Draco is Evil

[cassandraclaire at mail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25173

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., tillrules at a... wrote:
> I don't see any doubt that Draco is evil.  He is inarguably a 
racist and  contiually acts in a malicious manner.  He takes joy out 
of ruining other's   lives and in seeing others hurt."

I have not yet noted Draco ruining anyone's life. And no one is 
arguing that he isn't a rotten little bastard. Just that if JKR 
wanted to redeem him, she could; he hasn't done anything so far to 
render him irreedeemable. And yes, he's a lousy little racist. 
Doesn't mean he always will be one. 
 
"I think the comparison of Ron's offhand joke about throwing Draco 
off a   glacier to Draco's hope that the next person to die is 
Hermione is innacurate  for one reason:  Liklihood of occurrance.  
Ron's joke regarded the extremely  unlikely fictional situation of 
both of them being at Durmstrang and being in  that situation.  It's 
a practically impossibility."   

*Shrug.* To an extent, that's true. I think if Ron had the 
opportunity and wouldn't get caught, he'd give Malfoy a good beating. 
And no, I don't think that makes him evil. My point is that verbally 
expressing that you wish someone was dead is miles from actually 
doing anything about it, especially when you are *twelve years old*, 
an age at which boys are prone to exaggeration and behaving as if 
they were worse than they are.

"Also, I find the Sirius comparison invalid.  I will not argue that 
Sirius  committed one evil act (the trick on Snape), but that does 
not make him evil.   Nor would one evil act stamp Draco as evil.  The 
difference (from what we   know in the canon) is that Sirius 
committed only that one evil act, where as  Draco's sole purpose is 
to be evil. 

"Draco's sole purpose is to be evil?" He hasn't even done anything 
evil yet, he just says evil things. This seems a stretch, especially 
when we're only on Book 4 in a 7-book series. I wouldn't say I knew 
what any character's sole purpose was, be it Harry's, Ron's, or 
Draco's.

"Sirius is continually portrayed as being 
> someone who will help others, to the point of risking his life & 
freedom to  be near Harry for GoF."

Yes. Sirius is now a 30+ year old grown-up man who has spent twelve 
years of his life in Azkaban among ruthless murderers and criminals. 
That would change anyone. Who is to say that he was like this when he 
was fourteen, as Draco is? It's an invalid comparison because Sirius 
is an adult and Draco is a child. Draco is not a fully realized human 
being; Sirius is. And I still maintain that what Sirius did was worse 
than anything Draco's done, and he seems to have turned out well. 
Rather gives me hope for the little Malfoy brat.

"On the other hand, Draco seems to favor no one but 
> himself. He even mistreats and disrespects his "friends."

Draco has friends? It looks to me like he just has flunkies. He seems 
a badly socialized child.  
> 
" Also, if he is not evil, why does he take such joy at the end of 
GoF with the  return of Voldemort?  

Because that's the way he's been brought up, and he's a child and he 
believes what his parents told him. Do you think that Snape didn't 
feel righteous in becoming a Death Eater, in serving Voldemort, in 
recieving the Dark Mark, *before* he turned and changed sides? No one 
is saying that Draco is good, and not a dreadful child and a horrible 
nasty brat. All they are saying is that it might be possible for him 
to redeem himself, as Snape did.

Cassandra