Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. Yet Sympathetic. And Dead, Too.

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 124437


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
<BIG SNIP>
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> So, I was rereading some of the Elkins' posts ( the bit of reading 
> which I strongly recommend to anyone) and decided to ask a 
> question,which kind of bug me ever since I read "Draco Malfoy is 
> Ever so Lame.Yet Sympathetic and Dead" ( message 39083)for the first 
> time.
> 
> I cannot help but nod my head in agreement as to general idea of 
> hurt/comfort and why I love certain characters . :o)
> 
> Absolutely, the more pain they endure the more I like them. Sirius 
> is a very good example, Harry - definitely, Lupin, even Snape.
> 
> 
> But  I cannot see any of it, or almost any of it in Malfoy 
> character. I cannot see any "dignified' suffering after he has his 
> encounter with Buckbeak - I only see pathetic lying in the Potions 
> class to make Ron do his work for him.
> 
> I  just don't feel Draco's pain at all. For the most part all that I 
> feel is disgust. I feel like he is pretending, but not really 
> hurting I suppose. Harry's hurt from cruciatus is real, Sirius' pain 
> from Azkaban is real, even Snape I can imagine carries some guilt, 
> pain, whatever, not Draco, though , not to me.
> 
> Is it because his ideology repulses me? Probably, but then again - " 
> bad boys who could be redeemed" usually work quite well for me.
> 
> Is it because I identify with Harry so strongly? But I like Snape ( 
> honestly I do :o)), even though he , IMO, hurts Harry significantly 
> more than Draco does.
> 
> 
> The only time in the books when I kind of felt Draco's pain, sort of 
> was at the end of OOP, when he blames Harry for putting Lucius in 
> prizon. I kind of sensed real feeling behind that, but it definitely 
> not enough for me to expect Redeemable!Draco.
> 
> 
> Can somebody explain to me,why while I understand hurt/comfort 
> phenomena quite well, it does not work for me on Draco?
> 
> I snipped Elkins' work quite significantly, but definitely read the 
> complete one. :o)
> 
> 
> Alla

Well, I'll try, Alla.  I think the root of the phenomenon that Elkins
is getting at is a drive (I hesitate to use the loaded word
"instinct") that many females have for care and development.  That is,
they are attracted to male characters that suffer because these males
evince the need for their care.  However, along with the need to care
is the need to develop and change the person being cared for.  I
suppose it all goes along with the loaded word "nurturance."  To
nurture someone is to care for them and help them develop and change.

Male characters who suffer need care.  Male characters who suffer and
deal with it to an extent show the strength to develop and change,
i.e. to respond to nurturance.  This gets the female drives going.

Males who don't suffer have no need of care and thus don't evoke the
drives.  Males who suffer but collapse under don't show the strength
to respond to nurture.  Thus they evoke perhaps sympathy, but not the
full reaction.

I think the reason you don't respond to Draco, Alla, is that you don't
see in him potential to change, i.e. to respond to nurturance.  In
this case not so much because of the way he responds to suffering, but
because of the full presentation of the character.  That is, you
probably see nothing in Draco's actions, background, etc. that
instinctively (that word) makes you think he would change under female
nurturing, and therefore you don't feel those drives toward him.

I'm hazarding a guess that JKR is puzzled by female reactions to Snape
because she knows too much about him.  Witness her statements that "he
is a deeply horrible person," etc.  She feels no female drives toward
Snape, I'm guessing, because SHE knows he's incapable of change, i.e.
that he won't respond to nuturing.  However, that is not obvious (at
least to most readers) from what she has written in her books.  Hence
female readers often think Snape CAN change, i.e. would respond to
nuturing, and this they become attracted to him on a mistaken (albeit
unconscious) premise.

Anyway, my attempt to answer you.


Lupinlore