Draco's nature (was Power vs Morality was LV never loved anyone)

[phoenix at risen.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 110367

AmanitaMuscaria: 
Hmmm - who else do we know of who doesn't even 
pretend to be good, and yet was made a prefect? Draco doesn't even 
have the excuse of being in an orphanage to excuse his spite. 


psyche/Kate:
I think Draco's excuses are just as good as LV's. He's had a neglectful, loveless, abusive upbringing by a Death Eater. It's clear that his father has left huge scars on him. I get the impression of a miserable, frightened, lonely boy who tries to make himself feel and look big by bullying. Even his loathing of Harry seems to me mostly rooted in wounded pride and jealously, maintained by the impulse to agree with his father rather than a simple rejection of Harry's personal qualities.


AmanitaMuscaria:
Admittedly, he's not shown himself to be particularly evil, as far as 
we know, just spiteful.


psyche/Kate:
An important distinction. What I find interesting about Draco, is that I don't think we've seen any signs of his *own* personality yet. Everything he is has been moulded by his upbringing. All his opinions are his father's (If he has any original thoughts, we haven't been shown them). His cruelty and disdain have been shaped by lack of authentic love combined with excessive material spoiling. It seems obvious that if he continues down his current path he will go on and sign up to be a Death Eater. But what we don't know is whether that will fit him. Will he revel in it, like his father? Or will he find that he's not as cut out for murder and torture as he thought, like Snape?

Does he even *have* enough 'own' personality left for fit to be an issue, or has every part of him been subsumed by the nightmare experience that is growing up as a Malfoy?

psyche/Kate