Hermione's Hypocrisy?(was:Re: Kreacher - workable solutions?) (long)

[sophierom]

No: HPFGUIDX 129070

> > >>a_svirn:
> > <snip>
> > >As far as Sirius was concerned the best way Kreacher could have 
> > served him was to die quietly in the attic. And I must say I find 
> his 
> > attitude much more honourable than Hermione's hypocrisy.< 
> > <snip>
 
> > Betsy:
> > Hermione's hypocrisy? Huh? When was, or how was, Hermione ever 
> > hypocritical when it came to Kreacher?  I thought she was
actually 
> > really good at sticking to her principles in the face of some
rather 
> > ugly hostility.

a_svirn responded:
<snip>

> But I agree that "principles" is an operative word here. Hermione
is 
> not really kind to Kreacher. Still less she respects his feelings.
She 
> has a certain political agenda and is hell-bent on carrying it out. 
<snip> 
> 
> Now why such an astute and sensible girl would be so blind? The
answer 
> is simple – she doesn't give a damn about Kreacher. She is
neither 
> interested in him, nor does she even see him as a person. He is
just a 
> point in her agenda, or an object of her crusade. I find this
attitude 
> hypocritical. I think that Sirius's hatred is more honest. He might 
> not approve or empathize with Kreacher's feelings but he, at least, 
> acknowledges their existence. Hermione only acknowledges what he 
> SHOULD feel according to her theories and simply ignores the rest.  

Sophierom now:

a_svirn, I think you're right to point out Hermione's inability to
acknowledge Kreacher's true feelings and motivations.  However, I
strongly disagree that this means that "she doesn't give a damn about
Kreacher" or that she's being dishonest or hypocritical.  Instead, I'd
argue that Hermione is learning - slowly - how to be empathetic. I'd
say that there are three steps to becoming truly empathetic:

1.  I try to step into your shoes, as it were; I ask myself how I
would feel if I were in your position.
2.  I step back and try to understand how YOU actually feel in this
situation.
3.  Finally, I ask, WHY do you feel the way you do?

Hermione's only been able to make it to step one so far. Perhaps the
reason she makes excuses for Kreacher and "simply ignores" other
evidence is that she can't get beyond imagining how she'd feel if she
were in the house-elves' positions.  We already know from canon that
she is an independent thinker who is trying to assimilate into another
culture (wizarding culture) without losing her own identity.  So, I
think she feels akin to the house-elves, sees them as also having to
wrestle with identity.  Consider this exchange between Ron and
Hermione at the beginning of OotP:

**
"Who's Kreacher?" [Harry] asked.      
"The house-elf who lives here," said Ron.  "Nutter. Never met one like
him."   
Hermione frowned at Ron. "He's not a nutter, Ron - "
"His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a
plaque just like his mother," said Ron irritably.  "Is that normal,
Hermione?"
"Well - well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault -"
Ron rolled his eyes at Harry (OotP, Scholastic, 76).
**

I'd argue that Hermione steps up to defend Kreacher (and she continues
to do so, despite the fact that he calls her a Mudblood on several
occasions) because she knows what it's like to be thought of as a
"nutter" for not being "normal".  Granted, she can't understand
Kreacher's point of view, conceding to Ron that Kreacher "is a bit
strange," but the fact that she's standing up for him suggests she is
concerned about his feelings.  She doesn't understand his feelings;
Kreacher probably wouldn't care one bit if Ron - blood traitor that is
is - called him a nutter.  But from Hermione's point of view - from
the perspective of a "mudblood" who knows what it's like to be an
outsider - she feels it's important to make room for Kreacher's
behvaior, even if it doesn't make any sense to her.

I also think it's noteworthy that she says "It's not his fault."  On
the one hand, this is a very condescending way to look at what is
essentially Kreacher's cultural choices.  It's reminiscent of
Christian missionaries traveling to other parts of the world, pitying
other cultures for not sharing the same set of beliefs.  But, I can
almost hear Hermione defending herself here: "If I am a strange with
my Muggle views, it's not my fault - it's just who I am."  Obviously,
I'm taking a bit of a leap here, but I think if we look at Hermione's
entire character and not just her interaction with the house-elves, we
can begin to see a young woman who is grappling with issues of
identity and culture and who believes that she can understand the
house-elf plight because of her own struggles to fit into Wizarding
culture.  Note that we are first introduced to the term "mudblood" in
the same book (CoS) that introduces us to house-elves.  I don't think
this was coincidental.  

So, I don't think it's fair to label Hermione a callous hypocrite who
doesn't give a damn about the house-elves.  I think she's slowly
learning how to be empathetic.  At the age of 15, she's gotten to the
point where she can say, I understand how I would feel in this
situation.  I'd hate to be a house-elf, looked down upon and
mistreated because of who I am.  Therefore, they must want what I
want: my definition of respect and freedom. 

I think Hermione will learn, by the end of the series, how to take a
step back and ask herself, okay, what do the house-elves really want?
How do they really feel? Is there a way to reconcile their cultural
beliefs with the injustice of this situation (and come on folks, there
is injustice in the plight of the house-elves: Dobby was abused, Winky
was manipulated, and Kreacher was raised to believe that his Mistress
was his whole life ... in a series about free will and choice, I find
it difficult to believe that we're supposed to accept as blindly as
Ron does that house-elves should continue to have no choice in their
own futures).  Just because Hermione is only part way through her
training to be an empathetic young woman doesn't make her unfeeling;
it only makes her immature.

All the best,
Sophierom, who admits that she gets a little too worked up about this
topic, only because she feels that our current culture denigrates
idealism and activism and promotes apathy and conformity.  Go
Hermione! Fight the Man! :-D