Hermione, compassion and logic (was Hermione's growth)

[caesian]

No: HPFGUIDX 105671

Jim Ferer  wrote:
<snip> 
> HERMIONE LEARNS COMPASSION
> 
> Hermione wasn't the best one to take troubled feelings to, was she?
> Anything that didn't fit her "mind over matter" mindset was dismissed.
> As late as PoA her "rational" side got the better of her when
> Lavender's rabbit was killed, although she cared enough about Lavender
> to at least look anxious.  I would really like to know the
> soul-searching Hermione went through after that.
> 
> Hermione's changed since then. She's smart enough to learn that people
> who deny emotions aren't being rational, and she sees suffering and
> injustice and is moved by it. By GoF, she is moved enough by Winky's
> suffering and the injustice of house-elves that she does something
> about it.
> 
> Later, we see Hermione's compassion towards Neville. Hermione is wiser
> now, and more sensitive. If a situation like the death of Lavender's
> rabbit happened now, she'd handle it differently. Hermione has grown.
> 

heynorty replied:

In so much has her vaunted S.P.E.W. campaign, while is displays a
certain sense of compassion. I would say it does not display any
real empathy for the house elves or their particular situation. I
view it has a very top down, almost condescending treatment. She is
in essance saying look, you are too stupid to realize that you are
slaves. So I shall be the one to free you. 

<sniped>In addition, her stunt with the Centuars does not earn her any points with them 
as well. She just assumed they would help her, even though they tried to kill Harry and her 
only a day ago. He comment of "I never liked horses" about Firenze is a telling one as well.

So yes, while I would say she seems to be a more rounded person. I
don't see her really ever changing herself or growing in any
meaningful way. I hasten to add, that this might change by book 7
and there will be a whole new light shed on the subject.

Caesian replies:
I have enjoyed reading this thread from Jim's excellent beginning post.  And while I agree 
that Hermione is a compassionate person (and always has been, even when she was on the 
path to prig-dom), the ways in which she is able to express her compassion will always be 
determined by who she is.  Her treatment of Neville is an excellent example of Hermione's 
brand of compassion - smart, rationale and based on the complexity of her understanding 
of the situation.  For example, it is no coincidence that "mimublus mimbletonia" became 
the new Gryffindor password as soon as Hermione was named a prefect.  On the other 
hand, when she doesn't fully understand a situation, for example with the house elves, she 
continues to base her compassion on logical reasoning, even when it's obvious she's 
working from incorrect assumptions.  Why can't she self-correct?  Because she can't 
understand, logically, why she's wrong.  If it's not reasonable, she doesn't handle it very 
well.

It's no surprise that Hermione can't stand Luna Lovegood.  But, it's also no surprise that 
after the Death of Sirius, at the end of Order of the Pheonix, Hermione can't help Harry 
with the core of what he's dealing with.  She just looks at him anxiously, and probably 
arranges things in the periphery of his situation, letting him be, shushing Ron, etc.  Luna, 
by contrast, helps Harry by getting at what he's really dealing with.  Why is Luna so much 
more adequate in this situation than Hermione?  Precisely because she isn't driven by the 
rational.  Luna is able to help Harry - with his sadness, loss and those things not based on 
logic or reasoning - because she understands those things better than Hermione does, 
and she can understand Harry's irrational pain.  (Just to be clear, I'm saying you can't talk 
someone out of grief, not that to be grieved by the death of a loved on is not perfectly 
reasonable - it's just not a situation based on, or dealt with adequately by, logic.)  

Hermione has been less and less able to follow where Harry is going - through loss and 
emotional turmoil.  In OotP, Hermione could only appeal to Harry's rationale side.  She told 
him over and over to be reasonable, and to be calm.  I liked that, and I did want him to 
stop freaking out (I am myself very much like Hermione).  She did it with dignity and she 
avoided the rational person's pitfall of overwhelming frustration.  She's all action and 
planning.  She sees problems, and reasons a smart solution (such as with the article in the 
Quibbler).  

I'm not saying she's Dr. Spock.  Her emotions can get the better of her -e.g. her behavior 
during her vendetta against Rita Skeeter in GoF.  Her defense of Hagrid is fierce and not 
always rational.  And, most glaring, she's loyal to the point of following Harry to the MoM 
despite her belief that going is not reasonable.  She acts on emotion, she has emotions, 
and she values them to the point of making things like loyalty and friendship high rational 
priorities.  She just doesn't understand emotional motivations very well - and she tends to 
do everything from a rational, planned framework when she's not flustered or panicked.

I think Hermione's role in the trio is essential, but she is not a mirror or foil for any other 
character.  She's not there to complement anyone else, or to be a perfect embodiement of 
some principle.  Her role is changing as much because of circumstance as through her 
own growth.  I sense too that a change is coming in our ability to rely on Hermione's point 
of view as the situation becomes more and more complicated.  Early in the series, 
Hermione's interpretation is almost always correct.  Now, things are getting harder to 
reason out, more knowledge is required than she possibly can have, but she's still 
reasoning based on the partial information she has.  It's great, I love it.  But, I sense that 
her reasons and explanations are more and more serving as good cover.  More often, she's 
leading us away from realizing the truth, because her explanations sound so good, and 
she's so often been right in the past.  Her comments, when the trio process new 
information, are often diversions that obscure.  To give an example, when Harry recounts 
Barty Crouch Sr.'s comments in the Forest, about his son, how it was "all my fault".  And 
Hermione snaps, "Well, that was his fault".  She obscures the meaning, by focusing the 
reader's attention on the wrong interpretation.  Many facts in the last 2 books have been 
filtered through Hermione's reasoning, and some of the trio's conclusions are certainly 
wrongheaded as a result.

Caesian