Throughout
the Harry Potter series, we see drastic changes in many of the characters. One
of the most profound examples of this is the change we see in Neville
Longbottom. From the moment of his introduction in The Sorcerer’s Stone,
Neville is a bumbling, forgetful character, the butt of many of his schoolmates’
jokes. Neville is a character who feels great pain, living with the knowledge
that inside what looks like an abandoned department store are the hollow shells
of his parents, tortured into insanity. The first departure from this image is
in the end of The Sorcerer’s Stone, when we see Neville stand up to
Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they try to leave the Gryffindor common room. At this
moment, the reader gets their first glimmer of hope for Neville, hope that he
might eventually outshine his forgetfulness with bravery. In the Prisoner of
Azkaban, we see the first incidence of his magical skills proving existent. With
the slaying of the boggart, Neville finds success in magic, and shows us that
he isn’t “basically a squib.” His development in the magical arena continues in
The Order of The Phoenix when Neville joins Dumbledore’s army. In DA he shows that he can be a wizard of
great power, and that he really just needs good teachers. This development reaches its pinnacle in The
Deathly Hallows, when Neville reaches into Gryffindor’s hat and pulls out
his sword, showing himself to be a wizard of great bravery. By slaying Nagini,
Neville slays the final memories of his fumbling, forgetful self, and shows the
world the power of bravery.
I chose to write about Neville as well because I think his character development is such an important factor in this series. I agree with you in that we first see him as a forgetful, "squib-like" first year that struggles with his confidence. It's also important to mention his fear of his grandmother and of Professor Snape because they often hinder him from reaching his full potential until the later books in the series. The DA was a huge help in building his confidence to practice harder magic and of course in book seven, he plays an important role as an accomplice in Hogwarts. His relationship with Ron, Hermione, and Harry is consistent throughout the series.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about Neville. In the blog post that I posted I called Neville a silent hero. He stands up to his friends which is a hard thing to do. As you have stated Neville begins to become better at his magic skills when he is able to get rid of the boggart in Prisoner of Azkaban. Neville is also surprised at how well he does in the D.A. It makes him seem more confident and it was surprising to read that when Harry and the gang went to the Ministry Neville was not one of the students that was badly injured or knocked out. Neville also found successes when taking Herbology. Herbology is his best subject and it’s good to see Neville finally doing something great academically. What makes Neville the silent hero is that he helps out in the background in small but important ways.
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