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timepiececlockI loved the development of Neville in this book. I went from having no real "favorite" character in the HP verse to having Neville be my favorite.
I think Neville's maturity was something the Rowling has been planning-- she foreshadowed it the most in book 1 with Neville getting points for standing up to Harry.
They were all just kids. Now, they're getting closer and closer to being adults, and they're all maturing in different ways. Neville's courage and perseverence is making itself known, and he's living up not only to the image of his house, but the legacy of his parents too. When Dumbledore said that Neville was the other possibility, I wasn't shocked. I was curiously delighted, but it made sense to me. Because not all people who are great heroes or villains as adults were particularly memorable or popular as children. That's what growing up is about.
I think OotP made it diamond clear that Harry is the prophecized child. In many ways, it was a self-fullfilling prophecy: if Voldemort had tried to assassinate the other baby instead, maybe would it have been Neville who got Voldemort's powers and became The Boy Who Lived.
I think the revelation about Neville was also good for putting Harry's character in perspective... maybe learning that it was almost someone else entirely, and that he could have grown up without being famous will be a good lesson for Harry. After all, Neville's had no joyaous childhood either, and his parents are as dead as Harry's.
Neville is developing into Harry Potter's character foil: the character who represents an alternate version of Harry. They start from the same place: prophecized baby, "dead" but noble parents. But one is raised in the muggle world, and one in the wizard world. Their paths separate. But the older they get, the thigns they have in common begin to appear. They both have courage, strength, kindness, and suppressed anger (though Harry's anger is a lot less supressed than Neville's), and live with relatives who are ashamed of them. They're different, but not so different.
I think Neville will be a strong warrior in the upcoming war, and will continue to prove himself one of Harry's best companions. If anything, the experience at the Ministry should have taught Harry who he can count on above all else: Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. I hope this group experience is continued in the next books; I'd like to see Harry's circle expand to fit the new 3 as well. I like to imagine that by book 7, Harry's circle of trusted commerades will include many many more. The more people he lets help him, the better off they all will be.
I think Neville's maturity was something the Rowling has been planning-- she foreshadowed it the most in book 1 with Neville getting points for standing up to Harry.
They were all just kids. Now, they're getting closer and closer to being adults, and they're all maturing in different ways. Neville's courage and perseverence is making itself known, and he's living up not only to the image of his house, but the legacy of his parents too. When Dumbledore said that Neville was the other possibility, I wasn't shocked. I was curiously delighted, but it made sense to me. Because not all people who are great heroes or villains as adults were particularly memorable or popular as children. That's what growing up is about.
I think OotP made it diamond clear that Harry is the prophecized child. In many ways, it was a self-fullfilling prophecy: if Voldemort had tried to assassinate the other baby instead, maybe would it have been Neville who got Voldemort's powers and became The Boy Who Lived.
I think the revelation about Neville was also good for putting Harry's character in perspective... maybe learning that it was almost someone else entirely, and that he could have grown up without being famous will be a good lesson for Harry. After all, Neville's had no joyaous childhood either, and his parents are as dead as Harry's.
Neville is developing into Harry Potter's character foil: the character who represents an alternate version of Harry. They start from the same place: prophecized baby, "dead" but noble parents. But one is raised in the muggle world, and one in the wizard world. Their paths separate. But the older they get, the thigns they have in common begin to appear. They both have courage, strength, kindness, and suppressed anger (though Harry's anger is a lot less supressed than Neville's), and live with relatives who are ashamed of them. They're different, but not so different.
I think Neville will be a strong warrior in the upcoming war, and will continue to prove himself one of Harry's best companions. If anything, the experience at the Ministry should have taught Harry who he can count on above all else: Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. I hope this group experience is continued in the next books; I'd like to see Harry's circle expand to fit the new 3 as well. I like to imagine that by book 7, Harry's circle of trusted commerades will include many many more. The more people he lets help him, the better off they all will be.
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Date: 2003-07-21 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-21 11:53 pm (UTC)See, I never thought about him much at all before this. And I wonder if that was the point. But OotP seemed to be a book for minor character development like none of the other books have before it. Neville, who before was the Jonathon Levinson of Potterverse, dismissable and ignored (by Harry almost as much as others) has just come into his own as a warrior, who is not only strong and brave, but devoted and determined. I liked that this book took a "weak" character like Neville and suddenly made him into my favorite guy, without losing character believability.
I think we'll see him growing more and I think that's good.
Me too. I don't know if anything will be different at school, but I think that he's probably found something in himself now that he won't have to worry about being to small, or too clumsy, or too weak. I hope he learns to recognize his own strength and draw further strength from that, even if its not apparent to his classmates beyond the six of them. I can see him being a member of the Order now.
Interesting what might have happened had the tables been turned. What would Harry have been like?
Interesting indeed. Their temperaments seem so different... but how much of Neville's timidness was from his overbearing grandmother? Harry's guardians simply ignored him, instead of over-controlling him, so timidness was never something that he was forced into growing up; he just had to learn how to manipulate his aunt and uncle so they would leave him even more alone. Both are sad cases for yo