Harry had to fail - Harry's Tragic Flaws/ Neville's sufferings

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 130877

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
 
> 
> Phoenixgod: 
> <SNIP>
> > First of all, Neville hasn't suffered more than Harry, and 
> secondly 
> > Neville has a crapload of his own problems to deal with. He is 
> > deeply self pitying, but his self esteem is so low that he 
doesn't 
> > bother complaining to anyone because he doesn't think it'll do 
any 
> > good. 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Oh, absolutely. I love Neville. I love his character development 
and 
> if he were a little more developed from the beginning, he would 
have 
> been my second favorite child character after Harry. ( Although I 
am 
> quite happy  with what Neville become).
> 
> Said all that, I cannot even compare his sufferings and Harry's, 
> although I will concede that Neville comes  the closest to Harry in 
> the amount of misery he went through.
> 
> Neville did not have Dursleys in his life though, although yes, he 
> did have that wonderful uncle of his. :-)
> 
 

Hickengruendler:

I find it very problematic to compare people's sufferings anyway. 
IMHO, Neville has suffered more than enough. True, he did not have to 
live with the Dursleys, but he does live with a grandmother, who 
tells him regularly that he is not as good as his father. IMO, this 
is partly worse than what the Dursleys do, because Mrs Longbottom 
does not seem Dursley-like in that she hates the boy. She loves him. 
But comparing him regularly too Frank, whom Neville never had a 
chance to get to know, and telling him basically that he is not as 
good as she had hoped, is quite cruel in it's own way as well. At 
least Harry knows that the Dursleys hate him and therefore has a 
reason not to care when they say mean things about him or his 
parents. But with Neville, it are people, who love him, that belittle 
him on a regularly basis. No wonder that he lacks self esteem.

So yes, shame on old Mrs Longbottom for the way she treats Neville, 
even though I can understand where she's coming from and that she 
misses Frank. But I also think she concentrates more on Neville's 
weaknesses than his strengths. And because Uncle Algie is mentioned. 
Despite of his, uhm, unorthodox parental methods, I have a different 
opinion about him. It was him, who gave Neville the plant, therefore 
probably realising where his real strengths and interesses lay.

Hickengruendler