So, students in Gryffindor are supposed to represent bravery. How does Neville represent bravery, to the point in being accepted into the house. I've always thought of his strongest traits being things like loyalty, willingness to work hard, etc, and these things would tend to put him in Hufflepuff.
Answer
First of all, in the first 4 years, it isn't really shown that Neville is NOT brave - the only thing he's really afraid of is his Grandmother and maybe Snape during Potions. With good reason. :)
You may be confusing a lack of confidence/assertiveness with not being brave, but they are not the same (for a good in-universe illustration of the opposite, think Prof. Lockhart).
First four books, he's clumsy, and is not yet showing any magical talent.
Starting with the fifth year, Neville is shown to have been changed, and repeatedly proves his bravery and willingness to fight.
NOTE: He first shows bravery in the First Year (see System's great answer for details), but the real Gryffindor-y Neville emerges in the Fifth year.
There's another instance of him showing a Gryffindor quality - more specifically, integrity. He argued with the Hat to sort him into Hufflepuff (src: Pottermore), because he felt he wasn't brave enough to be a Gryffindor.
Fifth year
He joins DA
He shows marked and significant improvement in his magical abilities while in DA
He voluntarily joins the DA members who accompany Harry to Ministry of Magic battle in the end of OoP, even arguing with Harry about it:
Neville: "We were all in the D.A. together. It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real — or was that all just a game or something?"
Harry: "No — of course it wasn't —"
Neville: "Then we should come too. We want to help."
During the battle at the Ministry, he refused to leave as per Harry's suggestion after Dolohov broke Neville's nose and wand.
When being threatened and tortured by Death Eaters, he told Harry not to give them the Prophecy
Sixth year
- participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. Along with Luna Lovegood, he was the only member of Dumbledore's Army to reply to the summons via the coins.
Seventh year
Neville got in trouble with the Carrows for refusing to practise the Cruciatus Curse on other students as a method of punishment, as well as for standing up against their bigotry and cruelty.
along with Ginny and Luna, restarted Dumbledore's Army.
attempted to steal Godric Gryffindor's Sword from Snape's office
Neville was eventually left alone to lead the rebellion efforts (Luna and Ginny were not in Hogwarts anymore). When avoiding the Death Eaters at one point, Neville stumbled into the Room of Requirement, which he was able to turn into a hiding place for the D.A., and to connect to the Hog's Head in order to get food from Aberforth Dumbledore. By May, most of the D.A. had taken to living there.
During the first round of battle, Neville used various plants to attack Death Eaters, and helped transport the injured and dead when a temporary cease-fire was called.
When the Death Eaters approached with a "dead" Harry, Neville stood up in defiance of Voldemort. He was subsequently forced to wear the Sorting Hat as it burned because he refused to join Voldemort. Fortunately, due to Harry's sacrifice, Neville was able to shrug off the Full Body-Bind Curse.
Because of his tremendous bravery shown on the battlefield, Neville was able to pull Godric Gryffindor's Sword from the burning hat, in the process proving himself a true Gryffindor, something that was doubted constantly throughout due to his apparently weak-willed, shy, and bumbling nature. In a single stroke, he killed Nagini, destroying Voldemort's last remaining Horcrux.
Neville subsequently teamed up with Ron Weasley as the defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters were forced into the Great Hall and defeated Fenrir Greyback.
All in all, pretty convincing evidence of someone's bravery
Comments
Post a Comment