Friday, September 5, 2014

The Brave and the Bold: Hermione Granger

            At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hermione Granger is shown as being incredibly intellectual, eager, and out of place. She is first revealed on the Hogwart’s Express, the train to the wizarding school, Hogwarts. She meets the story’s main hero, Harry Potter, in a train car where his new comrade Ron Weasley attempts a spell. She shows off her knowledge by explaining how she has read all the books assigned to first year students. She says, “I’ve learned all our course books by, heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough” (105-6), showing how books are her main resource. She, like Harry, is new to the wizard world. She is eager to join the community of witches and wizards by gathering knowledge and practicing her skills through an academic setting.
            Hermione’s character develops in the story when a troll strikes on Halloween at Hogwarts. She blatantly lies to her professors to protect her acquaintances, Ron and Harry. After that, the three become best friends. When she lies to the professors, she tells them, “I went looking for the troll because I—I thought I could deal with it on my own—you know, because I’ve read all about them” (177). This shows how even professors knew that her character was now out right bold without having knowledge from books to back up her actions.

            The main plot of the story could not unfold without the characters learning about the Sorcerer’s Stone. To do this, they had to find out something about its creator, Nicholas Flamel. She encourages Harry to get knowledge like her, through books. When the library yields no results, she thinks that the answer must be somewhere in books, so she recommends the “restricted section” (197). At last, her memory is jogged when Harry mentions him, and she returns to a book she had checked out before. She relies on knowledge more than common sense. While she is new to the wizarding world, her eagerness to learn gives her an advantage in discovery among her young wizard friends.

2 comments:

  1. We all know of people like Hermione. Those classmates who are the know-it-alls. Many of us tend to roll our eyes at those students who sit in the front and answer all the questions a professor asks. The thing that's funny is that as soon as there is a group project, everyone wants to be the know-it-all's partner. Hermione's knowledge tends to impair her "people skills" when it comes to making friends but, that knowledge come is handy many times throughout the book. If it weren't for Hermione, I don't think Harry would of survive through the first book let alone the series.

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  2. I also choose Hermione this time, and I think she is very smart and confident. When Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione first met each other on the train to the Hogwarts, Hermione showed her studious than others. She had learned all their books by heart. She also inquired a lot of news about Hogwarts, and had tried a few simple spells at home and it's all worked. Her confidence comes from her preview.

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