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

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 137075

> >>Betsy Hp:
> >Did Draco freely choose to become Voldemort's assassin?
> ><snip>

> >>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.

Betsy Hp:
Draco feels honored in being *chosen*.  Draco did not make a choice 
here, Voldemort did.  And what's interesting is that Narcissa, in 
her exchange with Bellatrix, brings up the point that Draco is 
underage and therefore, according to the custom of the WW, unable to 
make an informed decision.

"And I will say this for Draco: He isn't shrinking away from his 
duty, he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the 
prospect --"
[...]
"That's because he is sixteen and has no idea what lies in store!" 
(HBP scholastic p.33) 

> >>Salit:
> 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...

Betsy Hp:
Exactly!  Voldemort (with Bellatrix's help I'm sure) convince Draco 
that he's been given an honorable task.  That Draco seems to buy the 
party line at first I agree with.  But that doesn't change the fact 
that Draco was *given* this task.  Draco did not choose it.  By 
Christmas time Draco seems to be having second thoughts.  He looks 
ill enough for Harry to notice and comment on it.  And it's after 
Christmas that Draco starts going to Moaning Mrytle.  By this point, 
IMO, Draco realizes that his choice in the matter has been taken 
from him.  I think he probably realizes that he'd never had a choice 
in the first place.

> >>Salit:
> <snip> 
> But his last action was a choice - run away with the DE's.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Draco didn't have a choice here at all.  JKR makes that very clear, 
IMO.

"[Snape] seized Malfoy by the scruff of the neck and forced him 
through the door ahead of the rest;" (ibid p.597)

Again, the language used ("seized" "forced") precludes choice.

And I would argue that Draco may well be choosing the side of right 
before Snape arrives.  First, he lowers his wand (enough that Harry, 
who's always ready to believe the worst of Draco, recognizes that he 
does so).  Second, he disobeys the urging of the four Death Eaters 
surrounding him to kill Dumbledore (the easier or certainly more 
cowardly option, IMO).  Third, he makes sure that Dumbledore 
realizes that he *did not* invite Fenrir to the school (which 
implies to me that Draco, for the first time in his life quite 
possibly, is looking for Dumbledore's approval). 

> >>Salit: 
> 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.

Betsy Hp:
As I said up-thread, the fact that Draco brings up what he did to 
Katie and Ron suggests remorse to me.  Dumbledore tells him he's not 
a killer and Draco says that he must be because look what he's 
already done.  Draco is scared of becoming a killer and he's ashamed 
of what he's already done.  I see no evidence that he's ashamed of 
not "measuring up" to Voldemort.  That he is scared of Voldemort is 
hardly a strike against him in my opinion.  Draco *should* be scared 
of Voldemort.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> >Even with the temptation of the four Death Eaters, who five times 
> >by my count try to turn Draco into a killer, Draco shows us (and 
> >Harry) who he truly is: he is not a killer; he is an innocent.

> >>Salit:
> No, he is incapable of making a decision. Yet. There is no evidence
> one way or another which way he'd have gone if given full time to
> consider.

Betsy Hp:
Ooh, I strongly disagree here. There is powerful imagery invoked in 
the three times Dumbledore gives Draco the time to act and then 
tells him he is not a killer.  I'm not sure if JKR had this 
particular idea in mind while she was writing, but once I noticed 
the pattern of three I immediately thought of Peter who three times 
denies Christ before the Crucifixion and then, after the 
Resurrection, is able to redeem himself when Christ asks Peter three 
times if he loves him. (I believe this takes place in the book of 
John in the Bible.)  But even if she didn't, there's a certain power 
within the number three. Draco's act of confession, Dumbledore's 
benediction, the repetitive nature of their exchange...  I think 
Draco leaves this encounter effectively blessed by Dumbledore.  
Proven, I think, by Draco not giving into the demands of the Death 
Eaters.   

(I don't want to take this imagery too far.  I think it implies a 
certain symbolism, but I don't think it's supposed to be taken 
literally.)

> >>Betsy Hp:
> >[Draco] is not a killer; he is an innocent.

> >>Phoenixgod:
> You almost had me Betsy, until this line. 
> <snip>
> But Draco, whatever he might be and however might he end up is not 
> an innocent.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Ahh, but it's not my line.  *Dumbledore* is the one who tells Draco 
that he's not a killer and calls him an innocent.

"I don't think you will kill me, Draco.  Killing is not nearly as 
easy as the innocent believe..." (586)

Honestly, I wouldn't have called Draco an innocent, myself, for the 
very reasons you brought up.  Stomping a helpless Harry, nearly 
killing Katie and Ron, his use of Unforgivables don't call up images 
of fluffy bunny innocence to me, either.  But Dumbledore said it, 
and if you think about how Draco parallels Harry, it starts to make 
sense.

Because Harry has stomped a helpless Draco, and Harry very nearly 
killed Draco with the Sectumsempra curse, and Harry has thrown an 
Unforgivable or two.  Yet, Dumbledore describes Harry as "pure of 
heart" (511).  Harry, despite his warts and foibles, is an 
innocent.  

So yes, Draco did some bad things.  But, since he has not killed, 
since there is no blood on his hands, he is, by Potterverse 
standards, an innocent.  

Because, IMO, JKR isn't talking about fluffy bunny innocence, she's 
talking about something more gritty and practical.  It's been 
brought up on this list, many times, that Harry doesn't seem to have 
an unusual capacity to love.  And yet, it's his ability to love that 
enables him to challange an evil wizard of great power who had 
already killed by age eleven.

[As a total aside, it's interesting to me the role Snape has played 
in keeping both boys innocent.  Snape stabilizes Katie; it's his 
advice Harry follows to save Ron; and he heals Draco.  Without 
Snape, both boys could well have become murderers.]

> >>Betsy Hp:
> >And in a round about sort of way, keeping his friends out of his 
> >tangles with Voldemort showed a form of compassion too.

> >>Salit:
> Did he? He used Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts (and they did not    
> seem to like it). 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Well, I did say it was round about <g>.  However, I get the 
impression that Crabbe and Goyle don't know what Draco is up to.

"Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and 
Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!" (383)

Even when he's breaking under the pressure, Draco keeps his friends 
out of it.  They don't know what he's up to, so if Draco fails, or 
he gets caught, or both, neither of his friends will be accomplices. 
(Though I do recognize that that's putting the best possible spin on 
it.)

> >>Phoenixgod:
> I think Draco is going to survive, but Draco is never going to turn
> out well.

Betsy Hp:
Me, I think Draco is going to turn out well.  But I'm not so sure 
he's going to survive. :(

Betsy Hp