Draco's Choice (was:Re: The Twins are bad, Harry is bad, but Draco is good...)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 137071

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "slgazit" <slgazit at s...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03"
> <horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Betsy Hp:
> > Did Draco freely choose to become Voldemort's assassin?  This is 
> > important because by the morality of the books Draco's choice 
tells 
> > us a great deal about the make-up of his character and the 
direction 
> > he'll most likely be taking in book 7.

Salit:
> When we first see Draco on the train he shows great pride in his 
task.
> While some of it may be bravado and show off and mostly immaturity, 
I
> think he felt very honored by his choice. This fits well with
> Voldemort's ability to make his DE's feel very grateful and honored
> when given the most horrible and demeaning tasks...

Geoff:
I think a lot of this is keeping up appearances with his peers as 
being someone in touch with important people.

Have you never name-dropped to help your street cred?

Salit: 
> Malfoy later finds out that what seemed easy is not so at all. But 
his
> last action was a choice - run away with the DE's. He may not like 
his
> choice and likely will die for it either at the hand of the good 
side
> or at the hand of Voldemort (or his DE's), but he did stick with the
> DE's in the end.

Geoff:
I think canon might disagree with you there....

'Harry felt as though he, too, were hurtling through space; it could 
not have happened... it could not have happened...
"Out of here, quickly," said Snape.
He seized Malfoy by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the 
door ahead of the rest;'

(HBP "Flight of the Prince" p.557 UK edition)

It seems that Draco is being dragged along here whether he wants to 
be or not. Yes, I know that he is running on his own later, but this 
may be through being caught up in the train of events and, having 
been dragged out, deciding that he ought to make himself scarce.


Salit: 
> > Draco, himself, doesn't act like he's got a choice in the matter.
> > 
> > "No one can help me," [...] "...and unless I do it soon...he 
say's 
> > he'll kill me..." (522)
> 
> But nowhere does Draco say "It's the wrong thing to do". He is 
scared
> and ashamed but equally ashamed of not measuring up to the 
Voldemort's
> standards as he is of not measuring up to Dumbledore's.

Geoff:
No. But haven't you ever got yourself into a jam over something and 
you spend your time trying to justify yourself rather than apologise 
or admit that you made a mistake or it was the wrong thing to do? I 
have and I can recall wriggling to try to get myself out of the 
situation without losing too much face...

Draco is metaphorically in deep water and he isn't a very good 
swimmer.

Salit: 
> > And Draco, with the freedom to choose finally returned to him, 
> > lowers his wand.
> 
> Lowers slightly, not all the way. This shows he is torn and hasn't
> made a choice.

Geoff:
No, but if the freedom of choice is returned to you, you want time to 
reflect on what is the best thing to do and not jumping in with both 
feet and making the wrong choice. Being torn is better than 
considering that you know every answer.

And look at Harry; he is a past master at the art of thinking on his 
feet some of his choices have gone horrendously wrong.

I have argued for some time that no one is irredeemable and I have 
hope that something of Draco's (well hidden) good side may be 
salvaged. A few weeks ago, I referred to a Biblical example in the 
case of St.Paul, who as Saul of Tarsus, set out to crush the early 
church and was not too fussy about the methods he used such as 
imprisonment and killing. He was at the stoning of Stephen, not as 
one of the perpetrators but egging them on from the side. Then the 
Bible narrative records that he met the risen Christ and, realising 
the mistakes he had made, became a totally different man who went on 
to be possibly the finest worker for Christ of his generation. And 
there are modern day parallels within the church.

But, it is JKR's story and Draco's fate lies within her gift. 

However, she has pointed up something many of us have said time and 
time again that both Harry and Draco have grey areas within their 
lives which make them flawed and make them both comparable with 
people we know and, if we are honest, ourselves. And, strangely 
perhaps, it is those flaws in both of them which make them real 
enough for me to see myself in them, particularly Harry, as a 
teenager.