CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 23: Christmas On The Closed Ward

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 107216

<other questions and responses snipped>
4) Why does Alice give Neville the gum wrapper?  Is she starting to  
recognize him?  Is there something strange about the gum, or is it 
all she has to give?
> 
Del responded:
> Your guess is as good as any :-)
> One possibility I like is that she gives them to Neville because it's
> Neville who gives the gums to her in the first place. Maybe Neville
> learned from Uncle Algie that his mom was a Drooble Gum addict, so he
> started early on to give them her favourite treats as a way to tell
> her he loved her. And now she's giving them back to him as a way to
> tell him she loves him too. The gums wrappers would be a *symbol* of
> the love they have for each other but that they can't share any
other way.
> I have of course not a single shred of canon to support my theory. I
> just *like* the idea.

Carol adds:
That's one possibility, but I think she just wants to give Neville
something and the wrappers are all she has to give. She wouldn't have
any personal possessions, only her hospital gown and the bed she
sleeps in. I think her mind and emotions have been reduced to those of
a pre-verbal child about the age Neville was when she was Crucio'd. I
can imagine a baby of fifteen months or so giving someone who clearly
loves him but doesn't see him very often (say, a grandma) a gum
wrapper. It's very touching that Alice would be in such a plight yet
still struggling to show her love, and even more touching that Neville
values her gifts. Gran, being stern and practical, doesn't understand,
but at least she takes him to see his parents and is proud rather than
ashamed of her son and daughter-in-law. (Frank, presumably, is even
worse off than Alice. His complete absence from the scene, even though
he's behind the curtain, suggests that he's comatose or near
it--unable to walk or talk or react. It must be very hard for Gran,
remembering the hero that her son used to be. That's stoicism, IMO.)

Carol