Draco characterisation and Elkins' post (was A relayed post)

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 55164

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "herm - own - ninny" 
<ratchick22 at h...> wrote:

> I've tried and failed to find Elkin's essay in 
> the past (I'm terribly inept at browsing through yahoogroups 
*hangs head*) 
> if anyone has a link for me I will be eternally grateful :)

I actually posted it on this thread a few days ago, but as I'm 
replying to some of your insights anyway, I'll link to that here 
instead of just zapping it to you offlist: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/54917

> Why is it that you feel Draco's peers dislike or disrespect him. I 
never 
> really got this impression from canon, quite the opposite in fact. 
I felt 
> that he was genuinly popular with his housemates. In PoA when he 
gets sliced 
> up by Buckbeak, they are concerned, and the level of Pansy's 
concern 
> especially (she bursts into tears) sugests that this concern goes 
beyond 
> acting up because of their dislike for Hagrid or what have you.

I agree with the idea that Draco gets attention from and some level 
of concern from his housemates - yes, especially Pansy - but there 
are other possible reasons for this: 

1. He is the Seeker and injury to him could cause problems for the 
team. In the previous year, it's strongly implied that Slytherin 
beat both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and given the Harry-narrator 
perspective issues in the books, had they won despite Draco not 
catching the Snitch, it would've been mentioned, at least as an 
aside. So his presence on the team might be something that the other 
Quidditch-concerned kids in his House would be interested in or care 
about, whether they care about him as a person or not.

2. His father is clearly powerful and at least somewhat monied (or 
has connections to the broom company) and other purebloods in 
Slytherin might've instructed their kids to Not Be Mean To Malfoy. 

3. Slytherins have an Us vs Them mentality, which would mean that 
any attack, assault or transgression against any Slytherin by any 
student - or even teacher - from another house would be considered 
an attack on all of them, and would be treated accordingly, with 
support for the injured and malice towards the "attacker". 

All of the above might mean that in certain circumstances, Draco 
gets superficial or "surround-sound" support from his housemates, 
which could lead him to think that he's doing the right thing, or 
behaving in a proper Slytherin manner, even where, empirically, he's 
not. 


> lastly, what makes you think that Draco is an average student. I 
am not 
> arguing with you on this, it's just I've been wondering myself how 
able he 
> is at school. Fanfic authors interpret him anywhere from much less 
skilled 
> than Harry to the second best student in his year (second only to 
Hermione). 
> Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is Draco a good student? 
His father 
> seemed to expect high marks from him in CoS. Is this because he is 
truly 
> capable of being top of his class, or simply because Lucius 
expects much 
> from him and wants to embarass him for being so "average."

I'm one of the people who think that the only Muggle-born students 
whose marks are higher than his in PS/SS is Hermione, but there 
might be random Ravenclaw purebloods whose marks top Draco's in 
various classes - I don't think that would insult Lucius' 
sensibilities quite as much. 

Also, as evidence for Draco being on the smarter side, we have the 
noninclusion of him with Crabbe & Goyle on the list of People Harry 
is Surprised To Hear Passed Their End of Term Exams, and the fact 
that Snape praises him in class. If he were utterly incompetent, 
that wouldn't happen - although a little puffery is possible - in 
other words, I'm sure he's not always better than Hermione in 
Potions, but I'm also sure that he's not messing everything up. He 
never makes a cauldron explode unless someone throws a firework into 
it. 

Further, a parent having high expectations for a child is not a 
terrible thing - but a parent having expectations for a child where 
the parent *knows* the child cannot achieve them is pretty much 
abusive. So if you think that Draco is stupid, then you naturally 
have to think that Lucius is even crueler than he would otherwise 
be, IMHO. 


Anyhow - go read Elkins' post and some of those other threads - v. 
interesting stuff!


Heidi
*Ask me about Nimbus - 2003 :: the first international Harry Potter 
symposium*
http://www.hp2003.org