CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 23: Christmas On The Closed Ward

[gelite67]

No: HPFGUIDX 107350

>Erica wrote:
> 
> This is one of my favorite scenes of the whole series.
> As Ariston states, the significance of the gum wrappers is
> their insignificance. In OotP, Neville grows so much as a character.
> Between his clumsy successes in the DA, the assault on the MoM,
> the revelation of the details of prophecy, and the St Mungo's
> scene, Neville grows in ways that Harry does not. By the end
> of OotP, Neville has become a hero; not a Harry Potter deus-ex-
> machina-always-on-call hero, but a very flawed, very human hero
> whose actions rise above his situation.


Angie agrees:
 I also was touched by the fact that Neville defied his gran to keep 
the wrapper.  She wanted him to throw it away, but he kept it.  I 
wonder if Neville's gran has downgraded him all his life, to keep his 
confidence low and never realize his potential, in order to keep him 
from becoming an Auror -- because she feared losing him, too.  Or 
maybe she's just a git!