Blog Post 2-Hermione

I always think of Hermione when I think about how characters develop throughout the Harry Potter series. When the reader is first introduced to her, she just seems to be a pretentious know-it-all, and Rowling really makes the reader not like her too much, since she has such a stuck up attitude. When she hears Ron making fun of her after transfiguration, however, the reader sees her running past Harry and Ron  and she is obviously very upset. This shows a place for empathy that the reader may not have originally thought there would be. They then realize that she is down in the bathroom with the troll being down there, which they then realized was their fault. 

Then, after Ron and Harry defeat the mountain troll, Hermione takes the blame for it, which is very unlike the Hermione that we had seen up to that point. She seems to really want to be friends with them, and did it  by sacrificing one of the most important things to her, which was her school reputation. 

In the second book, Hermione is the brains of the operation. She figures out what is going on with the Chamber of Secrets, and she even helps them after she was petrified by holding the paper about the basilisk and the word pipes on it. 

In the fourth book, Hermione's character was challenged again by showing her having an interest other than school, which was Viktor Krum. This shows the theme of coming of age, because this is obviously something that all teenagers go through, although readers were most likely surprised by this, since she seemed like the only thing she would ever truly love was her studies. 

The relationship between Ron and Hermione also shows a common theme of romance in the coming of age story. This is a part of the coming of age story that really isn't depicted too much until the fourth book and even more so in the sixth book. This rightfully depicts also how friendships and relationships sometimes have their lines blurred, which is also a confusing part of the coming of age story.

Hermione's position towards Harry throughout the series changes dramatically as the risk to his life becomes greater and greater. She has always been worried about him, but for instance, in the seventh book, she really looks after him because she knows the burden he is bearing, while in the earlier books she was simply telling him not to do things because of his own safety. She realizes he has to face Voldemort, so she simply supports him in the best way possible. This shows what happens in the face of eminent tragedy and trauma and also her growing up and realizing that she needed to support Harry rather than chastise.