The Power and Importance of Choice

Over the course of the narrative, Hermione makes a series of important, challenging choices that develop a pair of entwined themes: that making right decisions often depends on choosing to face uncomfortable truths, and that making such choices results in positive transformation. The first part of this idea is on evidence virtually from the very beginning of the book – specifically, in Chapter 3, with Hermione’s choice to tell a frank but powerful story about the double-barreled “curse” that many people believe is tracking the graduating classes of her small-town high school. In making the choice to tell the story she does, Hermione is bringing difficult truths into the open, and identifying them frankly, without shame or sentimentality. She is also committing to making positive change in order to rise above the potentially debilitating secrecy and stigma previously associated with those truths...