UnFunny Things; Perspective; Chapter 37 Comments - LONG

[Haggridd]

No: HPFGUIDX 16272

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., naama_gat at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., heidi.h.tandy.c92 at a... wrote:
> 
> > (b) does Draco have any idea what an insult "Mudbloods" is - I 
have 
> >a little backstory on this which basically takes place after Ron's 
> >Slug curse backfires, which involves Draco asking other 
> >Slytherins, "What did I say?" and  a Gryffindor Quidditch player 
> >interjecting, "You called her a Mudblood!" and him replying, "Yeah, 
> >so? Her parents are Muggles, she's a witch, so she's a Mudblood. 
> >What of it?" and one of the Gryffs saying "It's a horrible insult!
> >(etc)", then Draco writing home and asking Lucius, who says, "No 
> >it's not, it's the same as saying somebody is tall or short. It's 
> >just a fact about them." And of course, Draco believes Lucius...I 
> >see Draco as being very clueless about the world, and having grown 
> >up like a hothouse plant - very insulated, everything he reads & 
> >everyone he meets, until he gets to Hogwarts, pretty closely 
> >screened - and even at Hogwarts, within Slytherin, none of them are 
> >likely to contradict his use of a term like that. He doesn't use 
the 
> >word at all in PoA (I checked!) and in GoF, only uses it twice - 
> >once against Hermi, and then here on the train. And even I can't 
> >quite figure out why... Maybe Cassie will have some food for 
thought 
> >on this.
> > 
> 
> I presume you're seriously suggesting this theory, right? Tongue 
> firmly out of cheek? (just to make sure I'm not making an idiot of 
> myself...). Well, it's very ingenious and I'm more and more inclined 
> to read Surfeit but I really don't think that the canon supports it.
> 
> When Draco calls Hermione Mudblood for the first time, she had just 
> pointed out, in public, that he (Draco) is in the Slytherin team not 
> for his skill, but because of his money. He tells her 
(approximately, 
> I don't have the book here to check), "Nobody asked you, Mudblood". 
> This is an angry retort to a very pointed insult. Do you really 
think 
> it reasonable that in these circumstances he would use a term that 
is 
> *not* insulting? Has he hesitated to insult her (or anybody else - 
> think of poor Neville!) in similar situations?
> Further more, on what do you base the Orchid Draco theory? I didn't 
> get any impression that he was shielded from common wizard culture 
at 
> all. In GoF, for instance, he has a subscription for the Daily 
> Prophet. At the Dark Arts store (beginning of CoS) Lucius tells 
Draco 
> that <paraphrase> it is not wise not to seem fond of Harry Potter 
> when "most of our kind" view him as a hero. You don't give 
> sophisticated, cynical advice of that sort to a hothouse flower who 
> is innocent of all knowledge of such things, do you? 
> Another point. To keep a child from realizing that 'nigger' (the 
> parallel of Mudblood) is an insult would argue insulation of such an 
> extroadinary degree, that it precludes almost any normal contact 
with 
> other people. But Draco is sent to Hogwarts. If his father had this 
> plan of keeping Draco in a state of pristine innocence, would he 
risk 
> his being contaminated in Hogwarts?
> 
> BTW, I also don't agree with any of the "nice" interpretations of  
> Draco. He has lied, cheated, bullied, made trouble, used people and 
> told tales. He is a horrible boy. He is so horrible (and he's horrid 
> too!) that he seems almost to be an embodiment of the worst and most 
> extreme qualities of the Slytherin spirit.
> 
> Naama

I entirely agree with Naama.  In the canon there is precious little 
about Draco Malfoy that is good.  I can recall no saving graces, and 
no setup foreshadowong any manner of redemption.  This is in 
contradistinction to many fanfics, where speculation is rife.  I do 
feel that some of the posters have been mixing apples with oranges, so 
to speak.  I would be very interested in any citation in the JKR books 
to the contrary.

Hagridd