Hermione Granger: Character Analysis

[Chris]

Originally Posted by sweets7

Does the wizarding world have social services? I would dearly love her to be some sort of civil rights campaigner, but I do not in all honesty see this happening, it’s a toughie.

There's a House-Elf relocation office, if memory serves me correctly. Other than that, I don't think there's any real social services. Hogwarts has a fund for students who can't afford their own books, etc (Tom Riddle's initial school-funds came from this fund), but again, not a social services per se. I could see Hermione being the type to attempt to set up such services, against all the odds, but I don't know if an 18 year old witch would be able to succeed here, even with the celebrity that comes with helping defeat LV.

[Alonna]

Originally Posted by sweets7

Does the wizarding world have social services? I would dearly love her to be some sort of civil rights campaigner, but I do not in all honesty see this happening, it’s a toughie.

Given that we've seen a number of child characters living in subpar environments, I would say that there is no form of social services in the magical world. This might be because social services is something that has only developed relatively recently in the muggle world. It didn't exist when the magical world split with the muggle world, and the magical world does not appear to have changed all that much since the split. I would hypothesize that the magical world isn't all that interested in children until they reach the age at which they can begin learning magic, given the fact that they make no provision for the education of young children, leaving it up to the parents to decide what children should learn before attending Hogwarts.

[procion]

I definitely don't think she is in any way a less powerful witch/wizard than Harry...its not like she just works harder, but is inferior magically; she actually picks things up new much faster, as exemplified in there many transfiguration/charms classes where actual teaching is required, and not just understanding the texts...one could say that they had equal amounts of time to master the magic, and she just did it more quickly

[anabel]

Originally Posted by sweets7

Does the wizarding world have social services?

Probably not, which is why Hermione will start a new department at the Ministry!

[sweets7]

I cannot really see Hermione as a Bureaucrat though, perhaps she will campaign for greater social justice, heck, the wizarding world sure needs it. Getting involved in the ministry would I think, be anxiety ridden for Hermione. We are given hints that they are covertly prejudiced when it comes to muggles and muggle born. This was certainly the case with Fudge.

[staniw]

Yes, I see Hermione working for social justice. She is interested in it and Dumbledore’s comment that the magical world has it wrong (after the fountain was destroyed) will need some follow-up. Hermione has been built as the type to start the repair of what went wrong.

[Yoana]

Originally Posted by procion

I definitely don't think she is in any way a less powerful witch/wizard than Harry...its not like she just works harder, but is inferior magically; she actually picks things up new much faster, as exemplified in there many transfiguration/charms classes where actual teaching is required, and not just understanding the texts...one could say that they had equal amounts of time to master the magic, and she just did it more quickly

I completely agree. Hermione is always the first to master new spells (except DADA stuff), but it's not only that. She always has great ideas, like the Protean charm she came up with for DA communication, she's logical and knows what to do in different situations. But I think that the thing that truly shows just how intelligent she is is that she has an excellent eassessment of people and their motivations. She is rarely wrong about someone, and truthful observations on other characters usually come either from Dumbledore or from Hermione. And this is something that takes wisdom and maturity - something that definitely singles Hermione out.

[guad]

Originally Posted by staniw

Yes, I see Hermione working for social justice. She is interested in it and Dumbledore’s comment that the magical world has it wrong (after the fountain was destroyed) will need some follow-up. Hermione has been built as the type to start the repair of what went wrong.

I agree. And I hope she'll end up being Minister, as she would certainly be more competent than Fudge and Co.

Originally Posted by Yoana

But I think that the thing that truly shows just how intelligent she is is that she has an excellent eassessment of people and their motivations. She is rarely wrong about someone, and truthful observations on other characters usually come either from Dumbledore or from Hermione. And this is something that takes wisdom and maturity - something that definitely singles Hermione out.

She has also no problem in getting people to do what she wants - look at the Rita Skeeter episode. Allthough she is quite fond of rules, she knows when the rules have to be broken for a greater good. Very creative.

[Yoana]

Since a debate about Hermione's assessment of people started on another thread, I thought we could move it here to do it justice.

Is Hermione's asessment of people accurate, or is does she have a poor understanding of people's feelings, motivations and actions? Do you think she was right about Cho and Harry in OotP, when she told Ginny to relax around Harry (well, she was obviously right then), about Ron in GoF (both the fall-out with Harry and the Yule Ball) and all the other occasions you can think of. In general, is understaing people's actions and feelings another of her strengths, or is it her weakness? I'd be very interested to hear what everyone thinks.

[Alhanalasa]

Originally Posted by Yoana

Since a debate about Hermione's assessment of people started on another thread, I thought we could move it here to do it justice.

Is Hermione's asessment of people accurate, or is does she have a poor understanding of people's feelings, motivations and actions? Do you think she was right about Cho and Harry in OotP, when she told Ginny to relax around Harry (well, she was obviously right then), about Ron in GoF (both the fall-out with Harry and the Yule Ball) and all the other occasions you can think of. In general, is understaing people's actions and feelings another of her strengths, or is it her weakness? I'd be very interested to hear what everyone thinks.

I can't think of an example where her understanding of other people in itself is a weakness. I do think that sometimes other characteristics get in the way of her being empathetic towards other people. In other words, she doesn't always act as if she understands.

For example, it takes her a very long time to be nice to Luna. And while she may have a deep understanding of Harry's emotions and motives, she doesn't always explain herself tactfully. ("You have a saving people thing...")

[meesha1971]

Originally Posted by Yoana

Since a debate about Hermione's assessment of people started on another thread, I thought we could move it here to do it justice.

Is Hermione's asessment of people accurate, or is does she have a poor understanding of people's feelings, motivations and actions? Do you think she was right about Cho and Harry in OotP, when she told Ginny to relax around Harry (well, she was obviously right then), about Ron in GoF (both the fall-out with Harry and the Yule Ball) and all the other occasions you can think of. In general, is understaing people's actions and feelings another of her strengths, or is it her weakness? I'd be very interested to hear what everyone thinks.

Good idea, Yoana. That discussion is much more appropriate here.

I'm going to go back a bit further though. I think we need to look at Hermione's understanding of people in general. Hermione is a very practical person. She tends to think in linear lines. That's not exactly a bad thing, but it does affect her ability to make an accurate assessment of emotions and motivations because - more often than not - those things are not practical or linear.

So - from the beginning. From the time we are first introduced to Hermione, we are shown that she is not a "people person". She has poor social skills and all of her efforts to make friends tend to alienate the other students instead. She is trying to be helpful, but she comes across as bossy and interfering. We see early on that Hermione doesn't really understand people in general and has a difficult time in relating to others.

Jo addressed this about Hermione. When PS/SS was first published, her editor wanted to cut the troll scene. Jo fought very hard to keep that scene in the book because she felt that it was necessary because Hermione was so swotty and annoying it took something huge to get Harry and Ron to be willing to give her a chance and become friends with her. Harry and Ron had to learn to look past Hermione's swotty exterior and see that she did have good intentions even if she didn't understand how to relate to other people. Jo felt that the troll incident was necessary for that to occur.

Moving on to COS - and Lockhart. Hermione was completely enamored with Lockhart simply because he had written all the books on their booklist. She believed every word that he had written was true and refused to hear a word against Lockhart. Harry and Ron - along with pretty much everyone else - figured out almost immediately that Lockhart was a fraud. It was obvious that he did not have a clue what he was doing - Ron even points out that Lockhart's books are about things that he "says he's done" - not things he actually did. But Hermione could not see that. It was in a book - it had to be true. She was incapable of seeing Lockhart for who he really was. The motivations involved in such deceptive behavior completely escaped her.

Moving on to POA - let's start with the Firebolt incident. Here we see Hermione make a snap judgment about Harry and Ron. She assumes that they would not take the possibility that the broom came from Sirius Black seriously. She never even bothers to share her concerns with them. She goes straight to McGonagall. We can't say if she was right or wrong because she never gave them a chance. However, I do believe that - if Hermione had shared her concerns with them - they would have been more cautious regarding the broom.

Then we have the whole Scabbers/Crookshanks argument. Hermione dismissed Ron's concerns about Crookshanks from the beginning. She ignored the fact that Crookshanks was continually attacking Scabbers and refused to take any precautions with her cat. She misjudged Ron there and took his concerns as a personal attack. When Harry tried to point out that the evidence was against Crookshanks, she misjudged his intentions and accused him of just siding with Ron and took it as a personal attack.

Of course, Hermione was very stressed in POA as well with her heavy class schedule and the confusion brought forth with the time turner. But we do see her continue to make snap judgments regarding people and their motivations.

Another example in POA is how she handled Lavender being upset over her rabbit dying. Hermione - being very practical and thinking in linear lines - believed that it would be a comfort to Lavender to know that Trelawney could not have predicted her rabbit's death. She was genuinely concerned about Lavender being upset, but she failed to express that concern and came across as insensitive. Her efforts only served to upset Lavender more - along with Parvati. But Hermione simply could not understand why Lavender would think that Trelawney had predicted the rabbit's death. It didn't make sense to her.

Moving on to GOF - let's start with the morning after the World Cup. They get back to the Burrow and Harry tells them about his dream and his scar hurting. He's written to Sirius but hasn't heard back yet. Ron suggests they play Quidditch with his brothers - he knows that Harry needs something to distract him so he won't worry so much. Hermione immediately objects and speaks for Harry - "Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch". But she was wrong - Harry did want to play Quidditch and he welcomed the distraction. Hermione simply could not understand that motivation.

Then Harry and Ron have their argument. Harry gets up the next morning prepared to find Ron and tell him everything - which was all Ron wanted in the first place. But Hermione stops him. She's seen Ron, but he didn't talk to her. She gets Harry's side of the story and makes a snap judgment - Ron must be jealous. However, Harry didn't tell her that he called Ron stupid or that all Ron wanted to know was why someone else would put his name into the goblet. A simple explanation was all that was needed. But Hermione didn't know that - and didn't bother to find out. She decided Ron was jealous and that was that. Harry no longer wanted to talk to Ron and the fight dragged on for weeks instead of being over that morning.

Also in GOF, we have the beginning of SPEW. Now, the house-elves are not technically people, but they do have feelings and motivations. Both of which Hermione completely disregarded in her crusade to free them. She did all that research, but never once even considered talking to the house-elves and getting their point of view on the matter. She simply could not understand why anyone - human or not - would want to be a slave. It was an impossibility to her way of thinking so she decided that they must be brainwashed simply because they didn't think like she did. She couldn't understand it so it had to be wrong.

I would say that Hermione misjudged Ron regarding the Yule Ball to some extent as well. She felt that he had asked her as a last resort, but that is not quite accurate. It is true, that he didn't think to ask her immediately. However, what Hermione failed to see was that that was Ron's moment of realization. It wasn't that Ron considered her a last resort. It was more that he hadn't thought of her in those terms before. She was his best friend. It was a bit of a shock for him to start seeing her as a girl - and not only a girl, but dateable. He needed time to adjust to that change and figure out what his feelings were.

Moving on to OOTP - the issue with SPEW continues. Now Hermione has decided to trick the house-elves into freedom by leaving knitted hats hidden under piles of rubbish. We see that she continues to disregard the house-elves feelings and gives no thought to what their motivations might be for wanting to be slaves.

Hermione misjudges the twins early in OOTP - when Ron gets his prefect badge. We have been shown from the beginning that the twins have no respect for the title of Prefect - or Head Boy for that matter. Neither of them has any desire to be made a prefect. They feel it would take all the fun out of life. Since they both have that "certain disregard for the rules", being a prefect would be an imposition to them. In COS, they tell Harry about Percy getting 12 OWLs like Bill and worry that Percy might also become Head Boy - they tell Harry that they don't think they could stand the shame if that happened.

Everyone had assumed that Harry would be made prefect - including the twins. However, nobody said anything about it - not even the twins. When the letters arrived and Ron got the badge, the twins were shocked because they thought it would be Harry. But they work it out that Harry didn't get it because he's caused too much trouble and they compliment Harry for that saying that at least he has his priorities straight. They are ashamed because Ron was made a prefect. But Hermione doesn't understand that. To her, being made a prefect is a great honor and she thinks that everyone should feel that way because she does. She decides that they are jealous of Ron. But we have already been shown that they aren't jealous - they are ashamed.

Then we have her assessment of the situation with Cho. Hermione is partially right - the part where she is relating the facts as she has heard/witnessed them. Cho was crying all over the place - Hermione had witnessed that herself. She was grieving for Cedric and Hermione had heard that she was worried about getting kicked off the Quidditch team because she was flying badly. Cho had given the appearance that she was interested in Harry and that would present a conflict with her still grieving over Cedric.

However, Hermione misses quite a bit about all that as well. She failed to see how badly Cho wanted/needed closure regarding Cedric. Harry neglected to mention that every time he was around Cho, she started asking him about Cedric. Like the argument with Ron in GOF, Hermione is making judgments without having all the facts. And, again, she falls back on jealousy as a motivation. She decided that Cho was jealous of her. However, because she did not have all the facts, she did not understand that Cho was not actually jealous of Hermione. Cho was angry because Harry had told Ron and Hermione about what happened with Cedric, but refused to talk about what happened with her. She wanted to know what had happened - she needed that to achieve closure. And Harry was the only one who could give that to her. Cho was never really interested in Harry romantically. He was simply the only person who could tell her what happened to Cedric in his last moments. Hermione never understood that and just chalked it all up to jealousy.

And then there is Sirius. Hermione cannot possibly understand what Sirius is going through in OOTP. His guilt over James and Lily dying - being wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years - being on the run for the past two years - being forced to stay in that miserable mausoleum that he hated because he was a wanted man. Hermione had never experienced anything like that and could not understand it. She understood that Sirius was lonely. Of course, that would be hard to miss. Once they had gone back to school, he was alone in the house with only Kreacher to keep him company. That was an obvious conclusion. However, Hermione misreads Sirius' intentions regarding Harry. She feels that Sirius is trying to live through Harry. But Sirius never actually did that. Sirius was trying to live his own life. He wanted Harry to be part of it, but he didn't actually try to live through Harry.

And we are again shown Hermione misjudging Harry. When Hermione found out that Harry was going to try to use Umbridge's fireplace to talk to Sirius, she immediately objected. And, yes, Hermione was right about all the risks involved in that. However, what is significant here is the fact that Hermione never once stopped to consider why Harry would feel such a risk was necessary. She never bothered to ask him why he would be willing to take such a risk - or what could be so important. She's been friends with Harry for five years. She should know by now, that Harry doesn't take risks like that unless he has a good reason for it. But she never even considered that.

Of course, that is an ongoing issue between Harry and Hermione - particularly with how Hermione deals with it. Hermione confronts him - nags at him - lectures him. Harry hates that and his response to it is to tune her out - to ignore her and avoid her. He will even lie to her to avoid such confrontation. You would think that Hermione would have figured that out at some point. But she continues to confront Harry in this manner even though it only serves to alienate him. She simply does not understand that.

Moving on to HBP - we'll start with Tonks. Tonks has been depressed - she's having trouble with her metamorphosing - her powers in general. Hermione decides that Tonks is suffering from survivor's guilt because Sirius died. However, we learn in the end, that Tonks was depressed because Lupin had rejected her. It didn't have anything to do with Sirius.

And then there is Molly Weasley. Hermione and Ginny decided that Molly was inviting Tonks over so much because she wanted to break up Bill and Fleur and hoped Bill would marry Tonks instead. However, we learn in the end, that Molly had been trying to get Tonks and Lupin together the entire time. She was offering comfort to Tonks - not trying to set her up with Bill.

We also see Hermione misjudge Harry again. She decides that Harry doesn't want to believe that the HBP could be a girl because he doesn't think a girl could be clever enough. Of course, that was not the reason and Harry was quite offended by that assumption. He knew very well that girls could be clever and that was not why he objected to that.

And then there was her behavior after the Sectumsempra incident. Harry was already feeling guilty - he knew he had done something wrong. He was beginning to question the HBP book because of that and coming around to understanding that the Prince was not a good person and had invented spells that were bad. But Hermione didn't see that and felt the need to say "I told you so" - rubbing salt in the wound and causing Harry to become defensive and start making excuses for the Prince. If Hermione had left it alone, Harry would have continued with his realization that the Prince was bad on his own. She misjudged Ginny there as well when Ginny defended Harry. She assumed that Ginny would side with her because of Quidditch. But she was wrong.

Jo has established that pattern with Hermione quite clearly. Being very practical and thinking in linear lines, Hermione does not understand emotions and motivations very well. We see that most prominently through her interactions with other people. She doesn't relate to people well in general and often comes across and bossy and interfering. Her heart's in the right place, but her methods are not always good and it often comes down to a simple lack of understanding of emotions and motivations. But we are also shown this repeatedly through her judgments of other characters. Hermione is wrong about people a lot because she doesn't understand emotions and motivations that well. It is difficult for Hermione to relate to things that are not logical and linear.

[Polaris]

Originally Posted by Alhanalasa

I can't think of an example where her understanding of other people in itself is a weakness. I do think that sometimes other characteristics get in the way of her being empathetic towards other people. In other words, she doesn't always act as if she understands.

For example, it takes her a very long time to be nice to Luna. And while she may have a deep understanding of Harry's emotions and motives, she doesn't always explain herself tactfully. ("You have a saving people thing...")

You bring up a good point here, Hermione does have the right intentions when it comes to wanting fair treatment for others. But I think she doesn't always fully understand people such as Luna who is, in some ways, the opposite to her. Hermione is logical, clear-thinking, has goals and is aware of what she has to do to achieve them, she's smart and brave.

Whether or not Luna has all of these same qualities we don't really know, she's a Ravenclaw student so I think it's safe to assume she's intelligent, she's brave and so on but she comes across as a little eccentric and this is something Hermione has trouble with - at least at first. Hermione does, at times, get impatient with her and makes sarcastic comments, although this lessens as she gets to know her better. But I think for all her best intentions, Hermoine doesn't always seem to be able to connect with those who don't have the same perspective on life that she does.

On a related issue, she accuses Ron of having the emotional range of a teaspoon in GoF. But I think this is motivated by the fact that he hadn't really noticed her and she had already started having romantic feelings for him and this is why she was so upset that he hadn't asked her to the ball. I don't think it's because she has any great insight on romantic relationships.

Having read through what I've just written, it sounds as though I don't really like Hermione. I assure you she's one of my favourite characters, but I guess she's just as complex as Jo's others characters and has both good and bad points.

[BublGumPnkHar]

Originally Posted by Yoana

Since a debate about Hermione's assessment of people started on another thread, I thought we could move it here to do it justice.

Is Hermione's asessment of people accurate, or is does she have a poor understanding of people's feelings, motivations and actions? Do you think she was right about Cho and Harry in OotP, when she told Ginny to relax around Harry (well, she was obviously right then), about Ron in GoF (both the fall-out with Harry and the Yule Ball) and all the other occasions you can think of. In general, is understaing people's actions and feelings another of her strengths, or is it her weakness? I'd be very interested to hear what everyone thinks.

I think that we found out in OOP, that if the situation mirrors her own, she is very understanding. Take Cho, asked first to the Yule ball by Cedric - then by Harry - had to turn down Harry. Hermione was asked first by "Vicki" - then as a "last resort" by Ron - who we know she really wanted to go with but she had to turn Ron down. Now Cho is dating the boy who was with Cedric when he was killed and Harry doesn't want to talk about it, but Hermione understands about "mixed emotions" because she had gone through them herself, the year before. (And of course, Ron is just "completely clueless" about girls, which doesn't help her situation, and which leads to his totally inappropriate (re)actions in HBP)

Sometimes she goes a little too far, but at least you know "where you stand" with Hermione. (I did not think the attacking birds were too much; it would have helped the whole situation if Harry had told her what Ginny had intimated to Ron about Hermione previous "kissing experience". Of course, Harry didn't realize this was the source of all the emnity between them. Harry is pretty clueless about girls, also. Who isn't at that age?)

I think her weakness is: she wants to be liked (who doesn't). She has two good friends but she is still pretty insecure. Too bad she's a girl and can't share the dorm room with them, I think it would help her insecurity issues a lot. (She doesn't even get to share with Ginny, just the giggling Pavarti and Lavender (Ron's snogging partner.))

I empathise with Hermione, I still am inept socially, even at my age and I'm not operating in a strange world, either.

ETA: I liked meesha1971's comment on the Hermione/Cho situation. She posted while I was "hunting and pecking". Great summary on the whole series, meesha1971. Thanks!

[EBJ23]

Originally Posted by Yoana

Since a debate about Hermione's assessment of people started on another thread, I thought we could move it here to do it justice.

Is Hermione's asessment of people accurate, or is does she have a poor understanding of people's feelings, motivations and actions? Do you think she was right about Cho and Harry in OotP, when she told Ginny to relax around Harry (well, she was obviously right then), about Ron in GoF (both the fall-out with Harry and the Yule Ball) and all the other occasions you can think of. In general, is understaing people's actions and feelings another of her strengths, or is it her weakness? I'd be very interested to hear what everyone thinks.

I think that it's pretty accurate, and it's never really been a weakness for her. She has given good advice(to Ginny), and I think that she was right about Cho in OotP. As long as Hermione dosen't overdo it, her assessment of other people is a strength.

[RWeasleysgirl]

Overall she seems to have really good character judgment. Even when she fights with Ron, or misjudges what he’s thinking, a lot of it is because of insecurity; she might know that he likes her, but I think a lot of girls are not very quick to believe something like that.

[raven_moon09]

Originally Posted by meesha1971

Good idea, Yoana. That discussion is much more appropriate here.

I'm going to go back a bit further though. I think we need to look at Hermione's understanding of people in general. Hermione is a very practical person. She tends to think in linear lines. That's not exactly a bad thing, but it does affect her ability to make an accurate assessment of emotions and motivations because - more often than not - those things are not practical or linear.

So - from the beginning. From the time we are first introduced to Hermione, we are shown that she is not a "people person". She has poor social skills and all of her efforts to make friends tend to alienate the other students instead. She is trying to be helpful, but she comes across as bossy and interfering. We see early on that Hermione doesn't really understand people in general and has a difficult time in relating to others.

Jo addressed this about Hermione. When PS/SS was first published, her editor wanted to cut the troll scene. Jo fought very hard to keep that scene in the book because she felt that it was necessary because Hermione was so swotty and annoying it took something huge to get Harry and Ron to be willing to give her a chance and become friends with her. Harry and Ron had to learn to look past Hermione's swotty exterior and see that she did have good intentions even if she didn't understand how to relate to other people. Jo felt that the troll incident was necessary for that to occur.

Moving on to COS - and Lockhart. Hermione was completely enamored with Lockhart simply because he had written all the books on their booklist. She believed every word that he had written was true and refused to hear a word against Lockhart. Harry and Ron - along with pretty much everyone else - figured out almost immediately that Lockhart was a fraud. It was obvious that he did not have a clue what he was doing - Ron even points out that Lockhart's books are about things that he "says he's done" - not things he actually did. But Hermione could not see that. It was in a book - it had to be true. She was incapable of seeing Lockhart for who he really was. The motivations involved in such deceptive behavior completely escaped her.

Moving on to POA - let's start with the Firebolt incident. Here we see Hermione make a snap judgment about Harry and Ron. She assumes that they would not take the possibility that the broom came from Sirius Black seriously. She never even bothers to share her concerns with them. She goes straight to McGonagall. We can't say if she was right or wrong because she never gave them a chance. However, I do believe that - if Hermione had shared her concerns with them - they would have been more cautious regarding the broom.

Then we have the whole Scabbers/Crookshanks argument. Hermione dismissed Ron's concerns about Crookshanks from the beginning. She ignored the fact that Crookshanks was continually attacking Scabbers and refused to take any precautions with her cat. She misjudged Ron there and took his concerns as a personal attack. When Harry tried to point out that the evidence was against Crookshanks, she misjudged his intentions and accused him of just siding with Ron and took it as a personal attack.

Of course, Hermione was very stressed in POA as well with her heavy class schedule and the confusion brought forth with the time turner. But we do see her continue to make snap judgments regarding people and their motivations.

Another example in POA is how she handled Lavender being upset over her rabbit dying. Hermione - being very practical and thinking in linear lines - believed that it would be a comfort to Lavender to know that Trelawney could not have predicted her rabbit's death. She was genuinely concerned about Lavender being upset, but she failed to express that concern and came across as insensitive. Her efforts only served to upset Lavender more - along with Parvati. But Hermione simply could not understand why Lavender would think that Trelawney had predicted the rabbit's death. It didn't make sense to her.

Moving on to GOF - let's start with the morning after the World Cup. They get back to the Burrow and Harry tells them about his dream and his scar hurting. He's written to Sirius but hasn't heard back yet. Ron suggests they play Quidditch with his brothers - he knows that Harry needs something to distract him so he won't worry so much. Hermione immediately objects and speaks for Harry - "Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch". But she was wrong - Harry did want to play Quidditch and he welcomed the distraction. Hermione simply could not understand that motivation.

Then Harry and Ron have their argument. Harry gets up the next morning prepared to find Ron and tell him everything - which was all Ron wanted in the first place. But Hermione stops him. She's seen Ron, but he didn't talk to her. She gets Harry's side of the story and makes a snap judgment - Ron must be jealous. However, Harry didn't tell her that he called Ron stupid or that all Ron wanted to know was why someone else would put his name into the goblet. A simple explanation was all that was needed. But Hermione didn't know that - and didn't bother to find out. She decided Ron was jealous and that was that. Harry no longer wanted to talk to Ron and the fight dragged on for weeks instead of being over that morning.

Also in GOF, we have the beginning of SPEW. Now, the house-elves are not technically people, but they do have feelings and motivations. Both of which Hermione completely disregarded in her crusade to free them. She did all that research, but never once even considered talking to the house-elves and getting their point of view on the matter. She simply could not understand why anyone - human or not - would want to be a slave. It was an impossibility to her way of thinking so she decided that they must be brainwashed simply because they didn't think like she did. She couldn't understand it so it had to be wrong.

I would say that Hermione misjudged Ron regarding the Yule Ball to some extent as well. She felt that he had asked her as a last resort, but that is not quite accurate. It is true, that he didn't think to ask her immediately. However, what Hermione failed to see was that that was Ron's moment of realization. It wasn't that Ron considered her a last resort. It was more that he hadn't thought of her in those terms before. She was his best friend. It was a bit of a shock for him to start seeing her as a girl - and not only a girl, but dateable. He needed time to adjust to that change and figure out what his feelings were.

Moving on to OOTP - the issue with SPEW continues. Now Hermione has decided to trick the house-elves into freedom by leaving knitted hats hidden under piles of rubbish. We see that she continues to disregard the house-elves feelings and gives no thought to what their motivations might be for wanting to be slaves.

Hermione misjudges the twins early in OOTP - when Ron gets his prefect badge. We have been shown from the beginning that the twins have no respect for the title of Prefect - or Head Boy for that matter. Neither of them has any desire to be made a prefect. They feel it would take all the fun out of life. Since they both have that "certain disregard for the rules", being a prefect would be an imposition to them. In COS, they tell Harry about Percy getting 12 OWLs like Bill and worry that Percy might also become Head Boy - they tell Harry that they don't think they could stand the shame if that happened.

Everyone had assumed that Harry would be made prefect - including the twins. However, nobody said anything about it - not even the twins. When the letters arrived and Ron got the badge, the twins were shocked because they thought it would be Harry. But they work it out that Harry didn't get it because he's caused too much trouble and they compliment Harry for that saying that at least he has his priorities straight. They are ashamed because Ron was made a prefect. But Hermione doesn't understand that. To her, being made a prefect is a great honor and she thinks that everyone should feel that way because she does. She decides that they are jealous of Ron. But we have already been shown that they aren't jealous - they are ashamed.

Then we have her assessment of the situation with Cho. Hermione is partially right - the part where she is relating the facts as she has heard/witnessed them. Cho was crying all over the place - Hermione had witnessed that herself. She was grieving for Cedric and Hermione had heard that she was worried about getting kicked off the Quidditch team because she was flying badly. Cho had given the appearance that she was interested in Harry and that would present a conflict with her still grieving over Cedric.

However, Hermione misses quite a bit about all that as well. She failed to see how badly Cho wanted/needed closure regarding Cedric. Harry neglected to mention that every time he was around Cho, she started asking him about Cedric. Like the argument with Ron in GOF, Hermione is making judgments without having all the facts. And, again, she falls back on jealousy as a motivation. She decided that Cho was jealous of her. However, because she did not have all the facts, she did not understand that Cho was not actually jealous of Hermione. Cho was angry because Harry had told Ron and Hermione about what happened with Cedric, but refused to talk about what happened with her. She wanted to know what had happened - she needed that to achieve closure. And Harry was the only one who could give that to her. Cho was never really interested in Harry romantically. He was simply the only person who could tell her what happened to Cedric in his last moments. Hermione never understood that and just chalked it all up to jealousy.

And then there is Sirius. Hermione cannot possibly understand what Sirius is going through in OOTP. His guilt over James and Lily dying - being wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years - being on the run for the past two years - being forced to stay in that miserable mausoleum that he hated because he was a wanted man. Hermione had never experienced anything like that and could not understand it. She understood that Sirius was lonely. Of course, that would be hard to miss. Once they had gone back to school, he was alone in the house with only Kreacher to keep him company. That was an obvious conclusion. However, Hermione misreads Sirius' intentions regarding Harry. She feels that Sirius is trying to live through Harry. But Sirius never actually did that. Sirius was trying to live his own life. He wanted Harry to be part of it, but he didn't actually try to live through Harry.

And we are again shown Hermione misjudging Harry. When Hermione found out that Harry was going to try to use Umbridge's fireplace to talk to Sirius, she immediately objected. And, yes, Hermione was right about all the risks involved in that. However, what is significant here is the fact that Hermione never once stopped to consider why Harry would feel such a risk was necessary. She never bothered to ask him why he would be willing to take such a risk - or what could be so important. She's been friends with Harry for five years. She should know by now, that Harry doesn't take risks like that unless he has a good reason for it. But she never even considered that.

Of course, that is an ongoing issue between Harry and Hermione - particularly with how Hermione deals with it. Hermione confronts him - nags at him - lectures him. Harry hates that and his response to it is to tune her out - to ignore her and avoid her. He will even lie to her to avoid such confrontation. You would think that Hermione would have figured that out at some point. But she continues to confront Harry in this manner even though it only serves to alienate him. She simply does not understand that.

Moving on to HBP - we'll start with Tonks. Tonks has been depressed - she's having trouble with her metamorphosing - her powers in general. Hermione decides that Tonks is suffering from survivor's guilt because Sirius died. However, we learn in the end, that Tonks was depressed because Lupin had rejected her. It didn't have anything to do with Sirius.

And then there is Molly Weasley. Hermione and Ginny decided that Molly was inviting Tonks over so much because she wanted to break up Bill and Fleur and hoped Bill would marry Tonks instead. However, we learn in the end, that Molly had been trying to get Tonks and Lupin together the entire time. She was offering comfort to Tonks - not trying to set her up with Bill.

We also see Hermione misjudge Harry again. She decides that Harry doesn't want to believe that the HBP could be a girl because he doesn't think a girl could be clever enough. Of course, that was not the reason and Harry was quite offended by that assumption. He knew very well that girls could be clever and that was not why he objected to that.

And then there was her behavior after the Sectumsempra incident. Harry was already feeling guilty - he knew he had done something wrong. He was beginning to question the HBP book because of that and coming around to understanding that the Prince was not a good person and had invented spells that were bad. But Hermione didn't see that and felt the need to say "I told you so" - rubbing salt in the wound and causing Harry to become defensive and start making excuses for the Prince. If Hermione had left it alone, Harry would have continued with his realization that the Prince was bad on his own. She misjudged Ginny there as well when Ginny defended Harry. She assumed that Ginny would side with her because of Quidditch. But she was wrong.

Jo has established that pattern with Hermione quite clearly. Being very practical and thinking in linear lines, Hermione does not understand emotions and motivations very well. We see that most prominently through her interactions with other people. She doesn't relate to people well in general and often comes across and bossy and interfering. Her heart's in the right place, but her methods are not always good and it often comes down to a simple lack of understanding of emotions and motivations. But we are also shown this repeatedly through her judgments of other characters. Hermione is wrong about people a lot because she doesn't understand emotions and motivations that well. It is difficult for Hermione to relate to things that are not logical and linear.

I agree with absolutly everything you said. I couldn't have said it better myself!

[Rell]

I haven't read all of the recent posts, but here are my thoughts. I think that Hermoine has some trouble thinking clearly when she gets emotional about something. So that when something is very closely connected to her, i.e., Ron's feelings towards her, or her feelings towards Lockhart, it gets difficult for her to think clearly (I happen to think that Hermoine would do amazing with a pensieve by the way).

But when she's not as closely connected, say, with Cho's feelings towards Harry (since I am of the belief that Hermione never had romantic feelings towards Harry, or at least not strong ones), it was easier for her to think clearly, and therefor analyze the issue correctly.

[mugglesrock]

I agree. It's another reason I can relate to Hermione. I think she thinks more clearly, and therefore gives great advice, when the situation concerns someone else. But when it's something that concerns herself, she has trouble viewing it from a different perspective and often becomes clueless.. I don't think that's necessarily a really bad flaw, but I do think Hermione could be someone who over-analyzes things (like me ).

[Rell]

Yeah, when Hermione acts like that, I don't think she's acting bad, I think she's acting like a girl . I think it's hard for everyone to look at personal issues objectively (especially teenage hormonal girls), but since we always expect Hermione to be so smart and right all the time, it looks worse when she does it.

[Chris]

I agree with you Rell - Hermione is usually 100% accurate with everything she says, except when she has a personal emotional involvement. I was rereading the opening of HBP just now, and she's all over the place in the first scene we see her in.

I guess the two ways in which we the reader can't trust Hermione's statements / judgement 100% are when she has a personal emotional stake in it (e.g., Ron) or when someone really ticks her off (Umbridge...Rita Skeeter...Draco Malfoy).

I hope I'm saying that right .