Draco & Snape (Re: Wondering.... about Snape & McGonagall)

[hogsheadbarmaid]

No: HPFGUIDX 116277



> Potioncat:
> I'm of two minds about Draco.  In general I think he's just a 
> rotten kid. <snip> I think that JKR has indicated that Draco 
> is a lost cause.
> 
> <snip>  But I don't see anything in canon that indicates that 
> Snape has done anything positive for Draco. If anything, he's just 
> another tool in Snape's information gathering job. Which is almost 
> worse than what Snape does to Harry. As Head of House he does have 
> a responsibility to Draco.
> 
> And it's OK for JKR to write Draco this way.  She's showing us this 
> rotten kid that we all seem to meet along the way.  The one that 
> never changes.


barmaid here again:

I will not be surprised at all if you are right.  However, I find 
that so much of what makes these books great is the huge amount of 
grey.  Hardly anyone is all good or all bad.  So, when I am 
confronted with Draco I wonder -- could it really be that simple -- 
is he just bad with no hope?  How can a story that seems to scream 
out "nothing and no one is that simple" have such a simply bad kid.

I certainly knew some bad eggs in my school days.  Being from a small 
rural area I did go from 1st grade - 12th with many of the same 30 
kids or so, and yes, there were some kids that were bullies that 
whole time!  But I also know that they were not monsters, but real 
people -- and they had moments of humanity over those years.  

I think Draco's dad being taken away is an opportunity for some sort 
of change in Draco -- it seems like the time for something to happen 
if it is going to happen.  I *do not* think he will turn into some 
sort of goodness and light kinda kid, but I hope for him to at least 
become somehow more humanized.  

If not -- that is ok too.  As you say, being shown the reality of the 
rotten kid we have all known is a completely valid choice for JKR!

 --barmaid