Lucius and Draco

[chthonia9]

No: HPFGUIDX 47679

Polaris wrote:
> I am struck by how little magic Draco knows when
> he enters Hogwarts [snip] One might think that all
> these years Lucius might have been instructing
> his son on the finer points of dark magic 

Maybe Draco wasn't really all that interested in the Dark Arts.
(He 
was only eleven at that point, after all.  Most people go through the 
gloomy angst-ridden phase that might lead to a fascination with the 
Dark somewhat later than that.)

Maybe he was more interested in flying and Quidditch.

Maybe that's partly why Lucius is a little disappointed in him...


David wrote (in response to Heidi doubting Lucius cares for Draco): 
> Given wizarding longevity and conservatism, this 
> scene [Borgin & Burkes] could just reflect what 
> would have been seen in the muggle world as normal 
> and even correct a hundred or so years ago.

I agree (see Alice Miller's excellent book "For your own
good: the 
roots of violence in childrearing" for more on this). And sadly,
in 
some ways the B&B scene is still normal - I see far too much such 
treatment of (usually younger) children in shops on a daily basis.

However, I think there's a bit more to it than that.

Rampant speculation begins!

Bear in mind that at the time of Draco's birth Lucius would have
been 
very busy working towards the imminent victory of LV, and when that 
came crashing down he would have had his work cut out clearing his 
name (According to Fudge in GoF p613 Lucius was `cleared'
which 
presumably means that he had to stand trial or at least pull a lot of 
strings at that point).  Not a lot of space left for paternal bonding 
there – and even after the trial he had to work to regain
acceptance 
into society, as well as dealing with his own 
disappointment/frustrated rage etc at the Death Eaters' failure.

I reckon that by the time Lucius starts to get his own life back 
together, he finds himself in his Manor with a little boy and a wife, 
neither of whom he has been able to relate to for a while.  As a 
result, Narcissa will have poured out all the affection that she 
couldn't share with Lucius into Draco (possibly being quite
indulgent 
to try to make up for Lucius' black moods), who relates to her
but 
has probably learned to keep out of his father's way.

What gives Lucius the motivation to rebuild his life?  Maybe he does 
feel some affection for his son and wants to give him the best he 
can, or maybe he's more concerned with re-establishing the family 
honour.  Either way, he has to give Draco a sense of his heritage, 
but he doesn't know how to establish the father/son relationship.
So 
he draws on his own father's example...

I would guess that Lucius would have been brought up in an 
authoritarian manner.  According to Miller (eg pp96-102), the 
fundamental characteristics of this sort of childrearing is that the 
child's spontaneous reactions are suppressed by the parents –
either 
consciously (from following 19th century pedagogy that insisted that 
children's wills had to be broken to make them conform) or 
unconsciously (because the parents are too caught up with their own 
inner turmoil to be able to deal with the child's). If a parent
is 
angry at a young child, that child, being utterly dependent, is faced 
with the choice between losing the love/protection of the all-
powerful parent or `admitting' to being in the wrong.  Unless
there 
is even one adult to validate the child's emotions s/he is likely
to 
suppress them in order to retain the `love' of the parent.
This 
happens early enough in life that there is no conscious memory of it, 
and pedagogical `experts' used to believe that this proved
there was 
no resulting damage.

However, people brought up in this way are unable to recognise and 
verbalise wrongs done to them, so when attacked they have less 
control over their reactions.  They are likely to lash out at either 
themselves or others, and as parents are unable to relate to the 
needs of their children. This IMO fits with what we see of Lucius, 
who clearly has strong emotions that he can barely keep in check when 
thwarted.

Incidentally, another consequence of authoritarian upbringing is that 
the victim's inner development will have been limited to learning
how 
to obey a superior figure, so they are likely to be drawn to support 
a strong leader. [According to Miller (pg 65-75) this is one reason 
why Hitler was embraced so enthusiastically in 1933.] In the 
Potterverse, if such childrearing practices were more rigidly adhered 
to in the pure-blood upper classes, we have here a psychological as 
well as a political reason for their support of Voldemort.

For what it's worth though, I'm not sure that was at the root of 
Lucius' relationship to LV – from what little we've seen of their 
interaction so far (GoF p 564) he's trying to smooth-talk his way out 
of trouble, but unlike others he isn't grovelling (eg he calls 
Voldemort `My Lord' not `master'). I suspect that his allegiance to 
Voldemort was a strategic political move on his part, and that 
Voldemort's use of Lucius' first name indicates that he derived more 
political advantage from Lucius' participation than just another 
fighting wand.

IMO Lucius grew up with an obedient respect for his father but the 
emotional deprivation of his authoritarian upbringing required him to 
still seek a sense of identity in something more powerful than 
himself as an adult. I would guess that he fixed on the immutable 
family heritage and honour, as a more generalised version of his 
relationship to his father.  He therefore **needs** to defend his 
family's standing to maintain his own security, which would
explain 
his bitter resentment about the loss of pure-bloods' status (as
seen 
in B&B), and his attempts to transmit the sense of Malfoy superiority 
to Draco.

Speaking of whom...

Does Lucius care about Draco?  I doubt he would understand such a 
question.  I doubt he perceives Draco as a person as opposed to a 
part of the Malfoy line, because I doubt he perceives himself as a 
person independent of being a Malfoy. If he has suppressed his own 
desires in order to do his duty (as he understands it), how can he 
possibly perceive or comprehend Draco's?

Add to that the probability that Lucius has spent much of the 
previous decade or two committing – or at least facilitating
– cold-
blooded murder. Not the best preparation for caring parenthood - to 
do what he did he would have had to disregard any human responses 
that had survived his upbringing as brutally as he disregarded his 
victims. No wonder he's so cold by the time we get to meet him...

Does Draco care about Lucius? I think the way he speaks of Lucius at 
school indicates a respect/fear mix – he emphasises his political 
power rather than their relationship. My guess is that Lucius has 
probably tried to make an impression on his son through intimidation 
and bribery (it's how he deals with everyone else...), but of
course 
what Draco really needs from his father is respect.  And I think this 
is not likely to be forthcoming:

By the time Lucius started to take a real interest in his son, Draco 
would have formed his primary attachment to Narcissa. She
wouldn't 
have the same intense emotional need as Lucius to revere the Malfoy 
family traditions (especially if she feels that Malfoy pride was 
responsible for Lucius' (in retrospect mistaken) allegiance to 
Voldemort).  If she has been feeling neglected herself, she is 
unlikely to support Lucius in an authoritarian assault on her
son's 
emotions.  Given her importance to Draco (as indicated by his vicious 
reaction when Harry insults her in GoF p180) it is likely that she 
gave Draco some emotional validation, thereby sabotaging Lucius' 
attempt to replicate his own stern upbringing.

I suspect that Lucius senses he isn't getting through and tries
to 
buy the child's respect/love (suggested by Draco's confidence
in 
PS/SS Chap 5 that he could `bully' Lucius into buying him a 
broomstick). Between this and Narcissa's pampering (frequent
packets 
of sweets from home - PS pg108), Draco has probably always been able 
to get what he wants (unless his father is in a particularly 
ferocious mood).  

So Draco's only restraint has been fear – he has not learnt
*self*-
control. He hasn't had to repress his emotions as thoroughly as 
Lucius did; and though he has picked up his family's sense of its
own 
importance he doesn't seem to believe in it enough to use it as a 
driver to build his own character.

In my opinion, this means that he will never have the motivation or 
the capacity to defer meeting his desires necessary to follow in his 
father's footsteps. Lucius knows that, and is disappointed in
Draco 
and by extension his own failure as a father (whether he would admit 
that to himself or not, this would give his expressions of 
disappointment a more biting edge). Draco has therefore been brought 
up steeped in tales of his family's great heritage, but he has
also 
been made to feel he doesn't quite measure up (eg1 the scene in 
Borgin & Burkes – not just in the direct criticism of Draco's
marks, 
but in the casual way Lucius bosses him around, and eg2 elsewhere in 
CoS Lucius knows he can't trust Draco with knowledge of the diary
or 
the previous Chamber opening).

Therefore – and I think this is key to much of Draco's
behaviour in 
canon – underlying the self-assurance he tries to project is a 
constant need to prove himself, to gain the respect of his powerful 
father. Unfortunately for him, he's ended up in the same school
year 
as Hero!Harry and TopStudent!Hermione, so he's unlikely to win
glory 
there. Having been told all his life that being a Malfoy means you 
belong at the top of the heap, he doesn't know how to deal with
not 
being there – if he were truly secure in his superiority, he
would be 
able to get on with carving out his own niche without the need to 
taunt the others so much. Instead, he talks up his family's
wealth, 
political influence and Dark reputation, trying to claim status by 
association and reacting angrily when someone disagrees.

This lack of control/self-respect does nothing to gain the respect of 
his father. In B&B Lucius makes it clear that he regards it as a 
liability: "I would remind you that it is not – prudent –
to appear 
less than fond of Harry Potter" (CoS p43).  Perhaps the harshness
of 
Lucius' reaction stems from his own unmet and buried childhood 
emotional needs, and his (subconscious?) awareness of his own 
difficulty in controlling emotions. He doesn't have the self-
awareness, empathy or parenting skill to understand what lies behind 
Draco's `weakness' or his own irritation at it, so reacts
by putting 
Draco down.
And so the vicious circle turns...


Right, that's my seven-Galleons-worth!
If you can swallow all that, then turning to some of the Lucius/Draco 
incidents recently discussed:

Shane said (wrt buying Slytherin team brooms):
> Rather than going out and practising with Draco, 
> encouraging him to be a better player and gaining
> a position on the team through talent, he buys
> Draco a way in. This would reflect concern with how 
> things look, rather than genuine concern for his
> son's welfare.

On the other hand, it doesn't `look' very good that he
buys his way 
in, does it?  I think that's just the way Lucius operates –
he has 
the power to get what he wants, and he believes he has the right to 
do so.  Why waste time developing talent when you have the means to 
get what you want without it? Whether consciously or not, Lucius is 
showing Draco how to wield the wealth he will inherit.

Jenny from ravenclaw said:
> [at the QWC] Draco settles himself comfortably 
> *between*both of his parents. [snip] Draco sitting 
> between his parents is a symbol of their protection 
> of him. He is their link, their center, their focus 

JKR doesn't say `comfortably,' though... I think this can
go either 
way.  Maybe his parents are too estranged to sit next to each other; 
maybe Narcissa wants to sit next to Draco and Lucius is afraid Draco 
would make a social gaffe with whoever is sitting on her other side; 
maybe both Lucius and Narcissa want to sit beside non-family-members 
to enhance their social network; maybe Draco wants to flank himself 
with the wealth and security and status that his parents represent; 
or maybe they are a happy nuclear family and Draco is the apple of 
his parents' eyes.

Jenny also said:
> I actually imagine that Lucius sees Draco just 
> about every time he visits Hogwarts. We certainly 
> know that Draco gets a lot of information from his 
> father

I agree with you, though that isn't necessarily an indication of 
parental concern.  I'm sure there's just as much information
flowing 
the other way that Lucius is only too glad to put to bad use.

And finally (phew!):
Jenny concluded:
> Now, whether or not Draco is or will be evil is a 
> whole other debate...

Evil?  I don't think he has it in him.  Bitter and twisted,
probably; 
used by evil, possibly; committing evil acts, maybe; but *being* 
evil?  I don't think he has the self-assurance ;-)

Chthonia (who probably needs to get out more)