feminist reading of Hermione's character in Harry Potter

v Feminist reading of Hermione’s character in Harry Potter

 

For many of us, the Harry Potter books had been one of the best memories of our growing years. The novels, woven in the rich fabric of fantasy and magic, embroidered with threads of friendship, selfless love, courage, loyalty, sacrifice, and the triumph of goodness over evil resonated with us at the deepest levels.

Harry Potter taught us that even the most ordinary person has the power to bring a positive change in the world. The books gave us heroines like Hermione Granger – intelligent, fierce, and a loyal friend, someone who values books more than her looks. When society was teaching us girls that being pretty was the most desirable trait for our gender, Rowling reminded us that it was okay to be awkward and to prefer the pursuit of knowledge over the pursuit of outward beauty. Throughout the series our favorite female characters like Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are shown as not being overtly conscious about the so called girlish issues.

Ron and Harry are Hermione’s friends because she is not like other girls. Rowling’s intention here might have been to portray an unconventional heroine. Someone who is geeky with bushy hair. Someone who prefers to read and can go to any extent to protect her friends. Though this is a matter to rejoice, what’s problematic is that girls who’d been shown as pretty or concerned about their appearance etc. had been reduced to being remembered only for that though they may have done brave things too. Case in point, Lavender and Fleur.

Though these characters gain the readers sympathy in the end, the problem is that it should not be a case where some qualities of women deem them to be superior to others. Why can’t a woman love makeup and still be smart? Why do we need to depend on stereotypes to love one over the other?

These are the questions which sometimes even we need to ask ourselves deep down. How many times did we feel proud to say, “Oh I am not like the other girls and that’s why I have more male friends?” By putting a certain category of girls down, we ourselves are perpetrating the same vice that we are fighting against – judging women for their life choices.