Redeemable Draco

[Beth Loubet]

No: HPFGUIDX 49909

(copied from OTChatter -- it was just too ONTopic to leave there; gathering driftwood for my acronym shack on TBAY <grin>)

David (on redeemable Draco):

> I just can't remember it, and have to confess I don't know which 
> way round she means. Who thinks Draco is an abominable little tick 
> who deserves the Dementor's Kiss but just knows that softie JKR is 
> going to have him throw himself in front of the AK intended for 
> Harry? Who feels Draco is really a complex misunderstood and 
> tortured soul who will never be allowed to do more than lose 
> Quidditch matches and fail to get the last taunt?

Elkins: Any takers?

bel:
Yep. Step right up and get your programme, can't tell the players without a programme! See Draco taunt Harry because of his own feelings of inadequacy! See Draco belittled and humiliated by his insensitive oaf of a father! See Draco laughed at by Ron and Harry in public! See Draco's (badly handled) offer of friendship to Harry thrown back in his face! See Draco resent Harry's ability to make friends, while he has to buy them!

And see Draco sacrificed on the altar of Too Many Bad Choices to Redeem!

Don't get me wrong. Draco is an insufferable git. He's a bully, a whiner, a brown-noser. He's also psychologically (if not physically) abused, raised on the "wealth is power, and power is everything" paradigm, and primed to believe from birth that the ends justify the means. Hogwarts is his first opportunity to see that there might be other avenues in life open to him. Yet still, he's constantly (if indirectly) watched by his father -- through Snape, through his father's position as a school governor, even through Draco's only "friends" -- Crabbe and Goyle, the sons of Lucius' friends and co-DEs.

Draco hasn't had much of a chance to decide who HE is, who HE really wants to be, outside of his father's influence. I'd love to see him get that chance. He's not, after all, a "big bad". If the book were strictly about a school, Draco would be the big bad. But it's not. The Big Bads in the outside world are just too big for Draco to have any real importance in Harry's life. He's not even successful as a bad guy. He's a royal pain in the patoot, but no more -- which gives him the chance to drop on either side of the fence. 

I want to see Draco stand up and make a decision for himself as to who he wants to be. Heck, I'd be happy to see him do that no matter WHICH side of the fence he ends up on. But I really think he deserves redemption. He deserves to be able to choose the "right" path.

And I don't think that's going to happen. I think that Draco will end up being one of the senseless sacrifices of the war that make us (and Harry) realize how pointless it all is and how urgent it is to make it stop. Draco's tragedy will be that he DOESN'T ever get to make that most important choice on his own and become an adult. He may realize that fact at the end and regret it, but that isn't redemption. It's just regret.

DRACO'S TRAGEDY
Draco Refuses Adult Choices; Obviously Sacrifices True Redemption; Abused, Guided by Evil Dad to Yield

Fire away! <grin>

bel


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