Neville! I think he's one step ahead of all the rest, actually, and that Draco's about to take it, what with his not being able to kill Dumbledore (dunno about Ron, though, because although he feels inadequate, he has yet to really have it shoved up in his face like that beyond Quidditch, which he improved at); but I can't say if this is because Neville is just Neville and has this innate sense of serenity, or whether it's because he's had to accept such a horrible situation for so long with both his parents. Maybe it's a bit of both, because even at the beginning of the series, you can see that he's able to take genuine pleasure out of just having his toad back, he doesn't sit and wallow in the embarrassment of having lost it in the first place. It's this odd juxtaposition to Neville's character that you see echoed, oddly enough, the most in Draco's. Although you think he measures himself completely by the way authority figures see him (Gran, his uncle Algie), his heart really directs him too much for this to be true. He doesn't want to take NEWT Charms in book six because his Gran thinks it's soft, but he takes real pride in being so good at Herbology, even though it's not considered a very important class by a lot of people. And the spark of passion he demonstrates in the DA right after Bellatrix escapes can't really be for his gran or even for his parents, although they're a factor; it's all him, Neville is the one who wants to beat Bellatrix. And in that way he's actually a step beyond Harry, who realizes in the sixth book that that's why he's got to take Voldemort down.
It's a good take on mediocrity, actually; give up, not because you're weak, but because you're strengths lie in other areas, although I don't think Neville thinks of it that way. To try and get inside his head...it's all just very simple, I think. You're right, he's just Neville, and he doesn't try to be anyone else because he thinks he's so low down on the food chain that no one really notices him enough for it to matter, except when he messes up, but he's used to that anyway. So he may as well just be his clumsy, inadequate self and go whichever way his heart leads him .
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Date: 2006-01-08 06:04 am (UTC)It's a good take on mediocrity, actually; give up, not because you're weak, but because you're strengths lie in other areas, although I don't think Neville thinks of it that way. To try and get inside his head...it's all just very simple, I think. You're right, he's just Neville, and he doesn't try to be anyone else because he thinks he's so low down on the food chain that no one really notices him enough for it to matter, except when he messes up, but he's used to that anyway. So he may as well just be his clumsy, inadequate self and go whichever way his heart leads him
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