Is Hermione Supposed to be a Genius?

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 94490

Robert Jones wrote:
> They also make Hermione out to be a genius.  And I want to object 
> to that now.  Hermione is definitely the best student in school, 
> but I think it is just a matter of her "bookish" interests, not 
> that she is the greatest witch of her generation.

Del :
You're making a classic mistake : opposing cleverness to study. Just 
because you love to study doesn't mean you don't have a big IQ.

Robert :
> Maybe all the magic stuff came naturally to James and Sirius,

Del :
Not so naturally, no. They had to *study* for *3 years* before they 
got the Animagus charm down.

Robert :
> but Hermione studies all the time and is always running off to the 
> library whenever there is a question.

Del :
She goes to the library because she's clever enough to figure out 
that maybe someone else has the answer to her question so she 
doesn't have to reinvent the wheel each time she's got a problem !

Robert :
> But that does not mean she has a particularly great IQ or 
> magical IQ — it is just how she handles things.
> 
> She just likes school and learning.  In POA, she was jealous of 
> Ron's vacation in Egypt because of what she could have learned 
> there

Del :
What makes you think that she meant *only* theoretical stuff ? She 
might very well have been looking forward to learning practical 
stuff as well.

Robert :
> and rewriting her essay from what she learned in France.  And she 
> took every class in Book 3 and nearly studied herself to death.
> 
> And it doesn't mean she is necessarily that great at "practical" 
> magic.

Del :
We mustn't be reading the same books.
1. Hermione is constantly using charms to make her and her friends' 
life easier (making the snow melt, making Harry's glasses repel 
water, etc...).
2. She's not just *reading* those damn books, she's actually 
*applying* what she learns in them. And she's done that right from 
the beginning : in PS/SS, on the Hogwarts Express ride to school, 
she says she tried a few spells she found in the school books.
3. Everyone agrees that the spell she put on the Galleons she gives 
to the DA members is a very advanced spell, NEWT level. And what 
about the jinx she put on Marrietta ? It was so powerful that 
Marrietta had to keep it for days, because nobody could figure out 
how to cure her.
4. She's doing so well in Flitwick's and McGonagall's classes that 
Harry actually has fun comparing his and Ron's results with 
Hermione's. Remember the very first time this happened, the 
whole "Wingardium Leviosa" matter : she got it right the very first 
time.
5. She's Harry's *trainer* for the TWT ! They look up charms and 
jinxes in books, she learns them, and then she teaches them to Harry.

Robert :
> She certainly has advanced since the end of Book 1 where she 
> did not know what to do about the Devil's Snare until Harry told 
> her 

Del: 
You're mixing up 2 very different things : knowing how to do 
something, and thinking of doing it when needed. I know that I must 
not brake when driving on the ice, but I still do it. I lose my 
nerve and my head, and so does Hermione.

Robert :
> and she dismissed her own school work as "books!" 
> and "cleverness."  

Del :
She's trying to explain to Harry that what they need to learn from 
him is how to keep cool in the face of danger and how to react fast 
and accurately. And she's right to say that she can't learn that in 
books.
Moreover, I always had a problem with Hermione belonging to the DA. 
As far as I can remember, the *only* charm Harry knows and Hermione 
doesn't is the Patronus Charm. Everything else, she already knows, 
since she *taught* them to him !

Robert :
> (Incidentally, studies of valedictorians in the USA show that they 
> do not do any better after school either in business or socially 
> than others — they just could "do school" well.)

Del :
That's precisely what Hermione is trying to learn from Harry : how 
to make good use of everything she knows (theoretical and practical)
in tense, stressful situations.

Robert :
> But that does not mean she is a genius.  And she did make two big 
> mistakes in OOTP : the hats she is knitting can't free the House 
> Elves and she left the DA list in the Room of Requirement for 
> Umbridge to find.  (I've discussed those in other posts.)

Del :
Concerning the hats, she's letting her emotions get the best of her 
reasoning. Nobody ever said that geniuses can't be blinded by their 
emotions. That would be the Vulcan view of geniuses, not the human 
one.
As for the DA list, I believe it wouldn't have changed anything even 
if she had taken it with her : Umbridge *needed* that list, so it 
showed up in the RoR, that's perfectly logical, and Hermione 
couldn't have done anything against that.

Robert :
> I think JKR said it best in an interview in Time magazine a couple 
> of years ago:  "Hermione is me, near enough.  A caricature of me 
> when I was younger.  I wasn't that clever.  But I was that 
> annoying on occasion.

Del :
Re-read the last 2 sentences. To me they clearly mean : "I wasn't as 
clever as Hermione, but I was as annoying." So unless I say JKR is 
dumb, I can't say Hermione isn't very intelligent.

Robert :
> Girls are very tolerant of her because she is not an 
> uncommon female type — the little girl who feels plain and hugely 
> compensates by working very hard and wanting to get everything 
> just so."

Del :
Once again : working hard is not opposite to being a genius. In 
fact, being a genius who doesn't work won't get you far. But being a 
genius who works hard can turn you into a very powerful witch/wizard 
indeed.
By the way, do you think that Tom Riddle, who was a genius and a 
very powerful wizard, didn't work hard to become LV ? Wrong. He says 
so himself : he had to immerse himself in the study of the Dark Arts 
for years.

I do think that Hermione is very very intelligent (call that a 
genius if you want), and I applaud her for not taking the easy route 
(getting good enough marks just because she's smart), but rather 
apply those brains to study. They are at school after all, aren't 
they ?

Del