Why Neville is not like Peter (was: Peter is *nothing* like Neville)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 139128

IMO, the answer is pretty clear: his Gran. Let me explain.

houyhnhn wrote:
"I didn't interpret Lady Indigo's comment as meaning that they *are*
alike. More like begging the question. Why are they *different*?
Neville was weak. He was scared in most of his classes it seems, not
just potions. His round face is constantly mentioned suggesting a
babyish appearance. So why doesn't he become a suck up? Why *does*
Neville have this shining core of integrity that makes him put it all
on the line standing up FOR his friens and TO his friends?"

Del replies:
I'd say: because his friends' opinion doesn't matter to him. It's his
Gran's opinion, and his very own, (and maybe Uncle Algie's too) that
do. Neville's life pretty much revolves around what his Gran wants and
what she's taught him to want for himself. Even in HBP, we see him
trying to get into Transfiguration NEWT, one of his weaker subjects,
instead of going for Charms, one of his stronger ones, simply because
"Gran wants him to". It's not what the other students do or want or
say that matters to Neville, it's what his Gran and himself do.

And as time passes, Gran's opinion matters less and less, while
Neville's own opinion of himself matters more and more. Neville took
life and death decisions in OoP on his own, not because of what his
Gran wanted. His vendetta against Bellatrix is personal, it's not
fueled by his Gran's desires. And the fact that McGonagall revealed to
him that he did better in his Charms OWL than dear Gran is bound to
help too :-)

But the fact remains that Neville simply doesn't *care* about what the
other students think of him, not enough anyway for this to motivate
him. He doesn't have a driving need to belong, to be accepted, to be
protected, by his *peers*. He was alone among adults all his
childhood, he's always only ever dealt with adults' sometimes
contradictory expectations of him (and their rather violent way of
expressing them, from taking him on every Christmas Day to see his
deranged parents to throwing him out of a window), and that makes him
a loner among kids.

Lady Indigo wrote:
"I love Neville too and I agree with everything you said. What I meant
is that Peter and Neville were both followers, shy boys, insecure, had
very little confidence in their own abilities. Neville's response to
that was to remain true to himself and to defy even powerful friends
if he thought it's what was right. Peter's response was to become a
lickboot and a traitor. I in no way meant to do Neville any injustice
there, and sorry if you misread me!"

Del replies:
I don't see Neville as a follower. I see him as a loner who will
sometimes choose to associate himself with a particular cause. Neville
doesn't have a gang of friends and never tried to get one. The five
Gryffindor boys are separated in two pairs (Harry+Ron, Dean+Seamus)
and one loner (Neville). Neville is *never* described as belonging to
a group, nor is he ever described as *trying* to get into a gang. He's
happy to have someone to spend time with on the Hogwarts Express and
in the carriages, but that's about it. Even when others extend the
hand of frienship to him, like the Trio and Ginny and Luna have done,
he doesn't cling to it. It's the fact that he has no real friend to
care for him that pushed Hermione to look for him after he was
traumatised during Fake!Moody's Unforgivable Curses class, for example.

I think that's where his main difference with Peter lies: Neville
doesn't need, and doesn't look for, his peers' approval and
validation. And the reason for that is pretty clear IMO: he's been set
up against MUCH bigger rivals ever since he was born: his own parents.
His Gran doesn't care (much) about Neville beating his schoolmates,
she only cares about him living up to his parents' memory, and so
Neville is competing only against himself and a pair of ghosts. The
Breaking of the Wand at the end of OoP is extremely symbolic IMO:
Neville is no longer "just" his parents' son, he is now fully Himself,
and I think that his pride and pleasure at his new wand are symbolic
of the pride and pleasure he's starting to take in his own
accomplishments, in his own personality.

That's why Neville could never act like Peter did: because Neville
couldn't live with himself if he did. Neville has had to compete with
himself all his life, it's been drilled into him over and over again
that he is the son of two proud and valiant people, and he has
completely integrated this in himself. And the son of Frank and Alice
Longbottom, the grandson of Augusta Longbottom, is *never* going to
act like Peter Pettigrew, no more than Harry Potter is ever going to
be seduced by the Dark Arts. Neville can be shy and insecure, and
Harry can sometimes be cruel and nasty, but their core personalities
are set in a good way. And interestingly enough, both boys'
personality is *very heavily* influenced by their parents, who they
were, what they did, how they died, and how people remember them.
Neville is yet another example of the recurring theme throughout the
Potterverse that the parents heavily determine how the kids will turn out.

JMO, of course :-)

Del