[HPforGrownups] Draco abused? (was: Harry the Saviour?)/Harry the seer

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 37401


Alina quotes Eileen quoting Melanie (I think I've got that right)
  
Melanie
> >I personally find Draco to be a very tragic character in HP, why?  I 
>   feel sorry for the guy.  I mean it's obvious that his father is a 
>   horrible man who in many ways is abusing his son, or it's definitely 
>   >

> Eileen:
>   I don't think it's implied at all. If you go through the archives, 
>   you can find lots on this topic. Just type in draco and abuse, but I 
>   think all the evidence points to the opposite. 
> 
Alina:
> I agree, I am really surprised at how many people seem to think that Draco 
> is an abused child who's only mean to people either because his father 
> wants him to be or because he's taking his abuse out on other people. I 
> doubt Lucius Malfoy is "baseball in the park" type of father, but really he 
> doesn't seem like the type of man to hit his son either. More like the 
> father who's never there and Draco is trying to get his dad to notice him. 
> Besides, the boy has got a doting mother, just remember all the sweets she 
> sent him and the fact that she wanted him to go to Hogwarts just to keep 
> him closer to home. 

This has been discussed before, I know, but to throw in my two knuts....
It all rather depends on how you define abuse, doesn't it? Does it always 
involve active mistreatment or is it sometimes the absence of what are 
considered the normal emotional rights of childhood? We've mentioned before 
in connection with Molly, Winicott's concept of the 'good enough' parent 
(thanks to the person who reminded me whose term it was!). Where do we draw 
the line between failure to be 'good enough' and being in a state of abuse? 

I guess I fall into the camp of those who see Draco not being actively abused 
in any physical way. However, I do suspect he's emotionally deprived, at 
least where his father's concerned. Of course, we don't know a lot. The 
exchanges in Borgin and Burkes don't imply an affectionate relationship, nor 
does Draco saying he is going to force his father to buy him a broom in his 
first year. I have the impression of a man who is cold towards his son, who 
expects much but expresses dissatisfaction and a son who regards his father 
as a source of material goods. 

As for his mother, it is true that she wants him near and showers him with 
sweets. I assume all those packages he gets in the post are from her as well. 
But this doesn't tell us the quality of their relationship. If Lucius is in 
fact a cold man, it may be that Narcissa wants her son near to fulfil her 
*own* emotional needs and the spoiling may be an attempt to buy his affection.

Given the themes of parental (and particularly paternal) influence/ absence/ 
failings in the series, I do think that we're supposed to see the Malfoys as 
less than ideal. Draco has a father whom he at once seems to look up to and 
imitate (yes Eileen, can't you just hear Lucius coming out with all those 
come backs first) but with whom he has no meaningful relationship. He is 
learning about power and influence and how to manipulate people to get what 
you want, but none of the deeper things of life. 
The Weasleys may be deprived materially of many things but they are in a 
better position to cope with the rigours of life. Draco, who we assume has 
materially lacked for nothing, has nowhere near the resoursefulness of Harry 
or Ron.
.......................

Debbie (of the amazing memory):

>I believe there may be a problem in acclaiming Harry (or Ron) as a seer 
based 
>on predictions they made while faking their divination homework.  Reading 
>Trelawney's assignment carefully, she asks for predictions for the next 
>month.  And Harry and Ron adhere to this.  For example, Harry writes that 
"on 
>Monday, I will be in danger of -- er -- burns."  But the First Task did not 
>happen until November - two months later, and it took place on a Tuesday.  
>The other events also did not happen within the timeframe covered by 
>Trelawney's assignment.  In my view, these predictions are as accurate as 
>Trelawney's prediction that the thing Lavender was dreading would happen on 
>the 16th of October.  Something happened on the the 16th of October 
(Lavender 
>was informed that Binky had died) but she admitted she wasn't dreading it.  
>Of course, the degree to which their intentionally made-up predictions did 
>come true is wonderfully ironic, and I bet JKR had great fun with this 
>passage, even if she didn't know how we would dissect it.

Well you know, I'm not so sure. I think Dicentra had a good point on this 
one. 
To me, the significant thing is that Harry, as far as he was concerned, *was* 
making up the predictions. The assignation to specific dates was a function 
of the specific piece of homework set. Their coming true isn't just irony, it 
is where his unrecognised ability as a seer comes through.

Trelawney has set them a very specific piece of work, which Harry and Ron 
fail to do.
They aren't using the methods they're supposed to. Instead of coming up with 
a specific astrological predictions for specific days, Harry, if we accept 
Dicentra's proposal, is coming up with less specific but nevertheless true 
predictions which depend on nothing but his own innate and unrecognised 
ability and then, because he doesn't realise what he's doing, he slots them 
into his chart. Similarly, Trelawney's true prediction comes unconsciously 
(in her case, literally) rather than through one of the divination 
*techniques* she teaches.

Eloise


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