Evil Hermione Was:Re: Evil Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154882

Julie wrote:
> <snip>It's a fact that the  brain in both an emotional and logical
sense is not completely developed at 15, 16  or even 18 or 19.
Teenagers do *not* think the same way adults do.  (Fact.) A teenager
does not understand all the ramifications of their actions in the same
way an adult does. A teenager is more likely to make rash decisions
based on emotions like anger and fear, to react rather than to think
things out. (Fact.) There's a reason teenagers can't vote,  aren't
allowed to drink, have limited driving rights, etc--and can't 
apparate yet in the WW.

Carol responds:
UK teenagers reach majority at 18, I believe. In most U.S. states, to
my knowledge, young people can drive at 16, vote (and marry?) at 18,
and drink at 21, rather odd sequence of increasing responsibilities
based on at least the perception of limited maturity. And certainly,
we do see limited maturity in many RL teenagers, whatever the cause.
Look, for example, at the driving records of teenage boys. There's a
reason their auto insurance premiums are so high, at least in the U.S.
I don't know anything about the brain development of teenagers, but I
have enough RL experience to know that you're right about teenagers
not thinking like adults. Whatever the physiology of their brains, and
I'm sure you've done your research and know what you're talking about,
they often lack the experience to fully understand, or to fully
anticipate, the consequences of their actions.

That's not to say that they aren't responsible for their errors in
judgment and that they shouldn't take responsibility for the
consequences of their actions, whether that involves breaking rules
(HRH throughout the books), rushing to the MoM to rescue someone who
isn't really in danger or casting an unknown spell marked "for
enemies" (Harry), breaking the law and endangering other students
(Draco), deliberately bullying another student (James and Sirius),
sending another student to face a werewolf (Sirius), inventing a
dangerous spell (Severus), or making a wrong choice (Marietta obeying
Umbridge and herr mother by turning in her fellow students--I'm still
not sure, BTW, that Marietta believed that Voldemort was back or she
might have acted differently), or putting a nasty hex on a piece of
parchment without telling people what they're signing. All of the
students on this list are responsible for their choices and actions,
and the consequences of their choices and actions, whether those
actions are sins or mistakes or crimes. In theory, at least, all of
them should face the natural or logical consequences of those actions.
Certainly, they should acknowledge responsibility if the consequences
get out of hand--and they should not get off the hook if the
consequences are averted. (Sirius, for example, is very lucky that
Severus wasn't bitten by a werewolf; Draco is very lucky that Ron and
Katie were saved; Harry is very lucky that Draco was saved--directly
or indirectly by Snape in all cases, but I won't go there).

These kids aren't ten or eleven years old, and even if they were,
they'd be old enough to face the consequences. That's what life is all
about. But they're not adults, either. They lack the experience and
the maturity either to anticipate the consequences or to control their
impulses or to overcome the fear of punishment or, in general, to act
as a mature adult would act. It's harsh and unrealistic to judge any
of them by the standards we'd apply to, say, Peter Pettigrew (setting
aside the murder of twelve Muggles and sending a friend to Azkaban for
his own crimes and considering only the betrayal of the Potters and
his fellow Order members. And, of course, there's the magnitude of the
crime as well. Pettigrew knew full well that the information he
provided could and would send those people to their deaths.)
>
Julie:  
> I am NOT saying youth absolves Draco or Marietta of their bad 
decisions or wrong-doings. But their very immaturity does affect how
well they are able to make decisions and truly understand the
ramifications of those decisions. It's enough for courts to generally
give teenagers a break, and for me to cut them *some* slack over their
decisions. After all, we've done that for James and Sirius--
recognizing that teenagers can change from real berks to decent adult
by lieu of maturing. 

Carol responds:
Exactly. If age is an extenuating circumstance for James and Sirius
and Harry and Hermione, it's an extenuating circumstance for Marietta
and Draco and teen!Severus. They are all fifteen- or sixteen-year-old
kids. Not one of them has the experience to judge from an adult
perspective.

Even adults make mistakes, some of us rather frequently. If we're
mature, we try to recognize our mistakes and learn from there. We
acknowledge our mistakes and our misdemeanors; we admit responsibility
when we do the wrong thing; and we make reparations when we can if
reparations are called for. Or at least we should do so and know that
we should.

The kids in the HP book are still finding their way to adulthood;
still making the inevitable mistakes of young people with little or no
moral guidance; still, sometimes, choosing the wrong path. I think
that JKR wants them to learn from their mistakes. It's disturbing,
however, that one of the group (Marietta) seems to be punished
permanently while the others are given at least a second chance. If
Draco should be shown mercy, so, surely, should Marietta.

I hope for Marietts' sake and JKR's sake and the sake of JKR's many
child readers that the SNEAK hex, which has long since outlasted its
purpose, is not permanent. And I hope for Hermione's sake that she
realizes that the punishment exceeds the crime, that she has exceeded
her own authority as judge and jury of her fellow teenagers, and that
she makes reparations by unhexing Marietta. I see no other way for JKR
to show that even her main characters, her kid heroes, must take
responsibility for the actions and the consequences of those actions
to the extent that those consequences are their own fault. (I don't
mean, for example, that Harry is responsible for Pettigrew's actions
when he saves Pettigrew's life.)

Carol, noting that the arbitrary decision of the WW to make seventeen
the age of majority should not, IMO, make a difference in the way we
judge these characters but still wondering whether Draco was sixteen
or seventeen when he faced Dumbledore on the tower