[HPforGrownups] Enabling the Slyths: Redeemable Draco

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 46230

Pippin wrote, about Slytherin:

  It is not ambition which is the ruin of 
  Slytherin, nor the desire for power in itself, nor is it some unique 
  susceptibility  to evil.  What Slytherins are susceptible to, I
  think, is *addiction.*  

  The Sorting Hat holds the key: power*hungry* Slytherin, Harry's 
  "nice thirst" to prove himself, Harry, released to Gryffindor 
  because he said no.  It seems that what Slytherin was looking 
  for in his pupils, besides cunning and resourcefulness and that 
  certain disregard for rules, was an addictive personality. 

  This, then, explains the  self-destructive behavior. 

Excellent idea!  I've never been happy with the apparent condemnation of the House for the ambitious.  But it makes much more sense if ambition isn't their problem, it's that they're "power-hungry", as the Sorting Hat says in GoF and their desires can become so strong they will "use any means" to achieve them.

I want to apply this concept to describe Draco's constant abuse of Harry and his friends, though to put it in perspective, I'm including some of my own speculation on what lies behind it all.

 I sense, based in part on the scene in Knockturn Alley and in part on his wholesale adoption of his father's prejudices and approval of his Dark associations, that Draco's burning ambition is to achieve the approval of his father.  And, based on Lucius' remarks in Mr. Borgin's shop, Draco is frequently, if not always, found wanting.  

I also think that Lucius' first assignment for Draco when he left for Hogwarts was to get on friendly terms with Harry.  He sought Harry out on the train, "looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he had shown in Madam Malkin's shop."   But Lucius' prejudices are so ingrained in him that his attempt falls flat: In the one sentence he utters between his introduction and his offer of friendship, he manages to insult Ron.  And when he formally offers his friendship, the only way he knows how is to assert his superiority over the competition, a ploy that would work at home, but not with Harry.  Harry's stinging rebuke of that offer ("I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself") must really hurt.  It's still his first day at Hogwarts, and he's already failed his father.

So he embarks on his anti-Harry campaign, targeting not just Harry but all of Harry's friends -- Ron, Hermione, Hagrid.  And as he becomes addicted to this revenge, the activities escalate from taunts and attempts to get his enemies dismissed or expelled, to death wishes, the first of which IIRC appears in CoS when he remarks, "Five Galleons the next one dies.  Pity it wasn't Granger."  By the end of GoF, after the train incident in which he taunts Harry for picking "the losing side" and makes gleeful yet chilling predictions of his friends' deaths, Draco appears to be tottering on the edge of the cliff that marks the line beyond which redemption is possible.  Draco doesn't look very redeemable, though I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of an unredeemable child.  But, if it's an addiction, that helps explain things much better.  Addicted!Draco could even be reclaimed/redeemed from the bottom of the cliff.

Yes, I like the "addiction" explanation of Slytherin House's fatal flaw very much.

Debbie
who, contrary to popular opinion, has Draco on the short list of characters least likely to die; Lucius, on the other hand, is Dead!Dead!Dead! (but not till book 7)


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