Javert, Percy, Snape and Neville

[butagirl at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 31110

Molly Denton wrote:

<<What you just said there brings to mind another literary character.... 
anyone read "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo? Sounds like Javert..... the 
"rules obsessed" policeman who is, in technicality, working for good, but 
really, when you come down to it, is the real force of evil in the book. >>

and wrote:
<< > > I know of the story, but Javert is an obsessive man who wants all 
 >  of the power.>>

I must disagree, both in the analysis of Javert and the comparison to Percy. 
Deep down, Javert is not an evil man, but is rather saddled by an 
overwhelming sense of duty. Unfortunately this causes massive conflicts 
because of the demands on him by a) being entrusted with enforcing the law 
and b) the debts of gratitude to the criminal Valjean that he feels in his 
heart he must uphold. He is a character to be pitied, not loathed, and his 
self-destruction is one of the most tragic elements of the saga, IMO. A 
similar character, although in a much more light-hearted vein, is Dick 
Deadeye in HMS Pinafore - ugly in appearance and ill-tempered in character, 
he is universally disliked, yet all of his unsavoury actions can be 
attributed to "doing the right thing".

Before you brought the character of Javert up, I had always equated Javert 
with Snape. This man appears to be torn in different directions by the the 
events of his past - his dislike of James versus the fact that he saved his 
life. 

Although Snape obviously does dislike Harry, there is no evidence beyond 
simple petty behaviour that he treats him cruelly. Snape does what he 
believes is the right thing - for example chanting the counter-curse to aid 
Harry in his Quidditch match - though it's obvious he'd rather be protecting 
someone else. If he is indeed beholden to Harry because he has to trust the 
boy not to spread the truth about his DE past, then this will hardly improve 
matters.

On the subject of Neville, I think he is a prime candidate to join the Dark 
Side - albeit temporarily, and not of his own volition. My theory is:

Someone in league with LV befriends him and, being quite a lonely boy and not 
the sharpest tool in the box, Neville is taken in by these advances of 
friendship (I don't feel that he would be bewitched into doing this, because 
it's already been done with Ginny in PoA). He would eventually see the light 
and return to the fold, but not before some damage has been done.


Sharon Brindle