I go into more detail a bit elsewhere in the thread. She becomes hysterical about Draco, indulging some bewildering sort of friend-jealousy or romantic precociousness, moralizing to an unforgiving degree that she cannot possibly endorse if she thought about it for thirty seconds, making sweeping unsupported assertions about human psychology, determining of a sudden for no reason that Harry was supposed to be Science Monogamous with her, throwing a tantrum that is not necessarily age inappropriate but is not in keeping with her typical level of personal maturity, making their genders way more salient than they needed to be (she does throughout the fic, it’s weird), identifying herself for some reason as a “poor innocent little girl” victimized by a question that she just made relevant enough for Harry to ask...
No offense (and I’m a boy so quite probably biased about this, fair warning) but are you sure you know what girls are like in real life? I know in a utopian world there would be no gender stereotyping, but in my honest experience, even as someone who strongly wishes stereotypes would all burn and die, girls in schools do gossip, and stress about relationships, and quite possibly are prone to sensitivity and preoccupation about love, even if it is culturally rooted.
Just wondering I guess if you’ve been so successful in emancipating yourself from that stereotype (congratulations on that) that you’ve ended up with unrealistic expectations of what is actually normal for girls.
That said I don’t know you and don’t want to come across as though I’m certain of what I’m saying either, just reporting on my brain’s response to your comment.
Up until I was about Hermione’s age, my friends were nearly all girls, and they were an even mix beyond that. I am not claiming anything so preposterous as that girls do not gossip or fixate on interpersonal matters. Of course they do; it’s not even limited to children. I am saying that girls are not uniformly silly creatures, differentiated only by name, approximate g factor, and school House.
I think it would take more than 30 seconds to get over the fact that someone you rely on to be your only equal friend does not have a symmetrical relationship where you’re similarly important, not to mention his OTHER close friend is the guy who has said he wants you dead.
Hermione explicitly thinks that it’s sad that Harry only has her for a friend, while she can have other people that she enjoys spending time with. She thinks that it’s flattering, but also a lot of pressure. If anything, this makes it seem that she’s upset that the relationship is more symmetrical than it initially appears.
I fully agree with the part about the additional relationship being with someone who wants to do unspeakable things to her, however.
I said it elsewhere, but I’ll reiterate and expand here.
Getting emotional, crying and running off does not necessarily merit penalty points in a human interaction, and certainly not for 12 year old girls who have recently been threatened with a lengthy term of prison/torture for attempted murder of someone who she recently discovered wanted to do horrible things to her, and then finds that her best friend and savior had a hidden and close relationship with that someone. Threats to security, violation of basic trust and in group solidarity, where the stakes are a torture death for her and the allegiance of her best friend and savior, who she had recently resolved to stick by in the face of a persistent threat to her own life.
Maybe the inside view of that would be hugely emotional, and might impair dispassionate thought a tad?
Me, I think it was a narratively appropriate scene for him to reintroduce a little cliched comedy. It was a little overdone on both sides for comic effect, but that’s how you make comedy. I thought it worked. I thought it was fun. I think he tends a little toward slapstick with his comedy, and it’s not intended to be taken as entirely realistic character development.
she cannot possibly endorse if she thought about it for thirty seconds
What makes you assume she will endorse it after she has had time to calm down and think about it for 30 seconds? I endorse incoherent positions all the time that I then am forced to retract on reflection. Doesn’t everyone? If our knee jerk reactions to things were correct we wouldn’t all be here arguing on LW.
Eliezer obviously agrees with you, but… Hermione doesn’t sound silly at all to me. Okay, explicitly believing that sufficient lack of sympathy makes one an inherently bad person is silly, but no sillier than Dumbledore’s deathism. And the jealousy is completely justified. Harry encouraged the rivalry, then promised they would study magic together—that they’d be the team to crack it, the only researchers in the wizarding world, not that she could lend a hand as human library. Of course they’re supposed to be Science Monogamous. And it’s not like he’s met another great scientist; he’s going out of his way to teach science to someone who hated her.
I tried to get one of my friends to read MoR and he quit after about Chapter 20 because he was getting annoyed at how the children weren’t acting like children. I think from his point of view, the disparity you’re identifying between Hermione and Harry, say, doesn’t count as mishandling Hermione so much as mishandling Harry… as far as my friend’s point of view is concerned, Hermione acting silly is a completely appropriate response to what she’s been through, and there is something deeply wrong with Harry Potter.
And… this is hard to talk about because I feel like I constantly have to make sure what I’m saying doesn’t count as Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy. I have some small understanding of male privilege. It would be nice if I could be given the benefit of the doubt on this. (Now I’m trying to figure out if that counts as Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy...)
And… this is hard to talk about because I feel like I constantly have to make sure what I’m saying doesn’t count as Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy.
Don’t worry about it. Complaints about “Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy” are mostly an excuse to enforce norms about things you can’t say.
I go into more detail a bit elsewhere in the thread. She becomes hysterical about Draco, indulging some bewildering sort of friend-jealousy or romantic precociousness, moralizing to an unforgiving degree that she cannot possibly endorse if she thought about it for thirty seconds, making sweeping unsupported assertions about human psychology, determining of a sudden for no reason that Harry was supposed to be Science Monogamous with her, throwing a tantrum that is not necessarily age inappropriate but is not in keeping with her typical level of personal maturity, making their genders way more salient than they needed to be (she does throughout the fic, it’s weird), identifying herself for some reason as a “poor innocent little girl” victimized by a question that she just made relevant enough for Harry to ask...
No offense (and I’m a boy so quite probably biased about this, fair warning) but are you sure you know what girls are like in real life? I know in a utopian world there would be no gender stereotyping, but in my honest experience, even as someone who strongly wishes stereotypes would all burn and die, girls in schools do gossip, and stress about relationships, and quite possibly are prone to sensitivity and preoccupation about love, even if it is culturally rooted.
Just wondering I guess if you’ve been so successful in emancipating yourself from that stereotype (congratulations on that) that you’ve ended up with unrealistic expectations of what is actually normal for girls.
That said I don’t know you and don’t want to come across as though I’m certain of what I’m saying either, just reporting on my brain’s response to your comment.
EDIT: Typo fix
Up until I was about Hermione’s age, my friends were nearly all girls, and they were an even mix beyond that. I am not claiming anything so preposterous as that girls do not gossip or fixate on interpersonal matters. Of course they do; it’s not even limited to children. I am saying that girls are not uniformly silly creatures, differentiated only by name, approximate g factor, and school House.
I think it would take more than 30 seconds to get over the fact that someone you rely on to be your only equal friend does not have a symmetrical relationship where you’re similarly important, not to mention his OTHER close friend is the guy who has said he wants you dead.
Hermione explicitly thinks that it’s sad that Harry only has her for a friend, while she can have other people that she enjoys spending time with. She thinks that it’s flattering, but also a lot of pressure. If anything, this makes it seem that she’s upset that the relationship is more symmetrical than it initially appears.
I fully agree with the part about the additional relationship being with someone who wants to do unspeakable things to her, however.
I said it elsewhere, but I’ll reiterate and expand here.
Getting emotional, crying and running off does not necessarily merit penalty points in a human interaction, and certainly not for 12 year old girls who have recently been threatened with a lengthy term of prison/torture for attempted murder of someone who she recently discovered wanted to do horrible things to her, and then finds that her best friend and savior had a hidden and close relationship with that someone. Threats to security, violation of basic trust and in group solidarity, where the stakes are a torture death for her and the allegiance of her best friend and savior, who she had recently resolved to stick by in the face of a persistent threat to her own life.
Maybe the inside view of that would be hugely emotional, and might impair dispassionate thought a tad?
Me, I think it was a narratively appropriate scene for him to reintroduce a little cliched comedy. It was a little overdone on both sides for comic effect, but that’s how you make comedy. I thought it worked. I thought it was fun. I think he tends a little toward slapstick with his comedy, and it’s not intended to be taken as entirely realistic character development.
Strongly agree, also like to point out:
What makes you assume she will endorse it after she has had time to calm down and think about it for 30 seconds? I endorse incoherent positions all the time that I then am forced to retract on reflection. Doesn’t everyone? If our knee jerk reactions to things were correct we wouldn’t all be here arguing on LW.
Eliezer obviously agrees with you, but… Hermione doesn’t sound silly at all to me. Okay, explicitly believing that sufficient lack of sympathy makes one an inherently bad person is silly, but no sillier than Dumbledore’s deathism. And the jealousy is completely justified. Harry encouraged the rivalry, then promised they would study magic together—that they’d be the team to crack it, the only researchers in the wizarding world, not that she could lend a hand as human library. Of course they’re supposed to be Science Monogamous. And it’s not like he’s met another great scientist; he’s going out of his way to teach science to someone who hated her.
I tried to get one of my friends to read MoR and he quit after about Chapter 20 because he was getting annoyed at how the children weren’t acting like children. I think from his point of view, the disparity you’re identifying between Hermione and Harry, say, doesn’t count as mishandling Hermione so much as mishandling Harry… as far as my friend’s point of view is concerned, Hermione acting silly is a completely appropriate response to what she’s been through, and there is something deeply wrong with Harry Potter.
And… this is hard to talk about because I feel like I constantly have to make sure what I’m saying doesn’t count as Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy. I have some small understanding of male privilege. It would be nice if I could be given the benefit of the doubt on this. (Now I’m trying to figure out if that counts as Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy...)
Don’t worry about it. Complaints about “Clueless Male Cluelessly Defending The Patriarchy” are mostly an excuse to enforce norms about things you can’t say.
Complaints about “things you can’t say” are mostly defenses of extortionate strategies in social relations.
IME people very often do that in real life.