27th August 2005 Saturday

A lot of people have been asking me why do I like Hermione so? Think it is about time I clarified. Most of my friends thought I like her because the actress that is playing her role is cute and pretty. I must admit that Emma Watson (the actress playing the role of Hermione in the Harry Potter films by Warner Brothers) is indeed real cute when she was young and pretty as she matures but my liking for Hermione started not because of her but because of what JK Rowling (the author of the Harry Potter series) said in one of her interviews. She said:

"When I started to write Hermione she came incredibly easy, largely because she is me. I was swotty, and I had that sense of insecurity underneath. I tried to compensate for that by getting everything right all the time, and, like Hermione, I projected a false confidence, which I know was very irritating to people at times. But underneath it all, I felt completely and utterly inadequate - which is why I completely understand Hermione."

That quote from Rowling really warmed my heart towards Hermione largely because I am in some ways also her. Ever since young, I have tried to excel in my studies. This was partly for my parents but also partly because I needed the confidence. I was never good at communicating with others and I am never good at any sports due to the lack of exercise as a result of the ever so frequent asthmatic attacks that hit me when I was young. That was why I needed the confidence that excellence in studies granted me. This confidence became so important to me when this image was smelted onto me. I tried to keep and maintain this confident and intelligent image by getting everything right at all times. Through this, I might have appeared swotty to loads of people just as Hermione did. But like Herminone, underneath all of these, I know I was never really good and inadequacy was what filled my soul. And like her, I long for someone who could understand the real me. Not the me that I projected. Which was why I fully understand and love Hermione.