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Conjuring Her Self: Hermione's Self-Determination In Harry Potter, Gwendolyn Limbach

Honors College Theses

In most classic children’s literature, a female protagonist, though the center of the story, does not exhibit agency; rather, power “arrives in the form of rescue” and is acted upon her by a male hero (Sweeney). Recent feminist children’s literature, such as The Princess and the Admiral and The Ordinary Princess, empowers the protagonist to be her own rescuer. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series may not fit the expected mold of feminist children’s literature, but one of the main characters, Hermione Granger, is certainly the books’ only girl feminist. Hermione separates herself from other models of girlhood, such as the …