Neville Longbottom. My hero. (Re: In defense of Hermione and Neville)

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 34859

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ssk7882" <theennead at a...> wrote:

> "Neville listened jealously to the others' conversation as they 
> relived the Cup match."
> 
> and then, only two lines later:
> 
> "'Oh *wow,*' said Neville enviously as Ron tipped Krum into his 
pudgy 
> hand."
> 
> Heh.  No, but I'm just kidding.  I don't think that Neville's really 
 
> at all an envious or a jealous person.  On first reading, though, I 
> certainly did notice the use of those adverbs -- and so close 
> together, too!  They really jumped off the page at me.  I remember 
> thinking: "Oh, no.  JKR isn't trying to encourage us to think of 
> Neville as a future Pettigrew *again,* is she?"

All "the future Pettigrew" hints point to something in the future. 
But, FWIW, I think it's a red herring, though I could see people be 
suspicious of each other in the future just like the first time 
around. 

> I agree, although for different reasons.  What I think that I dread 
> most about this series is the spectre of Neville "coming into his 
> own" and then immediately becoming some Joe Gryffindor warrior type: 
> going out and kicking DE butt like his Auror father, upholding his 
> family's wretched *pride.*

I agree! I could not endure that. Thankfully, I don't see JKR doing 
that. 

> 
> Ugh.  Gives me the willies, that does.  Neville's plenty brave, just 
> the way he is.  He's a fourteen-year-old boy who wears fuzzy 
slippers 
> without shame.  You think *that* doesn't take courage?  
> 
> He's never once tried to use his parents' plight to leverage the 
> slightest bit of pity or slack out of anyone; he accepts the Trio's 
> social brush-offs without complaint; he doesn't go squealing to the 
> authorities when Draco Malfoy practices curses on him in the 
hallway; 
> he accepts his punishment for "losing" his list of passwords (a 
crime 
> he didn't even really commit, as it turns out) unflinchingly; he is 
> always willing to own up to his own flaws, mistakes and weaknesses; 
> and he's capable not only of asking a girl to a ball, but also of 
> accepting rejection with good grace -- and then braving rejection a 
> second time by asking someone else the very same *day!*

Go Neville! 
> 
> I mean, let's face it.  Neville's ability to find himself a date for 
> the Yule Ball, his willingness to brave romantic rejection, makes 
> both Ron and Harry look like a couple of utter wusses.  ;-)
> 
> The kid's a trooper.  He's got loads of courage.  It's just not the 
> sort of courage that his culture values, sadly.

Or Harry, at first. But Harry's learning, and I'm sure the culture 
will learn. I was so thrilled when Harry finally was shocked into 
appreciating Neville. 

> (And I also desperately want to believe that the real reason that 
> Neville took one of Hermione's S.P.E.W badges was *not*, as Harry 
> thought, because he was browbeaten into it, but because she 
convinced 
> him that she was right about the House Elves -- and because he 
really 
> is *brave.*)

Of course, Harry's wrong. Since when was Neville brow-beaten into 
anything? He's also a kind and compassionate soul, who would care 
about the house elves's plight if he was convinced of it. Does it say 
in the book if he wore the badge around? 



> I mean, warrior courage is of course very admirable -- and it is 
also 
> exceptionally valuable, especially in a time of war -- but there are 
> other types of bravery.  What about the courage of compassion?  Or 
of 
> non-conformism?  Or even of principled pacifism?
 
Neville a la Frodo Baggins? For the record, I don't like principled 
pacifism strictly, any more than any other principled wrong idea 
(imho), so I'd probably flip my lid if Neville became an out-and-out 
pacifist.(Projecting my own beliefs on the story.) However, I can 
really admire people who are pacifists in certain wars. This, though, 
might not be it.

X: But Voldemort is going to kill us.
Neville: We must practice pacifism. 

On the other hand, JKR could kick up plenty of unjust wars for Neville 
to protest against. How about novels about Neville grown up? 

> 
> What I would really like to see Neville do, once he "finds himself," 
> is to serve as an exemplar of some *other* type of courage.  I want 
> him to lead sit-down protests in front of the Ministry of Magic.  

Wouldn't it be fun to see Percy trying to remove him? Of course, 
sit-down protests in the wizarding world would be a VERY dangerous 
thing. Who knows what the Ministry would do you? A perfect opportunity 
for Neville to be brave. 

>I 
> want him to be disowned by his grandmother for spearheading the 
> Wizarding World's very first prison-reform movement.  

Disinherited of a large fortune, too. And his grandmother instead 
leaves it to St. Mungo's Hospital. But does that stop Neville? 

>I want him to 
> write a treatise lambasting Hogwarts' hoary old House System. 

He could come here for material, no?

> I want 
> him to deliberately lose 200 points for Gryffindor as an act of 
> protest against the institution of the House Cup. 

LOL. 

>I want him to 
> adopt an unusual dress style and not care what McGonagall has to say 
> about it.  

Muggle clothes! In solidarity with Muggles. Or a tea-towel, in 
solidarity with House-Elves!

>I want him to marry a Muggle.  

I want him to marry Ginny, but I like that touch. 
 
> I mean, I want to see him do something *really* brave.
> 
> But somehow I doubt that any of that will happen.  

Why? I don't think there's room for all this in three books which are 
about Harry Potter. But I don't see that Neville's heading for kicking 
butt. He seems to be cut out for a much quieter courage. And he bought 
 a SPEW badge. (/me made several SPEW badges for her Harry Potter 
party, and was astonished that no-one would wear one. So many people 
think that just because Hermione went overboard about the Hogwarts 
elves, SPEW isn't a good idea.)

> (who favors a highly subversive reading of PS as the tragedy of 
> Neville's eventual *failure* to uphold the courageous standards of 
> House Gryffindor by caving in to the idiotic social pressures of his 
> surroundings and his peers...)

Interesting, but I don't think he's going to fail. :-)

Eileen