Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. (But not sympathetic)

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 124470


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:

Super Multiple Post Combine Power--Activate!

>> Betsy (124452):  

<snip>

>> He's always struck me as a lonely boy and he is such an underdog.  
>> It would be nice if he finally had his day.

One thing unaddressed here (and in the later post) is the point about 
the Inquisitorial Squad, where Draco is the leader and has goons; I 
suppose you could argue (as has) that poor sensitive Draco is only 
using them, and it's only because they're in his House, and he 
doesn't really like them... No, Draco seems to have a number of 
friendships within his House (Pansy looks like a girlfriend type, 
honestly), and is a prime instigator.  Considering him 'lonely' isn't 
actually supported by the text, but is practically contradicted.  He 
behaves like a convivial ruler, laughing and making jokes with his 
friends at the table.  Funny how often they're jokes at the expense 
of others.

> Renee:
<snip>
> The main reason for this is that Draco (unlike young Snape in the 
> Pensieve Scene) never gets hurt without provocation. He's not 
> treated shabbily by fate and he doesn't suffer because of one 
> crucial character flaw or bad error of judgement - in fact, he's 
> got everything going for him, being the only, spoiled child of a 
> rich and influential pureblood wizard. It's his own bullying and 
> his filthy mouth that do him in. Also, JKR depicts him as a a 
> coward - and courage is the quality she values most in people. 

Likewise, I don't see Draco's problems as coalescing around one 
particular thing that would impart some nobility to him.  There's a 
little too much spite and arrogance combined with frustration.  He 
sets out deliberately to be a little provocateur, and then it 
backfires upon him.  Hmm, this is an interesting setup...

> Betsy (124454):
> The static nature of Draco isn't what brings in the fans. Otherwise 
> Dean or Lavender would get a similar amount of discussion time. And 
> they don't even come close. There's a reason so much time has been 
> spent pouring over Draco, and I can't think that JKR has written 
> about him in the way she's written about him to just keep him in a 
> perpetual state of stasis.

Draco certainly is more important than Lavender or Dean.  However, 
it's also eminently possible that he's so wildly popular because he's 
an easy object of projection--as soon as you pull out the "There's 
*so* much more here than we see" card, you can make him over into 
what you need him to be.  We don't see him all the time--no.  But 
we've seen him over the course of years one to five, which I think 
gives us a better claim of 'knowing' him than of the adults (with 
whom we often make the similar kinds of comments).

I don't quite see being curled up whimpering and moaning after 
deliberately provoking a fight (even unknowingly), or shirking after 
getting hurt by Buckbeak partially out of his own arrogance, as 
terribly manly.  But that's another point.

No, I have an alternative proposal for what Draco does in the series:

Draco is the deserved object of Schadenfreude.

Draco Malfoy is a provocateur, and our narrative route into seeing 
what the child of a Death Eater behaves like.  With some exceptions, 
he brings trouble upon himself, and is taken down in ways that many 
readers find distasteful, but many find rather gratifying.  (Yes, I 
think there's a deliberate authorial tension between the two with 
scenes such as the ferret bouncing--but a lot of the time, not).

After five years at Hogwarts, he seems not to have manifested any 
ability to say "Maybe this ain't right".  In five years, what Draco 
*is* has been manifested repeatedly, and OotP is only really an 
intensification of it.

*begin hypothetic*

As such, he is likely to continue upon his path of father-worship, 
intensified by the removal of the actual object, and may even get 
dangerous.  The 'good' face of Slytherin will be an as-of-yet 
unknown.  Draco will even outright *refuse* to consider a change 
(which might do him good), because of his attachments.  And then 
things will happen to him that he provoked.

*end hypothetic*

Heeeey, that's almost enough to make me into an honorary FEATHERBOA.

And per giving away secrets in interviews; well, yeah but--she's 
*never* been covert about her opinions of some characters.  She's 
very sneaky about Snape because he has a lot to do with The Plot, but 
she's very straightforward about a lot of things, such as his 
personality (which leads me to expect awesome plot twists but no 
fundamental reversal of character qualities).  I don't think any of 
the pre-OotP comments were strongly contradicted if at all, either.  
She's far, far more mum about the sheer 'what is going to happen' 
than questions about personality or character.

-Nora marks Betsy down for a 'Draco will end up on the good side', 
and Renee as a 'No he won't'; any other takers?