[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAPT DISC: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 13: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw

[Beccy Talmy]

No: HPFGUIDX 190024

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
> ... She (Hermione) didn't think the world should  be allowed
> to work in ways that Hermione Granger could not understand.

Steve:
> Oh lord, was there every a degree of this at work here. That is
> Hermione's whole beef with divination. It requires an intuitive
> sense, and can't be learned as a collection of data and
> information.
>
> It is probably eating her up inside, which is probably one of
> the things the prevents her from restraining herself in that
> particular moment.


Presumably, given how carefully planned the books were, Rowling knew
by this point that 
Lavender was going to be Hermione's romantic rival
in book 6. In which case, this scene takes on significance in relation
to that. To be honest, I'm really surprised to see the majority
sympathising with Lavender. In my mind, Lavender is presented
throughout the series as shallow and excessively girly. Hermione, in
contrast, is a strong, intelligent, thoughtful young woman, whose
prominence in the Harry Potter series will, I imagine, have been a
blessing for girls who, like I was, are more studious and serious than
giggley, girley and, often, more popular. Dumbledore, who has a
fantastic sense of fun, describes Trelawney's two predictions she
doesn't recall as her only 'real' ones. Lavender as a contrast to
Hermione is not the same thing as Luna; Ron learns from his
relationship with Lavender about everything he doesn't want in a
relationship and is attracted to in Hermione. A voice of reason, even
when someone is upset, isn't so awful, in my view, as everyone seems
to be making out. In fact, its the premise of cognitive behavioural
therapy, which helps an awful lot of people deal with a variety of
problems. I really don't think this scene is intended to show up
Hermione. It's to show up Lavender and Trelawney! My boyfriend can
sometimes rile me by responding very rationally when I go to him with
an issue i'm very emotional about. But the problem isn't that he tries
to help me rationalise my emotions. It's that he needs to remember to
sympathise with them beforehand. But Lavender has plenty of sources of
sympathy around her, and Hermione isn't, I maintain, unsympathetic.
She just feels it's important not to allow everyone to get carried
away. Particularly as, if Trelawney's predictions were to prove sound,
Harry, our protagonist and Hermione's best friend, would be even more
freaked out by the prospect of his own imminent death!

Beccy.