Hermoine

In Palmer's quest to understand the witch, he laid out several key aspects to the transformation of woman to witch. The most important feature of these witches, besides being a poor peasant woman most likely high on opiates and hallucinogens from their bread, was that they were the transgressors in society. As peasant females in the patriarchal and sacred focused society, they were the very essence of the marginalized. With little to no say in the man driven household and even less in societal affairs, they were pushed to the sides and instructed how to be a good woman. If they transgressed from these misogynistic laced ideals of a woman, they were deemed a witch and most likely perished soon after their raunchy confession.

Therefore, the witch is a tool that allows us to examine both "natural" and "unnatural" behaviors of the early modern society through the labeling of witchcraft. Since, western witchcraft was established it has gone through transformations of meaning and acceptance. However, does the witch still represent the transgressor of society? If so,what can that say about our current norms and stereotypes surrounding the woman in the 21st century?

I think the witch still represents the transgressor in the modern world. One of the best examples of a modern witch, is Hermoine Granger from J.K. Rowling's much celebrated Harry Potter series, because her character challenged the norms of representing fictional woman in media. Before, Hermoine's character was born in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it was hard to find a realistic woman for little girls to look up to. Most females represented in society then, and arguably still now, were distinguished by good looks and the ability to be captured and patiently wait to be saved my a man. Not, saying that woman are the only victims of media generalizations. Men too face demeaning simplifications and depictions of "how to be a good man" in media.

As an independent woman, who takes control of her own fate, Hermoine challenged the popular depiction of the woman. However, instead of being celebrated for intelligence in her early years, she was told that she was "too studious" and "too bossy". Her intellect and quest to learn were something deemed not normal. Arguably, if Hermoine's actions had been done by a boy, she would not have faced these accusations. Especially, as much of the 20th century woman have not been celebrated as the intellectual beings like men were. Woman were expected to pursue education until they found a good husband to take care of them and then start popping out babies for him. While, a lot has changed since this was the argued norm in the mid 20th century, it was still recent enough to have negative impacts on the depiction of women and in some cases might still be the norm.

It is also interesting to note her relationship with the main character, which is strictly platonic. This platonic relationship shows that men and females are able to successfully have a friendship. Hermoine is able to work in tandem with Harry without her sex getting in the way. This is especially interesting with the term "friend-zoning" that has been circulating around pop culture recently. The term, which I doubt I have to define but will anyway, is when one party in the friendship, usually the male, develops unrequited feelings for the other. While, this might be harmless, it can be argued there is underlying misogynistic thoughts with friend zoning, such that if a male is nice or friendly to a girl, she is expected to drop her panties for them and if she refuses him she magically transports him to the friend zone. Witchcraft!

Generally, Hermoine kicks ass without the help of a man and throws the damsel in distress 1950's housewife stereotype out the window for the modern woman. Hermoine's sex never impedes with her ability to perform and often times out performs her male counter parts. It could even be said that the stories progression and the eventual destruction of Lord Voldemort (sorry for the spoiler) could not have happened without Hermoine and her logic, cunning, and strong sense of self. Without Hermoine, Harry would never passed the potions puzzle in the chamber of secrets, Voldemort would have come back to life in the first book, and killed Harry. The End. This pattern of Hermoine saving the day with her emotional and intellectual intelligence repeats itself throughout the entire series, she is the one who figures out the basilisk's hiding place, her time-turner she was given to pursue an intensive course load saves Serious Black and Buck Beak, she believes harry in the fourth book and is the only one who helps him and is thus deemed a harlot by the popular columnist Retter Skeeter, and so on.

After reading Palmer's work, I believe that Hermoine represents an excellent example of a fictional woman challenging the norms and scruples of what the 20th/21st century woman should be and act like. However, her representation in a children's book means much more than that. It shows young girls that they don't have to shy away from their intelligence and interests. This is especially pertinent now, with the concerning existing gender gap in the hard sciences. Therefore, Hermoine represents the modern transgressional woman who is able to lead, follow her intellectual interests, maintain a healthy platonic relationship with a man without her sexuality getting in the way, save herself and her male counterparts, and whose last concern is wasting her time applying Sleakeazy's Hair Potion every day in order to make her physically appealing to the opposite sex.