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

[festuco]

No: HPFGUIDX 129659

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

> Betsy:
> I agree with this.  Because it would be fairly easy for JKR to write 
> an unforgivable scene from which folks would have a hard time pulling 
> Draco back from the edge of evil. At this point in Draco's character 
> arch, he's not that hard to save.  As No Remorse says in an essay on 
> Draco (found here: 
> http://www.livejournal.com/users/no_remorse/43476.html )
> 
> "I guess this whole thing is puzzling, because while Draco is a bully 
> up to this point he is essentially harmless. When people are writing 
> redemption scenarios for him, then I guess the first thing, they 
> realise, is how simple it is. Daddy was wrong, Voldemort is an idiot 
> and muggleborns can be really cool. Done."

Gerry

I think one reason why people don't see the evil of Draco is that it
is not related to huge, clear-cut incidents. We see it in some
actions, parts of conversations. You have to pay attention, but for me
JKR did an excellent job in convincing me Draco is not nice. 

I think there are enough scenes in the books that make it clear Draco
is evil. I read the article and I found it a piece of rubbish. I
wonder if the person actually read the books. It is not only that he
is a bully, it is his enjoyment of other people's pain and suffering
that makes it really hard for me to believe in 'Daddy was wrong...' as
something that 1) will happen, 2) is enough to make him turn to the
good side. 

In the article the author compares Draco to Sirius, which again is
completely ridiculous. Sirius and James bully Snape, true, but they
are for the rest very populair characters. They hate Snape and it is
mutal. But if the pensieve scene is true, it is James who is Snape's
main bully and not Sirius. Still if Draco would only hate Harry, it
would be a more or less comparable situation. But it is not. He hates
muggleborns, hopes that Hermione dies, plays a part in the
death-sentence of Buckbeak, tries to bring Harry's life in danger by
giving hints about Sirius crime, and on and on. Sirius did not escape
being a racist because his parents did not love him. His parents did
not love him because he did not share their views. 

I think it is very hard to save Draco. Not because of what he has
done, but because of his attitude. In the article, No Remorse uses the
prank as an example of how bad Sirius is compared to Draco who never
put someone' life in danger. (Apparently Buckbeak does not count). But
we don't know enough about the prank to judge Sirius motives. Did
Sirius realize he could have killed Snape? Was that his intention?
That the incident is named the prank suggests to me that Sirius did
not mean any lasting harm, but was very, very stupid in not thinking
things through (typically Sirius). That still does not make his
actions right, or less wrong, but motive plays a part. If his motive
was just to give Snape a fright, than the prank was more in the nature
of an accident and certainly not an attempted murder. 

Draco tries to goad Harry in going after Sirius. He knows Sirius is
after Harry, so he deliberately tries to bring Harry's life in danger.
In his second year he would have helped the heir of Slytherin if he
had the chance. 

As for his 'social awkwardness," I don't see it at all. I see someone
who thinks himself and his ideas vastly superior to those of other
people. The scene in the train in PS is not Draco being awkward, but
Draco being convinced he is superior to Ron, and wanting to rub it in
publicely. People who are socially awkward don't know how to behave,
would want to do things differently, but don't know how to. Draco
fails in befriending Harry not because of lack of social skills, but
because of his utter disregard and contempt for Ron. One could argue
that showing this so obviously is a lack of skill, but it is totally
different from somebody who would love to make a friend and just does
not know how to. 

Gerry