Another angle on Hermione's parents

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 175198

Leah wrote:   
> It not only stopped the grief for them, it stopped their feelings of
love and pride in Hermione, which yes, is a loss for 
> her, but far more of a loss for them.  <snip> If those parents lost
their child, I can't believe they would want to forget him/her
completely. Hermione has a power which her parents do not have and she
uses it over them without their knowledge or consent.  This does not
sit well with the girl who wished to liberate house-elves from being
lorded over by wizards.   
 
> I don't think, by the way, that we are intended to view Hermione 
actions in the way I do.  I think they are meant to be praiseworthy,
and when I first read them, I interpreted them exactly as you do, and
was moved by her loss, and so was my daughter, with whom I discussed
this.  It was only on reflection that I thought, what does this
actually mean, what has she actually done to her parents?   I do think
she loves and wants to protect her parents, she just has no right to
abuse her powers in the way she did.  I don't know if this is because
JKR has not thought it through, or she has thought it through and
continues to think the behaviour ok.  <snip>

Carol responds;

Hermione's problem throughout the books is that she always thinks that
she has the right answer and she takes things into her own hands,
whether it's trying to free the house-elves, get revenge on Rita
Skeeter, "protect" the DA from a traitor, or protect her parents from
DEs. Whatever her method, her motive for the last can't be questioned,
but once again she's taking things into her own hands without asking
the people involved in her plans whether they want or require her
help. My question, not yet answered because I haven't explored it to
my own satisfaction, is whether our "insufferable know-it-all" learns,
as part of her growing up in this last book of the series, that
Hermione doesn't always know best. It's like a "saving people thing"
involving intellect, her own, rather than action (a la Harry).

Even after Hermione gets a lesson in house-elf psychology from
Kreacher, she still wants to free the house-elves. It's hard for her
to accept that anyone else might be right and she might be wrong (a
common failing among intelligent adolescents). Hermione does learn at
least one lesson in DH when her skepticism regarding the Deathly
Hallows is shown to be mistaken and the ludicrously eccentric and
rather cowardly Xenophilius Lovegood is proven to be right. Xenophilus
calls her "not unintelligent but painfully limited. Narrow.
Close-minded" (DH Am. ed. 410). Certainly, he and Luna represent the
opposite extreme, willing to believe anything, but there's some
justice in this characterization. I think it's good that she goes
along with *Ron's* plan to destroy the cup Horcrux and realizes that
she's not the only one who can think creatively. And certainly, she
sees that intellect alone can't save her and her friends from
Fiendfyre. So has she changed or would end-of-the-book Hermione still
take charge of her helpless Muggle parents without giving them any say
in the matter? (We can't know how her parents feel about the matter;
would they feel that her action was "gallant" or inexcusably manipulative?

Hermione at this stage sees herself (with reason) as a member of a
persecuted minority like house-elves and goblins. But she also sees
herself (like the young Dumbledore and the young Severus Snape) as a
member of a powerful group possessed of the ability to do magic and
therefore superior to the Muggles she's striving to protect. Their
lives are as valuable as her own, but their rights, perhaps, are not.
By protecting them against death and torture, she deprives them of the
right to choose. It's a variation on Magic Is Might with magic to be
used "for the greater good"." Unlike the young DD, Hermione has no
grudge against Muggles, but she certainly underestimates and
undervalues their ability to think for themselves.We don't get to see
her rescuing "Wendell and Monica Wilkins," restoring their identities
and explaining why they've missed a year of their lives (as for a year
of life with their daughter, that's par for the course when you send
your kid to Hogwarts).

Carol, arriving at no conclusions, just exploring the topic of what,
if anything, Hermione learns in DH