Gryffindors respond to the idea of not showing courage (sometimes non-Gryffindors use it to needle Gryffindors
I'm not denying that Gryffindors respond to the idea oof showing courage. As I said earlier, a lot of them seem to think that courage must be shown 24/7, and I only expect that one of many Gryffindors' biggest weaknesses is to be told that they are in fact NOT doing this. But it's a tact that I mostly see outside characters (almost always Slytherin) use to bait them. I've rarely seen them use it on each other successfully (keeping in mind that when Sirius tried it on Harry, it didn't get him to meet him in Hogsmeade, or to even seriously consider it).
I would agree I don't think popularity has to do with courage all the time exactly--first just because how often do you get to be courageous in the course of a normal day? But also Neville faces situations that scare him often and while he *shows* fear, it doesn't always make him not face those situations.
Which is why I would assert that one doesn't have to be able to display courage round the clock, or even whenever the situation would presumably call for it, to be placed in Gryffindor -- just as one wouldn't have to be blindly loyal to any one thing to be in Hufflepuff, or a never-failing genius to be in Ravenclaw. I think that it probably depends on whether one has the "quality of spirit" as defined by WordNet, to display courage/intelligence/loyalty/cunning whenever they deem it necessary.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-12 10:03 am (UTC)I'm not denying that Gryffindors respond to the idea oof showing courage. As I said earlier, a lot of them seem to think that courage must be shown 24/7, and I only expect that one of many Gryffindors' biggest weaknesses is to be told that they are in fact NOT doing this. But it's a tact that I mostly see outside characters (almost always Slytherin) use to bait them. I've rarely seen them use it on each other successfully (keeping in mind that when Sirius tried it on Harry, it didn't get him to meet him in Hogsmeade, or to even seriously consider it).
I would agree I don't think popularity has to do with courage all the time exactly--first just because how often do you get to be courageous in the course of a normal day? But also Neville faces situations that scare him often and while he *shows* fear, it doesn't always make him not face those situations.
Which is why I would assert that one doesn't have to be able to display courage round the clock, or even whenever the situation would presumably call for it, to be placed in Gryffindor -- just as one wouldn't have to be blindly loyal to any one thing to be in Hufflepuff, or a never-failing genius to be in Ravenclaw. I think that it probably depends on whether one has the "quality of spirit" as defined by WordNet, to display courage/intelligence/loyalty/cunning whenever they deem it necessary.
Sammy