Does JKR want us to hate Draco? (was: Re: Admonishing Snape)

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 129647

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:
 
> 
> >>Nora:
> <snip>
> >Massive projection. Most all Draco defenses (and I include our
> arguments in this) involve going "Oh, that action wasn't that
> bad...", "He was just following Lucius' lead", "His motivation isn't
> really what he said it was", "He was actually trying to help in the
> only way he knew", "He's just an ignorant kid", etc.
> >If you look for it hard enough, you can probably find it. Occam and
> I are both a little wary of that procedure. But enough people out
> there really want to find positive traits in Slytherin House at
> present that the surface is explained away.<
> <snip>
> >Because readers, many of them, are extremely resistant to actually
> closely following the text and are very open to reading the way that
> they want to, even if it fails to take into account a lot of 
things.<
> 
> Betsy:
> But this type of interpertation - readers are trying to find 
> something that just isn't there - I have a harder time with.  I 
mean, 
> sure, if it was just me and few others desperately crossing our 
> fingers for a happier outcome for Draco than "failed Death Eater" 
> (because the boy *would* fail as a Death Eater, IMO), then I'd say 
> fine, I'm projecting, etc.  But it's not just me.  A casual search 
> around the internet calls up quite a few thinking folks who *do* 
hope 
> for something better.  Are *all* of them fooling themselves?  Or is 
> there something *in the text* that gives folks hope?

Hickengruendler:

IMO, a part of what makes you and the other fans hope is, that Draco 
so far hasn't done anything truly evil. He is so far more talk than 
anything else. Sure, he wished Hermione death and he said he wanted 
to attack the muggleborns, but he never actually did so. (Although 
like I already said, I think this is more because of a lack of 
ability/opportunity, not because he isn't willing to do so). His most 
evil deed so far was trying to get Buckbeak killed, but even there it 
was mostly Lucius who pulled the strings, while Draco did nothing 
except moan after the hippogriff wounded him and glee, when he 
thought about it's execution. 
> 
> >>Marianne:
> <snip>
> The question of whether JKR does a poor job of writing her villains,
> is gist for another thread.<
> <snip>
> 
> Betsy:
> No, no, no!  This is *exactly* what I'm asking.  If Draco is such 
an 
> obvious villain, why do so many refuse to see him that way?  Is it 
a 
> fault on JKR's part?

Hickengruendler:

Hard to say. Obviously, there are many villains, who are clearly seen 
as such. I think Draco, so far, isn't (and hasn't done anything truly 
evil by himself), because JK Rowling wants him to stay in Hogwarts, 
to have a foil for Harry there. Of course you have to do a lot to get 
expelled from Hogwarts, judging from the infamous prank, on the other 
hand, there clearly is a line. Hagrid was expelled after he 
supposedly killed Myrtle. Therefore if Draco had done anything truly 
vile, and had been caught, he would have to face the consequences and 
there would be no foil for Harry among the students inside Hogwarts. 
Of course there is the possibility of him getting away with it, but I 
come back to this later.
 
> 
> Betsy:
> But does JKR succeed in getting across that Draco is evil?  If the 
> only place folks can find evidence of his evilness is outside the 
> books, does that mean JKR has failed in her job as author?  

Hickengruendler:

Well, it is in the books, where he tried to get Buckbeal executed. 
And it is also in the books, where he openly wished Hermione death. 
And it is in the books, where he gleed when Umbridge wanted to 
torture Harry and when he was thrilled, when the muggles were 
tortured after the Quidditch world cup. I do not see this as any sign 
for a misunderstood soul.  

In my 
> opinion, if Draco is supposed to come across as totally evil, JKR 
has 
> failed miserably.  (A hint: it's hard to get your audience to hate 
a 
> character when they are so often smeared by the hero.  Usually it's 
a 
> good idea for the evil character to do some smearing of his own.  
> People like to hiss.)

Hickengruendler:

I think she made him seem incompetent on purpose. (And with this I 
come back to the point, why I think she hadn't Draco done anything 
truly evil, yet). Harry and the others should underestimate him. IMO, 
it's clear that by OotP, he not only is far worse than Harry in DADA, 
but has a far lower standard than most DA members as well. He 
seemingly isn't a real threat anymore. But I think now this will 
change. With Lucius in prison and Draco blaming Harry, Draco has now 
a real reason to get revnge on Harry and will probably caught up 
again. And if Harry underestimates him, that can have serious 
consequences. But we will probably know more when HBP is out. I agree 
with you that he is not a very good villain, but I disagree that that 
means he's redeemable. He is just a very nasty piece of work, who so 
far lacks the ability of being a real villain, but he is IMO on his 
way to it.
> 
> >>Marianne:
> >Yet, if people can find evidence that he's not evil, are
> they simply misinterpreting the story, or did the author not do a
> decent job writing the character? Or, are the readers clinging to a
> forlorn hope that their belief in Draco's redeemability will come to
> pass later in the series?<
> 
> Betsy:
> Again I ask, where would the readers find evidence of not-evil or 
> reason to hope if it's not provided by the author.  We're not 
talking 
> about a movie where an actor or actress can instill so much 
charisma 
> into an evil character viewers will find something attractive in 
the 
> most repulsive villians.  

Hickengruendler:

In some way we are. I know the movie is off-topic here, therefore I 
will make this short, but I want to mention this, since it is IMO 
important for this topic. Of course the books were first, but now the 
movies exist, and the imagination of many readers is influenced by 
them. (Mine certainly is as well, at least in some cases, whenever I 
think of McGonagall, I see Maggie Smith in front of my eyes, although 
I know very well, that the McGonagall from the books looks 
different). And many fans also see Tom Felton and the bad-boy-
charisma he brought to his character, when they read about Draco. The 
movies play a role.
 
Hickengruendler