Well, you can of course argue that Hermione, being the second smartest first year student, is the obvious candidate for te role of the best friend who dies too early, do you think it’d be equally plausible if Eliezer had killed Neville? Neville should be able to stand just as close to Harry as Hermione did (since Harry has not hit puberty yet, and thinks girls are “icky”), but I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that Neville’s death could have brought forth the same emotions both in Harry and in the readers that Hermione’s death did. Eliezer probably also knows this and thus chose Hermione to die.
Yes, exactly. Neville’s death would not have created these emotions, but the reason is not that he is male and Hermione is female. Neville should not be able to stand just as close to Harry. Neville is in no position to be anything as close to a comrade or equal as Hermione was. Neville is just someone who Harry has sympathy for and by whose development Harry was impressed. This is a very different thing from the “the two of us are different from the rest of the world” connection that he quickly developed with Hermione at the beginning (and which then faded off a bit, not least due to the questionable SPHEW arc).
I think this may be taking Harry at his word a bit too much when it comes to his views on Hermione. Just because Harry allways speaks in “rationalist” vocabulary, doesn’t mean he is allways rational or free of bias. He is often unfair to people when he’s emotional. And his blind spot for Quirrel is a mile wide. “It was the defense professor last year, and the year before that, and the year before that...” Someone actualy starting from priors and adjusting finds Quirrel very quickly, particularly when you factor in the sense of doom.
Harry thinks he doesn’t like Hermione that way, Harry’s dad is pretty sure he does. I think regarding Harry’s statements as the more objective one here may be a mistake.
Harry thinks he doesn’t like Hermione that way, Harry’s dad is pretty sure he does.
In my experience, relatives are pretty sure the kid likes any friend of the opposite gender that way if they get brought to their attention. At least, in the culture in my general area.
Harry seems to think of puberty as purely binary. It’s not; it’s a gradual process. I don’t know what deficiency in Harry’s education led him to think this way, but it fumbles all of his thoughts about puberty.
Harry almost seems to be reasoning as follows:
I’m not sexually attracted to anybody.
Therefore, I haven’t hit puberty yet.
Therefore, I can’t possibly be romantically attracted to anybody.
Or, Harry is summarizing a wide variety of observations on the topic of puberty in a pithy and relatively un-embarrassing fashion. We don’t know Harry’s actual basis for claiming that he hasn’t yet begun puberty, but his comments on the subject are just a little too flippant to be the complete truth.
Quite true. My ideas at Harry’s age were actually very much like Harry’s, and I didn’t recognise my own first puberty-influenced romantic attractions (at, let me see, probably the age of 10, and at least two years before I felt any sexual attraction to anybody). I just expected Harry himself to know better.
Yet it is extremely out of character for Harry to fail to have conducted even minimal research on a phenomenon which will drastically impact his thinking and emotions as soon as it inevitably kicks in within the next couple of years.
What is “minimal research” on puberty when one is eleven-twelve?
Whatever “minimal research” is, he has vastly surpassed it in most areas where he’s done any research at all, from physics and rationality to transfiguration and potions. It seems nonsensical to expect less of him in one area than all the others without a very good reason.
Well, you can of course argue that Hermione, being the second smartest first year student, is the obvious candidate for te role of the best friend who dies too early, do you think it’d be equally plausible if Eliezer had killed Neville? Neville should be able to stand just as close to Harry as Hermione did (since Harry has not hit puberty yet, and thinks girls are “icky”), but I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that Neville’s death could have brought forth the same emotions both in Harry and in the readers that Hermione’s death did. Eliezer probably also knows this and thus chose Hermione to die.
Yes, exactly. Neville’s death would not have created these emotions, but the reason is not that he is male and Hermione is female. Neville should not be able to stand just as close to Harry. Neville is in no position to be anything as close to a comrade or equal as Hermione was. Neville is just someone who Harry has sympathy for and by whose development Harry was impressed. This is a very different thing from the “the two of us are different from the rest of the world” connection that he quickly developed with Hermione at the beginning (and which then faded off a bit, not least due to the questionable SPHEW arc).
I think this may be taking Harry at his word a bit too much when it comes to his views on Hermione. Just because Harry allways speaks in “rationalist” vocabulary, doesn’t mean he is allways rational or free of bias. He is often unfair to people when he’s emotional. And his blind spot for Quirrel is a mile wide. “It was the defense professor last year, and the year before that, and the year before that...” Someone actualy starting from priors and adjusting finds Quirrel very quickly, particularly when you factor in the sense of doom.
Harry thinks he doesn’t like Hermione that way, Harry’s dad is pretty sure he does. I think regarding Harry’s statements as the more objective one here may be a mistake.
In my experience, relatives are pretty sure the kid likes any friend of the opposite gender that way if they get brought to their attention. At least, in the culture in my general area.
Harry seems to think of puberty as purely binary. It’s not; it’s a gradual process. I don’t know what deficiency in Harry’s education led him to think this way, but it fumbles all of his thoughts about puberty.
Harry almost seems to be reasoning as follows:
I’m not sexually attracted to anybody.
Therefore, I haven’t hit puberty yet.
Therefore, I can’t possibly be romantically attracted to anybody.
Puberty doesn’t work that way.
Or, Harry is summarizing a wide variety of observations on the topic of puberty in a pithy and relatively un-embarrassing fashion. We don’t know Harry’s actual basis for claiming that he hasn’t yet begun puberty, but his comments on the subject are just a little too flippant to be the complete truth.
Real adolescents are often stunningly ignorant of how puberty works, despite all efforts to educate them otherwise...
Quite true. My ideas at Harry’s age were actually very much like Harry’s, and I didn’t recognise my own first puberty-influenced romantic attractions (at, let me see, probably the age of 10, and at least two years before I felt any sexual attraction to anybody). I just expected Harry himself to know better.
Yet it is extremely out of character for Harry to fail to have conducted even minimal research on a phenomenon which will drastically impact his thinking and emotions as soon as it inevitably kicks in within the next couple of years.
He clearly knows about hormones and etc., he just doesn’t know the details of the process.
How much hindsight bias are you operating under? What is “minimal research” on puberty when one is eleven-twelve?
Whatever “minimal research” is, he has vastly surpassed it in most areas where he’s done any research at all, from physics and rationality to transfiguration and potions. It seems nonsensical to expect less of him in one area than all the others without a very good reason.