[HPforGrownups] Re: Ghosts / Hermione & parents /

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 102494

On 22 Jun 2004 at 20:36, (Mrs.) Lee Storm (God Is The  wrote:

> Ah--we come to the crux of the matter...semantics!

Precisely! 

> [Lee]:
> I always see estrangement distancing as well as losing ability to
> love...estranged spouses, etc.  I see more a situation where a separating is
> occurring.
> 
> Let's say you've got an average-intelligence parent who has a super-genius
> daughter.  That little gal is going to find herself separating from the
> parent, drifting, perhaps, into a world of intelligence which the parent can
> try to understand but can't really.  And, so, there's a separation...but I
> wouldn't call it an estrangement.

Well, I would call it that, and I do. I work with profoundly gifted 
children, and that is a situation I've had to deal with more than 
once.

Estrangement is the term we use in this situation, which is why I 
used it. It may not be the best term, but I can't think of a better 
one. Separation doesn't work for me.
 
> You're right, Shaun, we do see the word in different lights.  According to
> my dictionary, the word estrange means: "To alienate the affections or
> confidence of." So, again, I don't see an alienation of affection here.
> |

Well, the dictionary I use (Oxford, in this case The Australian 
Pocket Oxford is closet to hand) defines estrangement as: 
alienation from another. Alienation is 'being made to feel seperate 
from society'. It can involve a loss of affection - it doesn't have 
to.

> 
> | I'm not, for a moment, suggesting that Hermione doesn't love her
> | parents, or vice versa. If she didn't love them, she probably
> | wouldn't care about them understanding she is a prefect - but her
> | life is different from theirs, in a way that they cannot
> | understand. It's a different world, with different rules. And that
> | is likely to create barriers even in the most loving family.
> 
> [Lee]:
> Same can be said for kids who go to college and the parents who might stay
> back on a rural farm never having done the college thing.

Yes, it can. The situation is not unique to the Wizarding World by 
any means - it's just that is what is involved in Hermione's case. 
That is the point of division in her case.
 
> I tend to think the word "detaching" holds here more than "estrange", but
> I'll take a look in the dictionary, if I have more time.

I wouldn't use detaching because that implies a deliberate 
separation to me and I'm not sure it's deliberate - it could be. 
But I think it's more just something that has happened.

Like I say, estrangement might not be the best word - but I'm not 
claiming there's a lack of love shown.

I just think Hermione and her parents are in very different worlds 
and that's creating some problems.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia