Why Draco Malfoy Isn't Evil ... (a bit on strong female characters too)

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 14863

Hi --

Doreen wrote:

> Heidi quoted: "Too late now,  Potter. They'll be the first to go, now
> the Dark Lord's back - Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first,  Well -
> second -
> Diggory was the f..."
>
> Heidi commented: The speaker thinks that what he's saying is
> completely true - he knows that Voldemort has returned and it doesn't
> take a full fledged Death Eater to conclude that he'll go after
> muggle-born and muggle- supportive wizards - in fact, it's implied
> that everyone around
> Harry's bedside believes the same thing. And Cedric Diggory *was* the
> first person to be killed by Voldemort in this second reign of
> terror.
>
> Why is this a malicious statement? Because of how he sounded when he
> said it? Because he was warning them - and trying to smile to look
> reassuring, not realizing that he was completely failing at it? We
> really do *not* know what he was thinking when he said this - and
> yes, it could be horrible, he could have the worst intentions in the
> world. It's entirely possible.
>
> But Crookshanks didn't jump at him...so maybe he didn't....
>
> Doreen responded: Draco is not just evil in that reference, but
> throughout the entire series. The only time he is not evil to Harry
> was in the robe fitting room, but even then, he was not nice in his
> references to other students. It didn't take Harry or most readers
> much time at all to figure out what Draco Malfoy was all about. Even
> his name suggests this: mal- "bad, badly, abnormal,
> inadequate"
>
> Draco and his allies are mean to other students; disrespectful to
> Hagrid
> when he was teaching; they show no respect even to Dumbledore during a
>
> couple of his speeches in the Great Hall. The references are too
> numerous to name, but it would make for an interesting list.
>

Cassie wrote a great response to this thread, so I won't repeat her
points about the potential for Draco redemption (I do agree that JKR has
not foreclosed his redemption).

I would like to point out though that Heidi is also noting that we don't
*know* what's going on inside Draco's head.  It's that pesky
point-of-view (POV) problem again.  There are lots of issues that we
debate on this group from time to time, and the limited Harry POV means
that we really can't reach any definitive conclusions with any of these
threads.

For example: the strong female characters argument is recirculating at
the moment.  Back last fall, I noted that we are viewing these stories
through the lens of a 11-14 yr old boy.  He's not going to see (and so
we're not going to see) things like Hermione having a mentoring
relationship with McGonagall, McGonagall shining at a staff meeting,
Molly Weasley working on a manuscript for a novel, Hermione and Ginny
having a heart-to-heart talk one night .... etc.  There could be lots of
potential for strong female interaction, strong female role models &
strong characters that we just don't see.  There are lots of things we
don't see -- but we cannot assume that they absolutely don't happen.

<FF paragraph>: But, back to Draco.  A brief mention of Heidi's ongoing
fanfic Surfeit of Curses is in order.  She puts a really amazing &
plausible spin on all the Draco interactions with the Trio (esp. Bks 3 &
4), and I was admittedly blown away by the scenario & Draco's
motivations that she came up with for the scene on the train.  Apologies
to those of you who have no use for fanfiction (it's not *all* about
shipping -- there's this whole other aspect of getting inside the heads
of other characters too).  </FF>

We don't know what Draco thinks.  At all.  We know what he *says* from
time to time .... but what motivates him and what's he really thinking
-- we don't any of those things.

I agree with Cassie -- I don't want to believe that Draco is
irredeemable or that JKR has set him up to just be a black&white
cardboard cut-out of his father.  I'd like to think there's more
complexity to his character than that -- just like all the Snape fans
like to believe in his complexity (not that I don't agree that Snape is
complex -- he is).  Many of us believe our hero Harry will have to
confront choices & dilemnas, and it will be revealed that he faces moral
obstacles & has struggles.  He has a dark side, and I think eventually
he must confront it.  I'd like to think that Draco likewise has a good
side and that he too will have choices to make.

Penny


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