As a continuous process throughout history, gender issues are not only brought to attention in our society, but in literature as well. “Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender”, written by Eliza T. Dresang, brings up the portrayal of sexism in the Harry Potter series focusing on her belief that the character, Hermione Granger, is being portrayed as a feminist. For that reason, Dresang concludes that the entire series, itself, serves as a feminists’ children’s novel. In her article, Dresang writes about how the character, Hermione Granger”, was developed by J.K. Rowling. There are examples that touch upon the literary aspect of the name “Hermione” along with the connection between the character and the author. Dresang’s article certainly grabs the attention of adults, children, feminists, non-feminists, and those a part of literature education.
Eliza T. Dresang believes that the existence of sexism is very much presented in the series because of the the character, Hermione Granger, and her role as a female. Like the other many names of characters in the Harry Potter books, Hermione Granger possessed an external meaning to the author herself. However, the inspiration for the name Hermione also came from the influences of several literary Hermiones as well. It served as an intertextuality from various texts that has common features in the way the character was named and shaped as. With this in mind, Dresang focuses her argument on the “contextual placement” (213) of Hermione Granger and her role within the series.
For her first premise, Dresang provides evidence that is based off of past literary works that was not referenced by the author of Harry Potter. Dresang claims that she has found similarities amongst the many fictional women that came before Rowling’s Hermione. For example, Dresang introduces the reader to “The Saint Hermione” (214). In this reference, Hermione from the Bible is shown as a prophetess and also a feast day as well. Just like the character, “Hermione Granger”, from the Harry Potter series, “The Saint Hermione” is a portrayal of a woman “with this name that leads their lives with a certain determination and resilience, an….purpose” (214). In this case, Dresang argues that this intertextuality provides a sense of belonging between a “community” of Hermiones from different literary periods that may have had an effective impact on Rowling’s Hermione Granger.
Later on in the article, Dresang discusses the connection between the author and the character development of Hermione Granger. Here, Eliza T. Dresang explains the difference between a caricature and a stereotype. According to J.K. Rowling, Hermione Granger “was most consciously based on a real person, and that person was me” (212). This reference is a representation of literary caricature, which is an exaggeration of real life individuals. On the other hand, a stereotype is something that contains a connection to a group of people that can be associated with negative or positive attitudes and images. In the first three books, Hermione Granger is introduced as “highly intelligent, overachieving, somewhat annoying student” (221). Here, Dresang analyzes that Rowling wanted to show that Hermione starts to learn how “to apply her knowledge in a more reasonable and appropriate way” (222). Another connection between the author and the character is through Hermione’s concern to the rights of others. This was added on to Hermione’s character because J.K. Rowling worked for Amnesty International in London, in which she researched human rights issues in Africa. When it comes to the rights of others, Hermione’s dedication is shown through her fight for the rights of the house-elves. In this part of her argument, Dresang uses strong evidence by providing the reader examples directly from the Harry Potter books. Dresang focused on what Rowling wrote, and not what she could or should have written, which shows an unbiased perspective from the content of her argument.
The second premise of Eliza T. Dresang’s argument emphasizes her opinion on how the Harry Potter series is a feminist children’s novel. According to the author of Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels, Roberta Seelinger states that a feminist children’s novel is a novel that presents the main character(s) as someone empowered despite their gender. In order to defend the portrayal of the series as a feminist children’s novel, Dresang provides the reader a model of Female Voices in Youth Literature that was made by Kay Vandergrift. To strengthen the argument, Dresang writes that Vandergrift was able to convince her that Rowling did not “consciously write these texts as feminist” (220). Rowling always knew that Harry Potter would always be known as Harry, “the boy who lived”, and not as “Harriet” (220). Dresang also adds that J.K. Rowling has no regrets on her choice of female characters, which shows equality amongst the characters in her novel too. Comments and interviews that were given by J.K. Rowling, such as this, validates Dresang’s thought that Rowling did not write the series with the intentions of a feminist. Therefore strengthening the second premise in Dresang’s argument.
Although Eliza T. Dresang’s article can grab the attention to adults and children who have read the Harry Potter Series, the main stakeholders of this argument are specifically those who are well aware with the issue of sexism and those who are for or against feminism. This is supported by the stereotype that is connected to the characteristics of Hermione Granger. Hermione is known to have a weak and silly characteristic due to terms, such as “shriek” or “whimper”. From any feminist standpoint, this misleading interpretation of Hermione is “quite out of line with her core role in the book” (223). From novel to novel, the development of Hermione Granger represents the example of the concept of obtaining information and knowledge turning into power. The character’s growth in the series creates an effective impact on the books’ classification as children’s literature to actually being a feminist children’s literature.
Putting aside Dresang’s belief that the Harry Potter series is a feminist’s children’s novel, she really emphasizes the role construction of Hermione Granger. The resolution of her argument seems to be that more adults and kids should be aware of the gender issues that are shown in the series. In her argument, Eliza T. Dresang supports her claims and opinions through direct text examples and unbiased comments on Rowling’s writing. As a result, being able to leave room for interpretations from the education of children’s literature and the opinions of other readers and authors.