Neville's courage

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 5917

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Gen " <gchua at s...> wrote:

> Agree with you. It's easy to write Neville off when he's portrayed 
> as nervous and awkward, but he has shown courage, (snip)

I agree with you and Paul on Neville's courage.

> Not having loving parents to grow up with but a severe demanding
> granny instead must have had some impact on his confidence and
> [self] esteem.

I think we know that his granny is severe and demanding, but we 
surely do not know that she is not loving. That she sent him a Howler 
is only what Molly did to Ron, and he was pleased that she sent him 
the Remembrall, and she sent his Hogsmeade permission slip straight 
to McGonagall, which indicates that she did not want him to be 
deprived of Hogsmeade outings just because of losing the permission 
slip. 

If the older generation e.g. Frank Longbottom and his wife, were 
raised by severe and demanding, altho' loving, [Victorian style] 
parents (obituaries of Dr. Spock the baby book man including readings 
from the baby books that existed before he wrote his. Quotes about 
the sickening sentimentality of parents who cuddle their babies, 
which even the most mawkish parent would not do if only he/she knew 
that he/she was softening up the child so that he/she would not be 
tough enough to endure the rigors of adult life, and that was post- 
Victorian), why did they come out competent and popular? 

> I actually felt so sorry for the poor boy when I read about his
> parents being tortured to insanity and not being able to recognise
> him at all.

It seems to me that magical mental illnesses (madness) don't work the 
same way as Muggle mental illnesses. I don't think there is a Muggle 
mental illness that resembles the madness suffered by Neville's 
parents in its cause and symptoms. Being tortured leads to Post 
Traumatic Stress Disorder which does not include on-going amnesia.