Austen and Why tiny, tiny Parallels DO Exist for R/H and/or H/G (was a large number of varied things)

[naamagatus <naama_gat@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52457

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "heiditandy" <heidit at n...> 
wrote:


> In comparing Draco to Darcy, on the other hand, I have not 
attempted to
> say that there is a 100% parallel between their characters. 
However, the
> themes behind Darcy's characterisation are repeated in Rowling's
> characterisation of Draco, either in the text itself or the subtext.
> Look at these lines from P&P:
> 
> Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom 
there
> was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the
> smallest interest, and from none received either attention or 
pleasure. 
> 

This is where the parallel between Darcy and Draco breaks, IMO. Draco 
is *immensely* interested in the people around him. Interested in a 
mean, lets see who I can harass kind of way, but very interested and 
involved. He bullies Neville - poor, weak, completely harmless 
Neville. Darcy would sooner be publicly hanged than lower himself by 
doing such a dishonorable thing. Draco is constantly on the lookout 
to put down others. The last thing you can say about him is that he 
keeps aloof and disengaged from the people around him.

<snip>
> 
> He can be a conversible companion if he thinks it worth his while. 
Among
> those who are at all his equals in consequence, he is a very 
different
> man from what he is to the less prosperous. 
> 
> It has often led him to be liberal and generous, -- to give his 
money
> freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve 
the
> poor. Family pride, and filial pride, for he is very proud of what 
his
> father was, have done this. Not to appear to disgrace his family, to
> degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the
> Pemberley House, is a powerful motive. 
> 

But all this are Wickham's lies! Darcy is not really like that. In 
actual fact he is truly "liberal and generous", not just acting the 
part out of pride or interest. True, when the reader first reads this 
she doesn't know that Wickham is lying, so she might accept (as did 
Elisabeth) this description as true. Still, in HP we actually see and 
hear for ourselves Draco's mean, cowardly and racist acts and 
comments. Whatever JKR is planning, it certainly couldn't be the kind 
of transformation that occurs in P&P, because in P&P the main 
transformation of Darcy's characterisation is based on the correction 
of a misconception, a misunderstanding. There is simply no room for 
such a misconception of Draco's character in HP. (Another breakdown 
of the parallel, in fact.)

> Now, I've seen some comments overnight that Darcy's largesses among 
the poor would never be emulated by the Malfoys - but of course, 
we've heard tell of the generous donations to St Mungo's that Lucius 
made - and we have no idea if there were restrictions on the benefits 
of that money - in other words, is it only to go towards care of 
purebloods? We don't know, and we shouldn't presume that it is, given 
that Lucius, at least
> through that point, has had to at least talk a certain game 
publicly - that wizarding pride is important, certainly, but Muggle-
born students shouldn't be at risk from that dangerous monster, 
during CoS. His words in public mean something other than his actions 
in private, and people who are biased and bigoted, yet wealthy, still 
> donate to noble causes as a face-saving manipulation. 

<snip>
 
> > Moreover, Draco and his family treat their servants
> > like dirt while when Elizabeth visits Pemberley, she
> > finds that his servants can't say enough nice things
> > about him.  
> Wait a moment - when did we ever see Draco's treament of servants in
> canon? We don't see him interact with house-elves at all. Yes, 
Lucius is an elf-abuser, but we haven't seen or heard of Draco doing 
any of that.
> He sneers about Hagrid, but not to his face, and let's put it this 
way- his treatment of Hagrid in class isn't any more obnoxious than 
>Harry's treatment of Snape in class. 

Just a mild critique here: Either Lucius' behaviour reflects on Draco 
or it doesn't. It doesn't seem consistent to me to refer to Lucius 
donating money as an argument in *favor* of the Darcy/Draco parallel 
but refuse to accept Lucius' abuse of his house elf as an argument 
*against* it.

> 
> Btw - there is one area where there is no parallel between Draco and
> Darcy, which I'm sure we can all agree on - the way they look. 
Darcy is
> tall and dark, whereas Draco is small and fair, much like... (oh 
wait,
> it's another literary parallel):
> 
> Colin Craven from The Secret Garden
> 
> See? 
> 
> The boy had a sharp, delicate face the color of ivory and he seemed 
to
> have eyes too big for it. He had also a lot of hair which tumbled 
over
> his forehead in heavy locks and made his thin face seem smaller. 
Mary
> could not help noticing what strange eyes he had. They were agate
> gray... 
> ..."I think he's a very spoiled boy," said Mary. 
> 
> Oh, come on ;) Even the Draco-haters can agree on this one. Can't 
we? 
> 

Not that I actually care about this, but for the sake of accuracy - 
Colin Craven had dark hair.   



Naama