Naive Draco (was: Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 124691


Betsy:
> I don't think Draco is sweet.  I do think he's naive.  Draco, 
> unlike Harry, did not have a dog in this race.  His family's bias 
> (as far as he's seen) was more about who got invited to their 
> dinner parties than who was most likely to kill you tomorrow.  That 
> changed at the very end of OotP and the immediate response from 
> Draco is that those responsible for hurting his family will pay.  
> <snip>  But I don't see anything in his behavior that suggests that 
> he sees what being a Death Eater is all about, and golly but it's 
> for him.  <snip>
> 
> Draco could go either way.  And he could go either way for noble, 
> trite, horrifying or tragic reasons.  I'm still not sure which way 
> he'll go.  But I hope that when he makes a choice, it's with eyes 
> wide open.  At the moment, they're mostly closed.


SSSusan:
Betsy, could you elaborate a bit on the naive part?  I'd like to hear 
in what way(s) you believe Draco to be naive.  

Are you saying that you think Lucius has NOT shared much of his DE 
past with Draco?  I've always gotten rather the opposite impression.  
That is, that Lucius shares a LOT of information with Draco.  
Consider how Draco is the one who tells Harry that he ought to want 
to kill Sirius Black for what he did.  Consider how Draco drops that 
word "dogging" after Sirius accompanied Harry to Platform 9 3/4.  
Consider that Lucius didn't do his Borgin & Burkes business away from 
Draco's wondering eyes.  I see all this as evidence that Lucius keeps 
little Draco quite informed indeed.

Like you, I'm not 100% positive I could call Draco's position at the 
end of the series, but mostly that's because I find him so shallow as 
a character [perhaps JKR's intention? perhaps the limitation of the 
narration coming from Harry's POV?] to be able to read much about his 
inner workings or motivations.  

But naivete?  Not a word I'd have thought to use for Draco.  Would 
love to hear more canon on that one.

Siriusly Snapey Susan