Hermione Granger
Researcher Michele Fry states that “readers can see Hermione not only as a strong female character, an essential part of Harry's life, but also as a feminist protagonist in her own right” (165). Fry argues that Hermione can be seen as another main character in the series, and this is an interesting point that she brings up. Many strong female characters appear throughout the series, and they play many differing parts, including a friend, mother, sister, student, etc. Hermione Granger is a good example of the many parts a character might represent because she is a friend and a student, and she is portrayed in many different lights throughout the novels. As author Meredith Cherland points out, throughout Harry Potter “we see Hermione the giggler, Hermione the helpful and capable, Hermione the emotionally expressive, and Hermione the clever” (278). She states that Hermione is depicted in many different ways, and this shows that all of these distinctive attributes put together make her a strong female, because she can be all of these things without losing herself. In some pieces of pop culture, males are represented as braver, wiser and more powerful than the women. Among many movies and books, this can primarily be seen in the Spiderman trilogy, where Spiderman’s enemies capture his girlfriends to force Spiderman to fight, and in every movie the male is always the one who has to defeat evil to save the female. However, Harry Potter is different in the sense that you can find a ton of important women in the series, as well as men, and there is no difference in the genders. The women often have to fight their own battles with evil in order to overcome things, and they don’t rely on the male characters to save them. Hermione fights battles differently than do the boys in the novels, she uses her reason and logic in order to solve problems and mysteries, and her strength can be seen from this. Cherland would agree with Fry that the female characters have crucial, non-stereotypical roles within Harry Potter, and we can see this clearly by examining the character of Hermione Granger.
Hermione is the perfect example when examining the feminist principles in the novels. Throughout the series she has many strengths and weaknesses, but she is mostly criticized about her weaknesses as a character. She is attacked at school a lot for being too bossy, whiny, or studious, but these all ignore the fact that she has many strengths as well. The psychologist Gail Grynbaum states “Hermione is repeatedly the truth-sleuth, comfortable in the library, who finds the clue that makes sense of the mystery at hand. She is always the one standing at a crossroads pointing the way.” The fact that Hermione is there at the fork in the road showing the right way to go breaks the gender stereotype of women. Grynbaum points out the fact that Hermione is that character that is smart, and she is able to figure out most of the secrets that no one else can. Her knowledge and brains save her and her friends throughout the series multiple times, showing her strength every time she uses her intellect to defeat a problem.
In the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione shows her true feminist beliefs when she starts “The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare” in order to showcase her ideals that house elves shouldn’t be treated poorly, and to help them get equal treatment. Many of Hermione’s friends grew up with house elves as servants, so they do not see anything wrong with the poor treatment of them, but since Hermione grew up in the real world, she is aware that it is not right to enslave anyone. Even though her friends were not fully on board with her cause, Hermione did not give up, and she kept on fighting for the rights of elves, proving to be a feminist because she is fighting for equal treatment of another species who cant fight for themselves. She is a feminist and a good role model because she works really hard to demonstrate that even though she is a girl, she is just as good as the boys. She proves to everyone that she is intelligent, faithful, and courageous.
Hermione is the perfect example when examining the feminist principles in the novels. Throughout the series she has many strengths and weaknesses, but she is mostly criticized about her weaknesses as a character. She is attacked at school a lot for being too bossy, whiny, or studious, but these all ignore the fact that she has many strengths as well. The psychologist Gail Grynbaum states “Hermione is repeatedly the truth-sleuth, comfortable in the library, who finds the clue that makes sense of the mystery at hand. She is always the one standing at a crossroads pointing the way.” The fact that Hermione is there at the fork in the road showing the right way to go breaks the gender stereotype of women. Grynbaum points out the fact that Hermione is that character that is smart, and she is able to figure out most of the secrets that no one else can. Her knowledge and brains save her and her friends throughout the series multiple times, showing her strength every time she uses her intellect to defeat a problem.
In the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione shows her true feminist beliefs when she starts “The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare” in order to showcase her ideals that house elves shouldn’t be treated poorly, and to help them get equal treatment. Many of Hermione’s friends grew up with house elves as servants, so they do not see anything wrong with the poor treatment of them, but since Hermione grew up in the real world, she is aware that it is not right to enslave anyone. Even though her friends were not fully on board with her cause, Hermione did not give up, and she kept on fighting for the rights of elves, proving to be a feminist because she is fighting for equal treatment of another species who cant fight for themselves. She is a feminist and a good role model because she works really hard to demonstrate that even though she is a girl, she is just as good as the boys. She proves to everyone that she is intelligent, faithful, and courageous.