From HPforGrownups - Draco as Darcy? (Was: Re: FF: Speculation - a matter of perspective)]

[vanityfair009]

No: HPFGUIDX 38819

Hi, everybody! I went on hiatus a bit ago while a friend was visiting 
and am now stepping back on-board. *waves to everyone*  Oh, look, I 
see I have perfect timing, as we're in the middle of a discussion 
about Darcy!Draco, one of my favourite things!! *grins at Heidi* 

I definitely agree with Heidi about the obvious similarities between 
Elizabeth and Hermione, and I've always thought that a Draco/Hermione 
relationship was possible given canon subtext, particularly on 
Draco's end. However I also think you could easily read Draco's 
interest in her as a deflection of his obsession with Harry, so I 
don't really think the Darcy/Elizabeth parallel is strong enough by 
itself to support D/Hr in canon.  However, I do completely believe 
that the parallels between Draco and Darcy are there for a reason, 
intended to support the structure of an eventual Draco reformation. 
(*Watches as worms slither out of newly opened can*)  

> "marinafrants" <rusalka at i...> wrote:
> 
> > While I don't expect any 
> > Draco redemption in later books, I'm not going to flatly rule out 
> > the possibility, either.  But I don't see how it would parallel 
> > Pride and Prejudice.

I'm not a D/H shipper (though I wouldn't mind D/H in canon, because 
then I could take the approach I take to the Draco Trilogy and aver 
that Draco wants Hermione because she's the closest he'll ever get to 
having Harry, *sigh*) but I understand and appreciate all of Heidi's 
points on this subject because I feel they're vital in understanding 
the minds of Redeemed!Draco fans.  It's important to remember that 
Jane Austen is Rowling's favorite author.  She has written thus far 
with a consistent awareness of mythological and literary themes.  
While Harry is clearly a Campbellian hero, it's harder to place Draco 
as an archetypal villain, especially as he has yet to do anything 
particularly "evil."  It makes much more sense given what we know 
about Rowling to view him as a redeemed literary anti-hero.  

Looking at the relationship between Harry and Draco from a strictly 
literary (read, NON-Slash) view, there are decided similarities to 
Pride and Prejudice, which, as I'm sure you know, had the original 
title First Impressions.  

Harry's first impression of Draco is that he's a stuck-up snob, and 
Draco doesn't pay much attention to Harry, either.  Upon learning who 
Harry is he offers friendship and is rejected.  You can view this 
moment as parallel to the infamous P&P proposal, but I think the 
possibilities are more interesting if you instead view it as a 
parallel to Darcy's first offer to dance with Elizabeth, well before 
the proposal.  She turns him down then, and we then begin a 
rivalry/flirtation that lasts for half the novel, just as 
Harry/Draco's rivalry has built for half the series.

Consider then that just as the end of Book 4 is the turning point in 
the series, and structurally about halfway through, so Darcy's 
proposal is about half-way through the novel, and serves as the 
moment when he begins to reform.  You can view Draco's words on the 
train, "You picked the losing side," as a sort of reverse-psychology 
proposal.  If you're following the parallel to Darcy of P&P, then 
it's not implausible to say that this moment will be the turning 
point for Draco just as it is for the series as a whole.  

Naturally, to make the parallel work there needs to be a similar 
turning point for Harry (and Hermione and Ron, but Harry especially 
since we're in his point of view).  Perhaps that won't come til after 
we've laid eyes on the infamous Malfoy Manor, *grin*.  But seriously, 
J.K.R. has already shown us that Harry's first impressions about 
people are often very misleading.  Nothing could be more natural 
given the way she has set up, as Heidi so clearly outlined, a "series 
that's all about choices," and, I would add, a series where given 
assumptions about people and their motivations are challenged on a 
regular basis.  

If after Book 4, JKR continues to develop Draco as a stereotypical 
bad boy destined to follow in the footsteps of his father, I for one 
will be very surprised.

> It really all comes back to the question of whether you think that 
JKR may not leave Draco's character flat out on the road to being an 
Evil Death Eater from his first appearance to his last (IMHO, what a 
*dead dull* thing to do!). In a series that's all about choices,. and 
how each person has to make them for themselves, it just feels like a 
tremendous cop-out for her to say that as Draco was born into the 
Malfoy family, and grew up strongly (perhaps almost exclusively until 
he was 11) influenced by Lucius Malfoy (who is possibly the *most* 
evil character in the books), he has no way to go but on the road to 
evil. He hasn't really had much opportunity to see things in any 
other way (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/34012) 
while at Hogwarts, and I don't think he gets much encouragement at 
home to explore different points of view. 

*applauds*  Exactly, and while I'm jumping tangents, I have to ask 
why so many people feel determined to see Draco as a Bastion of Pure 
Evil instead of wishing for him an escape from his father's cruelty 
and tyranny?  If anything, the common theme in literature of sons who 
fight to break free of the destiny left to them by their fathers 
(Star Wars, Into the Woods, Death of a Salesman, I could go on and 
on) is as strong a literary precedent for reformed!Draco as is Jane 
Austen.

That's all for me, for now, I think--good to be back...

Aja