OVERANALYZING THE TEXT

Apparently, Darrin just can't stand my preferred reading of Neville.

Heh. That's okay, Darrin. I've never claimed that it's for everyone. It's a very specialized reading, and few people seem to like it very much. It is, however, perfectly canonically supported. Let me show you.

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On Neville's Brawl With Crabbe and Goyle

Darrin wrote:

What would have happened if Ron and Neville both would have attacked Draco? Crabbe and Goyle would have turned them into meat pizza from behind.

And what would have happened if neither Ron nor Neville had attacked Draco?

Ron is the one who initiates the fist fight in that scene. Ron is the one who ratchets the level of the confrontation up from words to blows.

That Neville is willing to help him out once he does so is evidence of loyalty. It is evidence of physical bravery -- the kid is very likely going to get hurt, and he must know that.

But then, Peter Pettigrew also displays a great deal of physical courage. As much as he may value his own life, he is willing to take tremendous risks with it (his escape at the end of PoA is proof of this), and he is also willing to get hurt. He's willing to put up with a lot in the way of physical pain.

I don't think, though, that any of us would go so far as to call Pettigrew courageous. He's not. He's a coward. While he may not possess much in the way of Proper Wizarding Pride, he does possesses daring and boldness and physical courage -- all of them Gryffindor traits. But morally, he is a coward, and I think that we are meant to understand that in the end, moral courage counts for an awful lot.

So are Neville's actions in this scene indicative of true courage? Of moral courage?

Hard to say for sure, without knowing precisely what was going through his mind at the time. But I must say that I would find it a lot more convincing as evidence of true courage if earlier in that exact same chapter it had not been so very strongly implied that Neville himself considers such behavior the prerequisite to gaining acceptance from his peers.

PS, Chapter 13. Neville has already told Hermione that he does not want to report Malfoy to Professor McGonagall because he doesn't "want more trouble." The scene then runs like this:

'You've got to stand up to him, Neville!' said Ron. 'He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier.'

'There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that,' Neville choked.

[Harry then gives Neville his last chocolate frog and then piles on yet more peer pressure]

'You're worth twelve of Malfoy,' Harry said. 'The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.'

Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the Frog.

'Thanks, Harry...I think I'll go to bed...'

[And then he hands Harry back the card from the frog and walks away.]

That's the canon. Only a few pages later on in the same chapter is when we are treated to Neville first telling Draco "I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy!" and then, after a moment's hesitation, clambering over the seats to help Ron out with the fist fight that he has provoked.

Why does Neville act in such a way in that particular scene, when elsewhere in canon he is consistently depicted as a character who prefers to avoid conflict?

Well. It might be in part because he just can't stand to watch Ron get himself pounded to a pulp by Crabbe and Goyle without doing something to try to help him out. Neville is a nice kid, after all.

But it also just might have something to do with the fact that only a few pages earlier in the novel, the rest of House Gryffindor has (inadvertantly, I'm sure, and with the very best of intentions) left him with the impression that his own preferred method of dealing with things is unacceptable to them, and that if he wants to earn their approval and be deemed worthy of belonging to House Gryffindor, rather than "stinking Slytherin," he'd better toe the line and start acting the way all the rest of them do.

Neville does try to shut them up, doesn't he? He all but comes right out and says: "You know, guys, the way that you're always nagging at me? When it comes right down to it, it's just exactly the sort of thing that Malfoy does."

But they just don't get the hint, do they? They're totally oblivious. They just keep at it. The famous Harry Potter himself joins in the fray, and then drops that nice little "stinking Slytherin" in, just to make it perfectly clear to Neville exactly what the social punishment for failing to conform to the House's party line entails.

Small wonder that he can only muster the very weakest of smiles at Harry's words of "praise." Small wonder that he excuses himself from the conversation rather abruptly, and then just goes off to bed.

And indeed, Neville learns his lesson. The very next time that we see him anywhere near a Slyth vs. Gryff rumble, he follows orders. He parrots Harry's words verbatim. And then he goes and gets himself into a fist fight.

Good Gryffindor. Have a cookie.

I do think that Neville is a trooper. But what the text is showing us in this particular chapter isn't courage. It's peer pressure.

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On Neville's Failed Obstruction of the Trio at the End of PS/SS

Darrin wrote:

Wait, I forgot how Neville went from being the victim of Hermione's body-bind to somehow instigating all of this.

Really? You have? Well, okay then. Allow me to refresh your memory.

As you will no doubt recall, at this point in the story, all four of our protagonists are getting seriously dumped on by the rest of the House. They're being held responsible for having ruined Gryffindor's chances of gaining the House Cup. They're being ostracized. The House Cup is a seriously big deal to these students. Stupid, but there you have it. Clearly, when it comes to peer approval, there's something even more important than being bold and daring and adventuresome and needlessly violent -- and that's earning the House points.

Neville gets this. Boy, does he get it. But it seems like maybe the Trio's been a bit slow on the uptake. So we reach Chapter 16:

'What are you doing?' said a voice from the corner of the room.

Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

Maybe. Maybe. Or maybe Neville's been hiding there waiting to catch them trying to make another late night foray. Either way, he's there now, and he knows that the Trio is planning something else that might get the House in trouble. Funny, isn't it? These are the same people who only a couple of chapters ago were laying into him for not properly upholding the values of the House! And now they're going to go and lose the House more points, right?

Are these guys hypocrites, or what?

So Neville tries to point this out to them. He appeals to their sense of House loyalty. They don't get the message. At all. They try to lie to him about what they're up to. They tell him that he just doesn't understand. Actually, he does understand. They're the ones who are being obtuse here. And they're being hypocritical, as well, because in the past, they have been the ones always urging him to abide by the social conventions of the House. They've been nagging him and pressuring about it all year long. And now they're telling him that he doesn't understand things?

They need a more pointed message. Neville has just the thing.

But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate.

'I won't let you do it,' he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. 'I'll--I'll fight you.'

Still no go. Ron tells him to stand aside from the door. He refuses. Not only does he refuse, not only does he object to being called an idiot, not only does he inform them that he really doesn't think very much of their behavior, he also reminds them that he is acting on their very own instructions!

'And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!'

Interesting phrasing, isn't it? Not "encouraged me to stand up to people." "Told me to stand up to people." In other words, "pushed me around just like you think it's so horrible when Malfoy does it." Neville is giving them a serious critique of their behavior here. He's calling them bullies and hypocrites, and they're just too dense to get it. In fact, Ron just goes on to prove his very point by (a) explaining that he didn't mean that Neville should stand up to them, and (b) telling Neville that he doesn't know what he's doing.

So Neville takes it one step further.

'Go on then, try and hit me!' said Neville, raising his fists. 'I'm ready!'

In other words, "you guys still just don't get it, do you? What am I going to have to do to get through to you people? Force you to hit me, so that you'll feel guilty about it later and maybe actually start to think for once in your lives? Well...okay, then. Go ahead. Knock me senseless."

And so they do.

Yes. Of course Neville instigates it! He is given the opportunity to accept their initial lies about what they are up to, but he doesn't take it. He is given two chances to stand aside, and he doesn't take those, either. Indeed, he just keeps ratcheting up the level of the confrontation. "I'll fight you." "You'll have to hit me." He's daring them to attack him. And eventually, they do.

Darrin:

It was Neville who in part cost Gryffindor 150 points and he was trying to make up for it in his own way.

I quite agree. And his "way" certainly does make a point, doesn't it? In fact, it does so exactly as his "way" of succumbing to peer pressure in Chapter 13 did.

What you're saying is that Neville, consciously or unconsciously—and your "know the score" comment would indicate CONSCIOUS behavior—has put himself in the way of two larger boys' fists and submitted to a body-bind from Hermione because it is the easy way out?

It's not the easy way out. It's not a way out at all. In both cases, it is a way of surrendering to social pressures in a manner that seems specifically designed to bring home a point about the values reflected by that social pressure.

It's a brave way to cave, to be sure. But it's still caving.

I don't buy it.

Hey, I'm not making any money off of this. But if you're going to want to convince me that Neville's behavior is truly courageous, rather than simply passive-aggressive, then you're going to have to show me some evidence that Neville himself believes that there is genuine value in duelling in corridors, brawling at Quidditch matches, and investing an enormous degree of emotional energy into the acquisition of a meaningless trophy.

I don't see a shred of evidence of that anywhere in the text. Until I see it there, then my reading remains supported whether or not you happen to be in the market for it.

Standing up to Crabbe and Goyle allowed Ron to get some shots in and score a victory—petty and juvenile, but a victory—against Slytherin.

If that's the sort of victory that Neville values so much, then why does he reject Hermione's suggestion that he complain to McGonagall about Malfoy's rule-breaking? Why does he only start defending himself against such attacks once his peers make it clear to him that he is "supposed to" as a member of House Gryffindor? Why does he absent himself from the scene so quickly when it becomes clear that the rest of the House is simply not going to respect his preferred way of dealing with the situation? Why does he later paraphrase this advice as something that Ron "told" him to do, rather than as something that he was "encouraged" or "helped" to do? Why does he give the impression of being angry about the fact that the Trio "told" him to do these things, rather than grateful to them for their bolstering?

And why is he never again, not once in the canon to date, ever seen doing these sorts of things?

It does make you wonder. Doesn't it?

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On The Point Award

Darrin wrote:

Standing up to the Trio ended up giving Gryffindor the House Cup and I'd bet that's EXACTLY why Dumbledore gave it to him, to encourage the spark of courage.

I agree that that's EXACTLY why Dumbledore gave it to him. It's also EXACTLY what Harry and Ron were trying to do for him in the Gryffindor common room back in Chapter 13. But how people intend things and how others wind up interpreting them isn't always precisely the same thing, now, is it?

He's shocked that he is being rewarded here. We're talking about a kid that doesn't get too many rewards for his behavior. He'd never won a point for Gryffindor, remember?

I remember. He is indeed shocked. Of course he's shocked. He is, in fact, "white with shock." But is he pleased?

There's no evidence that Neville is at all pleased about this state of affairs. None.

Oh, and I don't see where Harry thinks anything about Neville's reaction. I've got page 306 right in front of me and there is nothing about Harry's interpretation of Neville being white with shock. Are you talking about another of the four books?

No, you're right. I was reading implication there. Harry notes that Neville is white with shock, and then immediately moves on to the thought that he had never before won a single point for Gryffindor. I was indeed assuming that Harry's interpretation of Neville's behavior was "shocked and pleased," but you're perfectly correct. It actually says that nowhere in the text.

Well, obviously we have two different world views here. I fail to see exactly why it turned your stomach.

It turned my stomach because it seemed to me that Dumbledore was rewarding Neville for behaving in a manner that (a) I think is far more harmful than beneficial, and (b) Neville himself has, to my mind, shown no particular signs of valuing himself, while in fact showing quite a few signs of not valuing himself.

It also turned my stomach because the specific act of "bravery" and "standing up to ones friends" for which Neville was being lauded there was to my mind (a) far less brave than purely passive-aggressive, and (b) itself a manifestation of Neville's unfortunate tendency to give way to the will of others.

I want Neville to get braver, too, you see. I like Courageous!Neville. I think he's got guts, and I'd like to see him get gutsier. But I just can't read his behavior in PS/SS as in the least bit brave. I know that I'm probably "supposed to." I know that other people do. But I don't. I read it as weak-willed.

There is hope, however. Nowhere again in canon do we ever see Neville engaging in quite the form of passive-aggressive compliance to social convention that he displays in PS/SS. Nor is he ever again shown getting involved in pointless fist-fights, nor hopping onto the "We Must Win That Cup At Any Cost And It's Therefore Okay To Socially Punish Even Our Own Housemates If They Weaken Our Chances" bandwagon.

So you see? In spite of Dumbledore's best efforts, Neville really is getting braver. ;-)

Perhaps I am a little too romantic and I enjoyed seeing the picked-on kid get a little victory in the end.

Well, I'm awfully romantic that way too, obviously. If I weren't, then I would hardly feel so annoyed with the idea of Neville getting rewarded for caving to social pressures, would I? I'd just be able to read it as black humour, and then move on.

Nope, I don't believe that. In book 7, Neville gets a heroic scene. Bank on it. Be there or be square or be depressed - if you must.

It's not the idea of Neville getting a heroic scene in Book 7 that depresses me. I'd like nothing better.

What depresses me is the idea of Neville getting yet another utterly UNheroic scene that the author wants me to read as heroic, even though it just plain isn't. That's the thought that depresses me.

Alas, I suspect that it's precisely what I'm going to get.

Although, you never know. JKR can sometimes pleasantly surprise you. She gave me quite a number of thoroughly unexpected and very pleasant surprises in Book Four. So I hold out some hopes.

Slim ones. But hopes.

—Elkins