In defense of Hermione (was: Almost normal)

[sophierom]

No: HPFGUIDX 115412


Kneasy wrote near the end of a really great analysis of Ron:

> Is Jo trying to tell us something? R.B.Weasley - walking disaster
area with a target on his back? I  hope not; he deserves a break -
even if it's because he's the
only kid in his year that reads as half-way close to being your
average  teenager. The rest are a right collection of wierdos and
misfits. Personally I'd rather see Ron survive than Harry. And if he
can escape death maybe he can escape Hermione too.
> 
> Now that's what I'd call a happy ending.


Sophierom:

Ah, if only you could be as sympathetic to Hermione's character as you
are with Ron's! Delightful analysis of Ron, by the way.  But, I feel
compelled to stick up for Hermione.  So, please, forgive me for this
poor imitation of your analysis, applied instead to Hermione Granger:

An only child of apparently loving muggle dentists (though JKR toyed
with the idea of a younger sister for HG, she apparently decided to
drop the idea -Lexicon), Hermione has probably been given a great deal
of support for her mental and intellectual development, but not
necessarily for her social development.  She comes to Hogwarts knowing
about but not understanding the wizarding world.  Unable to rely on
anecdotal or personal experience about wizards and witches (unlike Ron
with his large pureblood family), she goes to books to help her
adjust.  

But she quickly learns that books alone cannot tell her what she needs
to know in order to adapt.  They may tell her how to fix Harry's
glasses or how to answer her teachers' questions (even on the first
day of class), but they do not teach her how to interact with others.
 During her couple years at Hogwarts, she has to learn these lessons
the hard way: she learns that friendship, loyalty, and courage are
more important and bigger than grades, knowledge for its own sake, and
school standing (troll incident, search for stone, speech to Harry
just before he faces Quirrell!Mort).  She doesn't learn to let go of
her obsession with achievement and rules, but she has at least learned
to a bit more about her priorities in life.  

She also learns that for some people, her birth and family are more
important than her abilities (Malfoy calling her a mudblood in CoS). 
This understanding puts Hermione in a difficult situation.  She knows
that she is smart and capable, but others refuse to acknowledge this
fact simply because of who her parents are. As JKR put it on her web
site: "I think I was seen by other people as a right little
know-it-all, but I hope that it is clear that underneath Hermione's
swottiness there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" 
(web site, Extra Stuff, Characters).  

Although she learns important social lessons in the first few books,
she's still learning about how to interact with others.  When she sees
the poor treatment of house elves in the early part of GoF, she wants
to help.  As someone who's faced discrimination herself, as someone
who knows what it's like to be treated like dirt because she was,
quite simply, born, Hermione cannot stand to see the house elves
mistreated.  Yet, she doesn't know how to approach the matter in a
constructive way.  She tries to force others to accept her values, and
while I believe that she really does have something to teach the
wizarding world (racism and discrimination are stupid and cruel,
whether it comes in the form of muggle-killings, mistreatment of house
elves, or epithets like mudblood), she does it in the wrong way.  She
seems to realize that the forced approach won't work by OotP, but she
goes on another wrong path by trying to manipulate the house elves. 
She obviously has more to learn in this matter, but she is, after all,
a socially awkward 15 year old.  I'd be surprised if she had it all
figured out.  

She is, however, starting to understand a little more about human
nature.  She knows she's smart and has some good ideas, but she also
knows she doesn't have the charisma to lead people.  Hence, the birth
of DA. She works with Harry to get it started, providing him with the
idea, the encouragement, and the role of leader.  DA would be nothing
without Harry - he's the one people want to follow and learn from. But
it would never have begun without Hermione, who is not only the
"brains" behind the idea, but the organizer, as well.  Of course, as
Lupin points out, she has some things to learn about being sneaky (I
think it's Lupin who points out that the Hogs Head was not hte best
place for a first meeting).  But, her good ideas (not only to start
the DA, but also the coin communication) insure that DA is a success.
 And why does she do this? Not to be a show-off, but in order to
prepare for what she knows is coming - the war.  She may be a bossy
little know-it-all during classes; she may nag Ron and Harry about
studying for OWLs; but she's learned enough about herself to know that
defense is too important to follow some arbitrary authority
(Umbridge), and it's too important for pride (she's relatively modest
and subdued in the DA, making sure that Harry is the authority in that
situation; not the bossy girl we see in Book I.)

One of Hermione's best traits is the flip side of one of her worst. 
Her willingness to tell people what they need to hear (namely Harry)
is really the better face of her social awkwardness.  In this respect,
she's rather like Ron's foil.  Ron makes Harry feel comfortable: his
family becomes Harry's extended family; Ron is sympathetic to Harry's
troubles, whether they be trivial - like finishing Divination homework
- or serious –Ron never questions Harry about stopping
Occlumency, and when Harry wants to rush off to save Sirius, Ron
doesn't try to get him to calm down and think before acting.
Indeed,
when Harry begins shouting at Hermione, Ron's response is a "quietly"
said, "He's got a point." (OotP, Am. ed., 732)

Hermione, on the other hand, rarely allows Harry to fall into that
comfort zone.  This can be annoying - homework planner - or it can be
insightful - don't give up on Occlumency, don't rush to action before
thinking about why this is happening.  Even when her advice upsets
Harry (firebolt, POA or cautioning about Sirius, OotP), she says it
because she Harry needs to hear it.  By OotP, she's not throwing
this advice in his face; she's actually trying to tell him
politely,
even timidly: "Looking frightened yet determined," Hermione
tells
Harry, "This isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do 
 sort
of

 I mean – don't you think you've got a bit of a
– a – saving people
thing [italics]?" (OotP, Am. ed., 733).  Bossy Hermione has turned
timid! But only in her speech patterns.  In her message, she's
"determined." She's not being self righteous here,
she's not trying to
force Harry into accepting her point of view. She's only trying
to get
him to listen, to calm down and think about things.  Although Hermione
isn't successful in getting Harry to realize what LV is up to, she
does at least get him to take a little time before he rushes off to
the MoM.  Imagine if Hermione hadn't stopped Harry early on.  He'd
have rushed off to the MoM with only Ron and Hermione at his side.  No
one would have known where they went, not even Snape, so he couldn't
have alerted the Order.  True, Sirius wouldn't have died, but Harry
would have, and that, my friends, would be the end of the story.
Hermione's thinking during this section isn't flawless; her forbidden
forest idea almost backfires on them. But she makes sure that a
completely disaterous situation was only mostly disaterous.

I think, as Harry matures, he's going to come to appreciate both Ron's
easy acceptance and willingness to follow and Hermione's tough advice
and questioning nature.  The two friends provide balance, so long as
he learns to realize when to think and when to act.  

Hermione is not a perfect character, by any means.  But, like all of
the main characters in this series, she is dynamic and she is
evolving.  She's not the same bossy girl we saw in the first book. 
She's slowly learning to interact with others, and I think she's going
to learn when and what battles to fight and how to fight them without
alienating her support base.  I'm not a major shipper, but IMHO, we
should hope Ron does not escape Hermione, as Kneasy suggests.  These
two have some things to teach each other, just as they both have
things to teach Harry.  Ron would be fortunate to have someone like
Hermione at his side, especially as she matures and grows as a
character; likewise, I think Hermione would benefit from having
someone like Ron as a partner.  

Sophierom, who admires Hermione a great deal because I was once a
smart, bossy girl; but unlike Hermione, who's toning it down without
losing her identity, I completely folded under social pressure during
middle and high school and am only now learning to assert myself
again.