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

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 129653

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:
Gigantic snippage

> 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.  When an author writes a book, doesn't 
she 
> have ultimate control over how much charisma or attractiveness a 
> character will have?  

Marianne:
No, the author doesn't.  They can load up their prose as much as 
they'd like to make a point, but if they aren't absolutely crystal-
clear, then a reader may very well interpret things in a way the 
author never intended. Making a character completely awful, like an 
Umbridge, leaves little wiggle room for finding a good side, and 
probably little debate among readers about how bad she is.  

Who is more charismatic, Snape or Sirius?  I don't really want an 
answer to that question, but I'm sure we'd have people enumerating  
reasons why one character fits the bill, and a whole horde of other 
listies would be left scratching their heads. 

JKR's situation is different from many, if not most authors, because 
her characters are drawn out over a series presented to readers with 
plenty of time in between books to analyze every character down to 
the last molecule.  Had there been only one book, how would you see 
Draco?


And if that's the case, why has JKR loaded 
> Draco up with so much that book fans seem to like?
> 
> If the only place to find out how a character should come across 
is 
> *outside* the text, has the author failed?  (Or, more 
subversively, 
> could JKR be yanking our chain with her out of the books 
commentary?)

Marianne:
Well, has the author failed, or has the reader not read closely 
enough?  Is this a "the chicken or the egg" question? I honestly 
don't know how to answer it.  If a majority of readers sees Draco in 
a positive light, are they all wrong? 

I personally had issues with OoP because several characters didn't 
ring true for me.  Maybe my interpretation was "wrong" according to 
how JKR structured things. However, as the reader I felt this book 
was lacking compared to others in the series.  In that sense, I'd 
say, yes, the author failed me at this point.  But, once Books 6 and 
7 are done, maybe I'll see reasons to reassess my current thoughts.

With regards to chain-yanking, I think there's a bit of that.  For 
instance, where did this Luna-daughter-of-Snape thing come from that 
apparently was so pervasive JKR felt the need to comment on it?  

Marianne