Draco = Evil?(was: Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. )

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 124900


>>SSSusan:
>Butting in a bit late here, but....  Betsy, you clearly believe 
Draco's punishment was inappropriate, and thus Hermione (and many 
others) *should* have shown compassion for Draco.<  
 
Betsy:
Yes, I do think the ferret bounce went *far* across the line of 
normal student discipline.  I also think JKR wrote it in a way to 
show Draco in a different sort of light - one in which the reader is 
meant to feel a certain amount of sympathy for him.  I don't know 
that I would have expected sympathy from the Gryffindor students, 
though.  The WW is a blood and guts kind of place, vengence is pretty 
okay (e.g. first years know the proper forms of wizard dueling), so I 
expect Gryffindors would get a certain amount of pleasure in seeing 
an enemy of their house taken down in such a humiliating fashion.

>>SSSusan:
>Do you also think that Lucius Malfoy's punishment was inappropriate, 
and that thus many students should have shown compassion for Draco? 
>Is this really a situation in which someone would show *compassion*?<
<snip>

Betsy:
Lucius Malfoy's punishment was *not* inappropriate.  However, Draco 
has lost his father; his family name has been besmirched.  The mature 
response is to seperate Draco from his father's sins and feel 
compassion for the boy who is suffering.  Again, not something I 
expect the Gryffindors to do, for the above stated reasons.  Which 
brings us to...

>>Betsy:
>Not that I really would expect any of the Gryffindor kids to show 
compassion at those times...< 
 
>>SSSusan again:
>But I don't see how this helps your case.  These are the examples 
you gave for places where compassion could have been shown, but then 
you say you wouldn't really expect compassion to be shown then.  It 
just seems pretty circular.<

Betsy:
I wasn't arguing for the Gryffindors to show compassion towards 
Draco.  *Way* back (and it was several jumps up-thread) I had stated 
that there weren't many opportunities in the books for Draco to show 
compassion (trying to make the point that we don't know if he's got 
any).  Naama responded with a long list of examples where Draco could 
have shown compassion, but they all involved Gryffindors. 

As our argument progressed I tried to show places where the Trio 
could have shown compassion towards Draco and didn't, for the same 
reason Draco didn't show compassion during the examples she listed:  
They all involved the downfall of an enemy.

So my argument was *meant* to be circular.  It wasn't, however, meant 
to be unclear.  Which it obviously was. :)  I think I was so involved 
in the discussion I didn't realize how long ago Naama's examples 
were, and it all made *so* much sense in my head, so...

I'm not trying to say that the Trio and Draco are on equal footing 
when it comes to compassion, either.  Harry, for one, is quite able 
to sympathize with others.  Hermione can as well.  Ron... I'm not as 
sure of.  He's a little more rough and tough than the other two, but 
I think he is a good kid at heart.  Draco is more self-involved than 
they are.  But to say he has no compassion at all...  There isn't 
enough canon to say yay or nay here, that I've seen.

>>SSSusan:
>MAYBE Draco does some good things offscreen, but it's a big maybe, 
isn't it?  We've got no evidence that he doesn't; we've also got no 
evidence that he does.<

Betsy:
Exactly.  :)

>>SSSusan:
>I think there is evidence that he does terrorize other students. 
What he does is worse than poking fun, which sounds gentle to me. IMO 
he is a bully who hopes to evoke terror.  They may not be *afraid* to 
see him coming any more, but that is likely because they feel they 
can handle what he puts out now.  But the crap he dishes to Ron, the 
insults he hurls at Hermione & Neville, the challenges he issues 
Harry... I think they DO dread seeing him coming, even if they don't 
fear him any more.<
>Maybe that's your point.  He's pathetic enough to be pitied?  If it 
is, I just don't pity people like that, I guess.<

Betsy:
I agree that Draco *wants* to be taken seriously, especially by 
Harry.  And as he has been presented so far, he's a nasty, petty 
little child who could well be seduced by the Death Eaters into their 
cause.  (Where I think Draco would fair rather poorly.)  But, JKR 
drops enough textual contradictions regarding Draco that I wonder if 
there isn't more to him than currently meets the eye.

I do like his character, and hope that a better fate than 'Death 
Eater failure' awaits him.  I feel sympathy towards Draco because he 
always loses so spectaculary, and sometimes quite unfairly.  And he's 
been set upon by a mob, which is repulsive to me.  I despise mob 
justice.  In the Harry Potter books, Draco is the underdog.  Harry 
hates him from the outset and sets Draco up as his opposite.  I'd 
like to see Draco break out of that role and become his own man.  
Just as I'd like for him to break away from his father.  Who knows if 
it will happen?  My fingers are crossed.  

Betsy