[HPFGU-OTChatter] Redeemable Draco

[Beth Loubet]

(Copying to main list; gathering driftwood for my acronym seaside shack on
TBAY <grin>)

David (on redeemable Draco):

> I just can't remember it, and have to confess I don't know which
> way round she means. Who thinks Draco is an abominable little tick
> who deserves the Dementor's Kiss but just knows that softie JKR is
> going to have him throw himself in front of the AK intended for
> Harry? Who feels Draco is really a complex misunderstood and
> tortured soul who will never be allowed to do more than lose
> Quidditch matches and fail to get the last taunt?

Elkins: Any takers?

bel:
Yep. Step right up and get your programme, can't tell the players without a
programme! See Draco taunt Harry because of his own feelings of inadequacy!
See Draco belittled and humiliated by his insensitive oaf of a father! See
Draco laughed at by Ron and Harry in public! See Draco's (badly handled)
offer of friendship to Harry thrown back in his face! See Draco resent
Harry's ability to make friends, while he has to buy them!

And see Draco sacrificed on the altar of Too Many Bad Choices to Redeem!

Don't get me wrong. Draco is an insufferable git. He's a bully, a whiner, a
brown-noser. He's also psychologically (if not physically) abused, raised on
the "wealth is power, and power is everything" paradigm, and primed to
believe from birth that the ends justify the means. Hogwarts is his first
opportunity to see that there might be other avenues in life open to him.
Yet still, he's constantly (if indirectly) watched by his father -- through
Snape, through his father's position as a school governor, even through
Draco's only "friends" -- Crabbe and Goyle, the sons of Lucius' friends and
co-DEs.

Draco hasn't had much of a chance to decide who HE is, who HE really wants
to be, outside of his father's influence. I'd love to see him get that
chance. He's not, after all, a "big bad". If the book were strictly about a
school, Draco would be the big bad. But it's not. The Big Bads in the
outside world are just too big for Draco to have any real importance in
Harry's life. He's not even successful as a bad guy. He's a royal pain in
the patoot, but no more -- which gives him the chance to drop on either side
of the fence.

I want to see Draco stand up and make a decision for himself as to who he
wants to be. Heck, I'd be happy to see him do that no matter WHICH side of
the fence he ends up on. But I really think he deserves redemption. He
deserves to be able to choose the "right" path.

And I don't think that's going to happen. I think that Draco will end up
being one of the senseless sacrifices of the war that make us (and Harry)
realize how pointless it all is and how urgent it is to make it stop.
Draco's tragedy will be that he DOESN'T ever get to make that most important
choice on his own and become an adult. He may realize that fact at the end
and regret it, but that isn't redemption. It's just regret.

DRACO'S TRAGEDY
Draco Refuses Adult Choices; Obviously Sacrifices True Redemption; Abused,
Guided by Evil Dad to Yield

Fire away! <grin>

bel