CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 13: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 190005

> Pippin wrote:
<snip>
> Hermione wasn't very good at picking up social cues from other people, and she hadn't yet developed the ability to compensate by *thinking* about how they must feel. It was a mystery to her why people didn't like her, and resented what Hermione genuinely thought  to be helpful advice. I don't agree with Shelley that Hermione thinks Lavender is showing off and trying to get attention. If that was the case, IMO, Hermione would have tried  to ignore Lavender instead.


Carol responds:
I agree that Hermione was trying to be helpful by pointing out that Lavender's response was irrational. Unfortunately, such a response will come across as insensitive whether it really is so or not. I think that JKR intended Hermione to overrely on intellect only to learn later to value traits that she herself doesn't have. It's partly for that reason that she falls in love with the nonintellectual, fun-loving Ron (and he with her)--they balance each other out to form a more or less complete whole. And Hermione also learns to value Luna, whose ideas she at first dismissed as "loony" (though, IIRC, she never used the nickname). Luna is Hermione's opposite, sensitive, empathetic, intuitive, and compassionate but capable of believing the most absurd ideas. The traits they share, loyalty to Harry and bravery, eventually become more important than their differences.

Carol, who thinks that Hermione would be better off (and have more friends) if she didn't try to impose her version of rationality on those who want nothing to do with it