Hermoine, compassion, and idealism

[malic-ba.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone

First post, hope this works!

This started out as a comment in response to DH chapter 9, below, but I decided to put it where it can be seen more easily because I'd really like to learn what people think.

The discussion was about Hermione as compassionate and/or ruthless, which grew out of a discussion of her changing her parents' identities.

To me it seems that she cares about the rights of others as an ideal, from her own perspective. That does show compassion but it's patronising. I think that's something pretty common among Western do-gooders (and probably do-gooders more generally) and it's something I have to struggle against myself. It's entirely likely in someone so young.

The scary thought is her level of potential power and the lack of guidance in the WW to help her really consider those she's trying to help. Ron points out that house elf values are different - whether because he actually considers them or to protect the status quo - but Hermione doesn't respect anything he says. Her approach agrees perfectly with the most 'enlightened' wizarding attitudes to muggles, and there are plenty of wizards who've grown up with them. I can easily see a 'greater good' type attitude developing as Hermione gains power in the Ministry.

Since JKR worked for Amnesty I wonder if this aspect of Hermione is based on what she found there?

Also, I wonder what message she was trying to send. Is it supposed to be a good or bad part of Hermoine's character? Or, with unusual subtlety for these books, both? The message almost seems to be that 'do-gooding' is pointless - SPEW is a misguided joke, compassion is wasted on goblins and giants, and no-one questions the inferiority of muggles. At the same time I'm sure it's meant to show Hermoine's courage and goodness.

What does anyone think? Is JKR really trying to turn people off idealism? If so, does that have anything to do with the actual wishes of the 'helpees'?

Comments

[hwyla.livejournal.com]

I usually attempt to stay 'Watsonian' in my explanations of canon, however, I was also expecting something in the books to show JKRs ties to Amnesty Int'l. - tho' I expected to see it in a different way than this. I suppose, in the end, that the Muggleborn Registration was the closest she ever came.

However, in the case of Hermione and the house-elves, JKR has said in interview that it was a subplot she didn't originally plan. That she was writing along and when she got to that spot the character of Hermione demanded it. In other words, I'd say it was done more without planning, but on a 'feeling' that wasn't necessarily based on 'wanting' to do it, so much as it just 'felt right' for her character.

But I really do think it fits Hermione. She (like Albus), has been told umpteen times how brilliant she is. She has come to the spot where she does not believe she can ever be wrong. And while I do agree with her about the slavery, once she saw that her methods were not working, she should have stepped back and done what she could to speak directly to the elves and find out why. Instead, she plowed on (at least for a while) whether the house-elves wanted her to or not.

Her knowledge comes from 'book-learning' not from experience. Unlike youngSev, whose brilliance came from trying out new things when old ones didn't work quite the way he wanted, she will just keep going with the original (see her disgust with Harry over the scribblings in the potions book). Her best creativity came from reworking existing things found in books - such as the DA coins.