Draco's fear?? (was: Draco's Unlikely Redemption)

[ms_superhero]

No: HPFGUIDX 33439

Hi,
I delurked once before but I don't think I introduced myself.  My 
name's Elise and I've been lurking for a few months now.

Anyway, about Draco and his motivations, I agree that Lucius Malfoy 
is a nasty piece of work, but I'm not entirely convinced that Draco 
is really afraid of him (or rather, that he's afraid of upsetting 
him more than any other child is afraid of upsetting their 
parents).  His character appears to be based more on the spoiled 
brat model than the frightened child.

Many of the instances Barb cited to buttress her claim could be 
interpreted completely differently, for example:

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
>"Though if his grades don't pick up," said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly 
>still, "that may indeed be all he is fit for--"
>
>"It's not my fault," retorted Draco. "The teachers all have 
>favorites, that Hermione Granger--"
>
>I would have though you'd be ashamed that a girl of no wizard 
>family beat you in every exam," snapped Mr. Malfoy.
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I think it's clear here that Draco has some fear of his father or 
>he wouldn't be making excuses about his grades. Again, it's an 
>undercurrent. He isn't quaking in his boots; he's blustering, 

Draco could very well be making excuses out of pride, not fear.  
Even the wording seems to suggest it (Draco "retorts", which 
suggests anger and injured pride).  Actually, even the fact that 
he's answering back at all, instead of mumbling some sort of apology 
or pretending not to hear his father, leads me to conclude that he 
is not acting out of fear here.

>Back to CoS, when Ron and Harry are talking to him about the 
>attacks (disguised with Polyjuice Potion) Draco expresses the wish 
>that Hermione will be one of the victims. I believe this goes 
>deeper than his simply disliking her as a person or 
>disliking "Mudbloods" in general; if we hark back to his complaint 
>about her and his father's response, we see that life would clearly 
>be simpler for Draco without Hermione around as academic 
>competition. Which takes us back to his making excuses because he 
>fears his father.

The statement could simply be due to Draco being a rotten little kid 
who hasn't really thought of the implications of what he says.  

>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look 
>at me! It's killed me!"
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
><SNIP!>
> he can avoid his father blaming him for this 
>(even though it WAS all his fault). In my experience, people who 
>tend to shift blame don't do it for no reason. No one at the 
>school, even Hagrid, would probably have done anything much to 
>Draco for the hippogriff incident (assuming he'd already been 
>punished enough by being wounded) so the only motivation he has for 
>shifting blame is if his father would come down on him otherwise. 
>It might not even be more drastic than denying Draco a new toy (it 
>doesn't have to be physical punishment), but any potential 
>punishment seems to be too much to Draco, based on this behavior.

You assume his motivation here was shifting the blame.  There are a 
lot of other probable motives:
1) the drama queen factor.  Who doesn't love being the center of 
attention?
2) time off school -- doesn't draco take a couple of days off?  and 
then doesn't he swagger in late to his first class?
3) the chance to use his injury to make people wait on him (remember 
the root-cutting scene in Snape's class?)
4) simple malice (not only does he create problems for a teacher he 
doesn't like or respect, but also for said teacher's little friends, 
who Draco also can't stand?)

The rotten little kid explanation works just as easily (if not 
better) with all of the scenes mentioned in the post.  Not picking a 
fight in front of a teacher is pure common sense, and merely shows 
that Draco doesn't NEED to be nasty to Harry, Ron & Hermione, he 
just enjoys it and is willing to postpone the pleasure if doing so 
spares him some inconvenience (like detention or a reprimand).

Unfortunately, though I love fanon's Reformed!Draco as much as many 
other fanfiction readers, so far canon Draco seems to be an example 
of the "Your choices are what make you" theme (in a different, less 
obvious way than Tom Riddle).  With a father as cold as Lucius is, 
Draco can't have had the best childhood, but it hasn't been that 
bad, either.  Like Dudley, he's used to getting his own way.  He has 
a lot of material advantages.  He's the leader of his little set 
(again, by doing it the easy way --associating with dummies like 
Crabbe and Goyle).  As the series progresses, his character becomes 
progressively worse.

Why?  He has chosen to take the easy way out, *not* questioning his 
upbringing, *not* thinking for himself, *not* accepting 
responsibility (because it's easier and more flattering to his self-
image, not because he's afraid).  Reducing the motivation for his 
nastiness to fear makes him (and his possible redemption later in 
the series) much less interesting.

I would love to see Draco reform eventually, but not because he's 
rebelling against his miserable childhood, or his evil father, or 
because he's conquered his fears and let his "natural goodness" (or 
whatever) come out.  That would be boring.  I'd like to see it come 
about because Draco makes a hard choice for once, really think for 
himself and consciously decide to cultivate the good person he could 
potentially be.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

Elise