When Harry meets Ginny

I admit that I enjoyed the Harry Potter series, the books more than the movies.  It even started my translation career as I translated three of the books into Hebrew on a nightly basis to my then small daughter as I read her the story from the English version. Like all good social literature, Harry Potter reflects the values of general society, which can be problematic.

At the end of the final book, the readers are informed that Harry married Ginny Weasley while Hermione marries the brother Ron. My initial reaction was these pairings that it was a waste for the Harry and Hermione.  To explain, on an intellectual and personal value, the two stars were equal, albeit with different approaches, and clearly superior to their chosen spouses. Hemione’s matching is more disturbing since she seemed strong enough emotionally to handle an intelligent husband while Harry maybe needed emotional support more than intellectual partnership given his background.

On second thought, I can understand the choice of the writer.  Looking at the biographies of intellectually outstanding women, just as with men, I found very few women who dared married their equal. The best example is Hannah Arendt, the leading female philosopher of the 20^th century, who married Heinrich Blücher, a leading public speaker.  Their partnership was so complete that their ideas are considered inseparable even if their ways of expression differed. At the beginning of the 20^th century, the great German socialist thinker Rosa Luxemburg teamed up with Gustav Lübeck to try to prevent World War I from happening, to her demise. These two people were passionate and intelligent in their personal and professional lives. These are the exceptions.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, aka Georges Sand, a French female novelist of the 19^th century, had a successful career after divorcing her first husband but never married the famous men she had affairs with, including Chopin, Alfred de Musset and Flaubert. By contrast, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a wonderful French writer of the 20^th century, had a successful career as a novelist and was buried in the French Pantheon, the greatest honor in France. She did remarry, to the publisher Henry de Jouvenel, apparently to attain financial stability.  These women were more practical, it appears, and represent the more common choices of even the most exceptionally women.

On second thought, marriage is a complicated decision and can be based on many factors aside from intellectual compatibility, including emotional need, sexual appetite and financial stability. These are no less legitimate or prognostic regarding the future of the marriage.  So, it is okay if some of Harry Potter’s children are redheads. Still, it is a pity that the leading pair did not tie the knot as their children would have amazing, a bit like the children of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in terms of tennis talent.