[HPforGrownups] On Moral Compasses (was:Re: Snape as Neville's teacher...)

[dracojadon at yahoo.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 168640

> Betsy Hp:

> But does Hermione show a level of unforgiving ruthlessness and
> elitism to suggest that if she could have she may well have joined
> the Death Eaters?  I think so.
>
> Hermione is *all over* the Slugclub.  Does it bother her that Ron
> isn't included in this club?
<snip>
>   Which suggests to me that, when
> she's in the in, Hermione is perfectly comfortable with exclusions.
<snip>
> Hermione's
> weirdly stubborn refusal to *talk* with the House Elves and get their
> take on things is bothersome, IMO.  Taken with her comfort in calling
> Firenze a horse (a rather ugly slur as per Centaur's we have met) it
> suggests a certain elitism on Hermione's part.
>
> And then there is Marietta.  It really *really* bothers me that
> Hermione is so *not* bothered by Marietta's continuing mark.  There's
> a callous disregard of other people *as* people being expressed here,
> IMO.  I honestly get the sense that Hermione sees the world as those
> that are real people (a *very* small and exclusive group that I'm not
> sure include her parents) and those that just do not count.
> <snip>

Jadon:
Hagrid is another example of an otherwise nice person who is  
prejudiced about certain groups of people (straitlaced muggles, non- 
Gryffindors). In PS he insults the Dursleys _before_ finding out that  
they've been keeping information from Harry, and when Uncle Vernon  
insults DD he leaves Dudley with a pig's tail, which is every bit as  
bad as Marietta's pimples. In later books the Dursleys take abuse  
from whatever aurors/other adults turn up to collect Harry (except, I  
think, Arthur). Hagrid treats Draco badly just as Snape treats Harry/ 
Neville badly.

Most of the WW looks down on muggles - I think someone was posting in  
an ESE!Arthur thread that even Arthur Weasley looks on them as  
'pets'. Ravenclaws look down on people for not showing intelligence;  
Slytherins look down on people with the wrong type of bloodlines; and  
Gryffindors look down on people they feel are being wimpish.

The one place Hermione is learning to be progressively more elitist  
throughout the series is at school. (Including from Hagrid when she  
spends so much time with him in...book 3?) In leaving behind her  
family and lying to them about e.g. not going skiing she is becoming  
_completely_ part of the WW - and perhaps she tries harder than Harry/ 
Ron/Draco to do that, both because she's Hermione and because she's  
muggle-born. She's lacking a Hufflepuff role model along with the  
rest of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, and if she's attracted  
to any other house, it's Ravenclaw, whose members don't exactly  
champion the qualities of Hufflepuff. So who's going to point out to  
her that she's being hypocritical and not very nice before some  
terrible punishment falls on her head (as predicted: http:// 
www.mugglenet.com/editorials/thenorthtower/nt43.shtml)? Harry spent  
much of HBP deliberately doing not that. How far aware of her  
behaviour is Hermione? Is _she_ in need of a subplot on redemption?

Jadon