral 
laws and all right thinking people know what they are, (and thus 
no social contract is necessary) are probably not going to think 
the books are moral books, because that doesn't seem to be the 
point of view put forward. 

With Hermione, I think what JKR wants to show us  is how easy 
it is to do the wrong thing *even when* one's intentions are good. 
I think Hermione was as wrong to punish Marietta the way she 
did as Umbridge was to use the quill on Harry; in both cases the 
argument is less that punishment was undeserved as that it 
was secret, cruel and unusual. 


Pippin