Hermione's parents

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 103995

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...> 
wrote:
> On 1 Jul 2004 at 15:30, jjjjjuliep wrote:
> 
> In fact, I think in a book like the Harry Potter series which are 
> being read by so many kids, this type of thing is highly positive -
 
> because there's so much that various children can relate to from 
> their own lives. There are kids reading these books who come from 
> lousy homes - as Harry does. Kids reading these books who come 
from 
> poor homes - as Ron does. There are kids reading these books who 
> have never known their parents, and who are having to deal with 
the 
> trauma of losing someone they love. There are kids reading these 
> books who've always felt different from the norm.

Even if children have none of these particular problems, at a 
certain age they beging to grow up and start to consider the idea of 
independence, of themselves as separate individuals from their 
parents.  The HP books fit into a long line of children's books that 
help children visualize life apart from their elders.  Like the 
Railway Children, with a missing father and an overwhelmed mother - 
the children have to sort of fend for themselves, and the children 
who read the story vicariously stretch themselves by imagining life 
without grownups.  Consider the Narnia books - does anyone ever try 
to count how much time the Pevensey children spend with their own 
parents?  The adults barely enter into the story, because the whole 
adventure is something that happens to the kids, without mom and dad 
hovering in the background to take over if necessary.  

Wanda