Blog Post #2- Neville Longbottom

The one character that I believe exemplifies the themes of coming of age and traumatic experience is Neville Longbottom. When Neville is first introduced into the Harry Potter series, he is obviously a character to be pitied. He is not popular, smart, or seem to have any extraordinary magical talents. Neville is lacking confidence and friends. As the series continues, we find out more about Neville’s family and maybe some of the reasons he is the way he is. After Harry learns in Goblet of Fire that Neville’s parents were tortured, it almost makes sense that Neville lacks confidence in his magical ability. His parents were obviously well respected and talented wizards, and since their demise, Neville is expected to uphold the family name. Like Harry, Neville had to probably grow up a little faster because of his lack of parentage. From what we also learn of Neville’s grandmother and other family members who try and throw him out of windows, Neville doesn’t seem to have had the best upbringing either.

Having this background knowledge, and the knowledge that we learn in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix about the prophecy, it is interesting to see what Neville’s life could have been like. If Voldemort had marked Neville as his equal, would Neville have had the confidence to become a better wizard earlier? Both Harry and Neville had traumatic experiences in their lives, but if Voldemort had chosen Neville instead of Harry, would Neville be the confident teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts in year 5? Although these questions will probably never be answered, it is interesting to see that even though Neville was not chosen as the “Chosen One,” how he still develops into a great, confident, and adept wizard through the series.

While Harry seems to grow in the series maybe more emotionally, Neville makes noticeable strides to better himself as a leader and wizard. As we find out in book 7, Neville is in charge of the resistance at Hogwarts. In almost every book, Neville is learning more and progressing. He proves himself to be courageous numerous times, in the Department of Mysteries, fighting the Death Eaters in Half-Blood Prince, and leading the resistance in Deathly Hallows. With each book, Neville really comes out of his shell and learns how much more he can accomplish. I believe that this is because he is learning to step out of the shadows of the traumatic nature of his parents demise and really come of age and learn that he has it in him to be great, even if he isn’t the “Chosen One.” Rowling really uses Neville, in my opinion, to show how maybe a normal, or more normal than Harry, person would grow from all of the experiences that students experience at Hogwarts. It is nice to see that not everyone comes into Hogwarts ready to do battle with dark wizards. Through Neville, I think that I can see how certain experiences in the series would affect a child and in Neville’s case, make them grow in a positive manner.