Am I the only one... AND why Snape dislikes Hermione

[Nanagose at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 135062

>>Milz responds:
>>But let's look at the antidote. Way back in PS/SS, Rowling
>>teaches us the use of a bezoar.  Does Hermione retain that
>>information? No. A person who "really knows their stuff" will be able
>>to recall small details like that and apply that knowledge.  

Christina:
Are you kidding?  Expecting Hermione to remember what she learned on one 
particular day in Potions five *years* ago is a bit much; and I must say, I'm a 
bit surprised that you're using this as an example, considering that if there's 
one thing that I think we can all agree Hermione is good at, it's remembering 
things.

Also, we don't know for sure that Hermione "forgets" what a bezoar does--even 
if she knew what it was, why would she use it?  The point of the lesson was 
to synthesize an antidote to a particular poison-- Slughorn wanted his students 
to take their knowledge of Potions and use it to synthesize something new (a 
skill that you're denying Hermione has).  In my mind, Harry cheated.  He 
didn't complete the assignment at all.  He even points out that there's no way he 
would have tried offering the bezoar in Snape's class, and even Slughorn says, 
"an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!"  Slughorn is an easygoing 
professor and likes Harry, which is why he finds Harry's antidote amusing.  
However, when we look at the real task at hand, which is the application of 
knowledge to create something new, it is Hermione that comes the farthest in the 
class.  She is the only one that Harry describes even looking as though she 
has an idea of what she's doing, and she's the only one Harry describes as 
giving anything even close to a satisfactory result.

It's obvious that the sixth year at Hogwarts focuses on many things that are 
a step up from the usual book knowledge that we've seen drilled into the 
students so far--making their own antidotes in Potions, non-verbal spells in their 
other classes.  Nobody is saying Hermione is a genius, but she's still highly 
intelligent.  She might not have made up new inventions like the Weasley 
twins, but has she ever had to?  I'm not sure who said it, but somebody pointed out 
that the fact that she doesn't take any steps to remedy the obviously faulty 
instructions in her textbook shows that she can't think outside of her books, 
but I think that it just shows that she's never had to do anything like it 
before.  Snape always wrote correct formulas on the blackboard-- she's never had 
to question her instructions before, so why should she now?  From what we can 
see in the text, the students are just now starting to be expected to use real 
"intelligence."  With her progress in the Potions antidote class and her 
skill with nonverbal spells (she catches onto them faster than the other 
students), I'd say she's working up to her potential nicely.  She's certainly doing 
better than the other students in her classes.

The bottom line is, we need to remember that Hermione is still a child.  It's 
kind of amusing that we're talking about the Polyjuice Potion, considering 
that was something she did when she was *13* years old (but while we're on it, I 
would like to point out that even though she *is* brewing a potion that has 
already been invented, it is Hermione that thinks up the idea to use it; she 
was able to dig through her brain and pick out the most appropriate solution to 
her problem).  I realize nobody is saying that Hermione is dumb, but I think 
we should give her the respect that she is due.  There's more to her than the 
regurgitation of what she reads in books.  The Weasley twins are highly 
intelligent, and they're able to demonstrate this because they have the time and 
desire to tinker around with new ideas; they pretty much brush off the rest of 
their schoolwork.  They are also extremely creative.  There's no way we can say 
that Hermione could never come up with similar innovations if that's what she 
decided to put her energy into.

>>trevor:
>>Additionally Snape's treatment of Hermione in DADA shows his contempt for
>>memorization- but in five years he has never challenged anyone to do
>>anything else.  It seems that as a professor he sets up students to fail his
>>standards.

Christina:
You make some good points concerning Snape's abilities as a teacher, but I 
give him credit for the fact that he is smart enough to know the right way to 
brew Potions and teaches *that* to his students, rather than handing them a poor 
textbook and having them fail again and again.  Also, I've always attributed 
Snape's (general) dislike of Hermione partially to his feelings about James.  
A lot of people point to James as one of the reasons Snape treats Harry so 
badly, but I think we can use it for Hermione too.  James seems like a real 
show-off from what we see in OotP, and while Hermione has mellowed out a bit in her 
tendency to show-off, she still likes to display what she knows and is 
confident in her knowledge.  She's also Harry's friend, and we all know how Snape 
feels about Harry.  Add to that her place in Gryffindor, and Snape's dislike for 
her makes sense.  She's also extremely vocal in the class, so he has more 
opportunities to show outward dislike for her than he would if she sat in silence 
(like many other students do).


Christina


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