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starfishstarOooh. Yesterday after Thanksgiving dinner with family and old family friends (lovely) there were desserts/drinks with new friends/colleagues (also lovely). We were sitting there, talking like grown-ups and all, in my colleague's gorgeous house...and then all at once we were talking about Harry Potter. (It was the host's brother who first brought up Harry Potter, but I sat forward so avidly the moment the words left his mouth!)
The host's brother asked the two following great questions, which I am still thinking about today:
#1: He said, I wish we'd gotten to see the scene where Hermione destroyed the cup Horcrux, the way we got to see Ron destroy the locket. What did Hermione experience when she destroyed the Horcrux? i.e., What's her greatest fear?
(I realized later this question doesn't entirely work, because it assumes each time someone destroys a Horcrux, they go through what Ron did, which isn't true. Most of the Horcruxes are simply destroyed (burned up by Fiendfyre, snake's head chopped off, etc.) without the psychological attack Ron had to go through. But for the sake of a neat question, let's go with it...)
One person present last night said, We already already know what Hermione's greatest fear is: Failure. McGongall telling her she failed a test. And I said, okay, but: Hermione is book 7 has grown up so much, she's going to have very different concerns by then. So her fear might still be failure, but it would be, like, Harry dying because she failed him, rather than just academic failure. And it would be probably be more nuanced than that, too – like how Ron in tackling the locket isn't just going "Ack, I'm afraid Hermione likes Harry more than me," he's facing down how he's always felt second best in all his life – second to Harry, secondary in a family that has so many high-achieving kids, etc.
Thoughts about Hermione's equivalent?
#2: What would Hermione see if she looked in the Mirror of Erised? (Such a great question for any character!)
My first thought was: I think she would see "equality," whatever that might look like to her, perfect equality. It might not be well thought-out and it might not all work out smoothly, but that's what she would want. Someone else in the conversation thought she would just see a huge library: all the knowledge, ever, there for her to pore over. (Did people seriously read this series and come away with the idea that Hermione Only Cares About Books?? That's selling her so short!)
But then we started talking about how libraries kind of are the embodiment of equality: All the books, all the knowledge is there, for everyone to come in and access if they want. Equality is not the same as justice, and equality doesn't ensure that everyone will in fact get what they need, it just says: This is here and everyone gets to have access to it, equally. Even the terribly written books, even the ethically repugnant books: If they exist, we'll provide them, because we're librarians and we don't do censorship. (Led to an interesting side thread about how being anti-censorship is basically the librarian's creed. Someone joked there should be the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath for librarians, and it would have to do with providing knowledge to all.)
...In an interesting but not unrelated twist, over here in Real Life land, I just accepted a new job...in a library. ! Starting as soon as the paperwork is in order; it's in a high school library, so I'll get to try out both "Is librarian something I might want to be" and also "Are teens an age group I want to work with (or do I want to go back to awesome six-year-olds)" – good questions to ponder as I think about "become-a-(children's?)-librarian" as one possible next path. But then, I always have so many potential paths! Makes it hard to choose.
The host's brother asked the two following great questions, which I am still thinking about today:
#1: He said, I wish we'd gotten to see the scene where Hermione destroyed the cup Horcrux, the way we got to see Ron destroy the locket. What did Hermione experience when she destroyed the Horcrux? i.e., What's her greatest fear?
(I realized later this question doesn't entirely work, because it assumes each time someone destroys a Horcrux, they go through what Ron did, which isn't true. Most of the Horcruxes are simply destroyed (burned up by Fiendfyre, snake's head chopped off, etc.) without the psychological attack Ron had to go through. But for the sake of a neat question, let's go with it...)
One person present last night said, We already already know what Hermione's greatest fear is: Failure. McGongall telling her she failed a test. And I said, okay, but: Hermione is book 7 has grown up so much, she's going to have very different concerns by then. So her fear might still be failure, but it would be, like, Harry dying because she failed him, rather than just academic failure. And it would be probably be more nuanced than that, too – like how Ron in tackling the locket isn't just going "Ack, I'm afraid Hermione likes Harry more than me," he's facing down how he's always felt second best in all his life – second to Harry, secondary in a family that has so many high-achieving kids, etc.
Thoughts about Hermione's equivalent?
#2: What would Hermione see if she looked in the Mirror of Erised? (Such a great question for any character!)
My first thought was: I think she would see "equality," whatever that might look like to her, perfect equality. It might not be well thought-out and it might not all work out smoothly, but that's what she would want. Someone else in the conversation thought she would just see a huge library: all the knowledge, ever, there for her to pore over. (Did people seriously read this series and come away with the idea that Hermione Only Cares About Books?? That's selling her so short!)
But then we started talking about how libraries kind of are the embodiment of equality: All the books, all the knowledge is there, for everyone to come in and access if they want. Equality is not the same as justice, and equality doesn't ensure that everyone will in fact get what they need, it just says: This is here and everyone gets to have access to it, equally. Even the terribly written books, even the ethically repugnant books: If they exist, we'll provide them, because we're librarians and we don't do censorship. (Led to an interesting side thread about how being anti-censorship is basically the librarian's creed. Someone joked there should be the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath for librarians, and it would have to do with providing knowledge to all.)
...In an interesting but not unrelated twist, over here in Real Life land, I just accepted a new job...in a library. ! Starting as soon as the paperwork is in order; it's in a high school library, so I'll get to try out both "Is librarian something I might want to be" and also "Are teens an age group I want to work with (or do I want to go back to awesome six-year-olds)" – good questions to ponder as I think about "become-a-(children's?)-librarian" as one possible next path. But then, I always have so many potential paths! Makes it hard to choose.
