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

[festuco]

No: HPFGUIDX 129671

Betty

 Why would JKR include those scenes?  Why 
> would she have Draco working so hard to *impress* Harry in Mdm 
> Malkins instead of merely sneering at the boy in the raggedy muggle 
> clothes?  Why have Draco try and get Harry to shake his hand on the 
> train?  Why have him *not* go running to the first professor he can 
> find (or his head of house for that matter) when he realizes Hagrid 
> has a dragon and Harry is in on it?  These are three occasions for 
> Draco to come off as a complete and total drip, and instead JKR
slips 
> in strong suggestions that Draco actually *wants* to be Harry's 
> friend.

Gerry:
Does he? In the first scene we see him showing off, trying to impress.
Not wanting to be Harry's friend, but wanting to be acknowledged as
his superiour. 

In the second scene he does not want to be Harry's friend, he wants to
be HARRY POTTER's friend. If Harry was just another normal half-blood
he would have looked down his nose at him. 

As for the dragon, I cannot remember the scene you refer to and I
cannot find my copy of PS, but he more than makes up for it in setting
Harry up with the duel, and trying to get him expelled when he is
relocating Norbert. 

Betty
> loss.  Do I sympathize?  Heck yeah.  What has JKR done to
discourage 
> me?
> 
Made it clear Draco has bought his place on the team. And now he has
to compete for real, against somebody who got his place on merits
alone. I actually thought this scene a good lesson for Draco. It
taught him money can sometimes buy you a position, but if you have it
you yourself have to live up to it. 

> on the floor in pain and humiliation and he's *still* spitting 
> defiance at the person who's so obviously way beyond his match. 
Does 
> JKR seriously expect me to *not* admire that sort of backbone?  

Gerry: 
What backbone? He mumbles 'my father.' And running to daddy does not
strike me as admirable. He also immediately stops when Moody calls his
bluff. 

And 
> isn't it interesting that it's by having Fake!Moody abuse Draco
that 
> JKR drops the first hint that this particular DADA professor ain't 
> right.

Gerry: 
It is also the first hint as why he hates Death Eaters who have gone
free. 

 
> That he has a strong sense of love and loyalty to his parents just 
> doesn't strike me as negative.  And considering how much flack
Percy 
> has taken for turning *against* his parents (and I'm talking within 
> the Potterverse here) doesn't it appear that JKR sees loyalty to
ones 
> family as a good trait?  So again, she's sending us mixed signals 
> here.  I don't think I'm crazy to think she's got *something* up
her 
> sleeve when it comes to Draco's future. 

Gerry:
I don't think so. Percy takes flack not because he is disloyal to his
family, but because does not recognise the true value of his family.
He takes what helps his ambiton and the rules instead of the morally
right position. He also makes horrid remarks about his family being
poor, and sends back the christmas jumper. Sirus, who as a dark wizard
family distances himself from them, just as his favourite cousin who
married a muggle-born. Draco is certainly loyal to his family, and
family is important to JKR, but she never encourages blind loyalty. 

That being said, she does a good job to make it clear that Draco
really loves his dad, and is really angry that he is in prison. A
totally natural reaction. For the first time, we see Draco actually
suffer, which makes him more human. 

> Betsy:
> But all of the examples cited just *aren't* evil -- not by 
> Potterverse standards, anyway. Draco at 12 expresses a wish that 
> Hermione dies?  Harry has vivid daydreams about killing Snape. 
Those 
> are empty fantasies, IMO, and fairly typical of young boys.  

The situation is different. There is no real danger to Snape. In CoS
however, there is a very real danger to muggle-borns and the first
time the chamber opened a muggle born died. Also, Draco wants to help
the Heir, he wants to play an active part. 

There is also the difference in behaviour when they discover petrified
mrs. Norris. Harry, who detest Filch feels sorry for him. Draco grins
when he sees the petrified cat. Draco does not join in the cheering
when it is announced the mandrakes are ready. 

Betsy
Yet, it still could be a fantasy from a schoolboy who Draco 
> picks on the trio and insults those he dislikes?  Again, not nice 
> behavior, but certainly not *evil*.  Heck, Sirius and James were
more 
> bulling than Draco back in the day, and *they* were the good guys.

Gerry
James and Sirius certainly were bullies, but only against Snape, and
the feeling was mutual. Draco loves the misery of everybody he does
not like. 

As for the fantasy. It certainly could be the case. However, the first
real chance Draco gets to actively cause harm, he does so and enjoys
it. I'm referring to the Buckbeak incident, which I would love to see
explained away. The only thing Draco needed to have done is own up his
part. Tell how he disregarded his teachers instructions, and how he
faked most of his injury. Maybe the committee still would have found
Buckbeak guilty, but Draco wants it to happen, and revels in it when
it actually does. 

Betsy
> Draco is not a paragon of virtue.  He is a nasty little boy with a 
> lot of anger issues and a messed up value system, but so far he's
not 
> done anything, IMO, that can't easily be forgiven (as per rules of 
> forgiveness within the Potterverse as set out by JKR) *if* he
finally 
> joins the side of Light. 

Gerry
That I agree with, but I would want to see some very good reasons as
why he would change. 

In one of the essays you posted somebody excuses Draco joining the
Inquisitorial Squad as him choosing the force of law and order. Not a
bad point. But how do we see Draco use his power? We see him abusing
it. Also, Draco knows LV is back, he knows Harry is right and Umbridge
and the Ministry are wrong and misleading the pubic and the students.
With his joinig of Umbridge he deliberately helps her against
spreading the truth. Now I do not say he needed to go against his
father, but he could have stayed neutral. I do not think it is a
coincidence that half the squad we know by name are children of Death
Eaters, who have an interest in having the truth stay covered. 

> Betsy:
> You're exactly right, Hickengruendler.  *At this point* Draco is 
> still in a position to choose.  Could he *become* the big evil?  
> Sure, but he's not taken that step yet, IMO.

Gerry
He has not committed a major crime yet. But he has made plenty of
choices that make clear that is he finally gets the opportunity, there
is a really, really good chance he'd take it. 

> Betsy:
> Darkest before the dawn maybe?  And I don't see how removing such
an 
> obviously strong influence in Draco's life and thereby possibly 
> prepping him to be open to other influences would constitute a half-
> assed redemption.  It seems fairly realistic to me.  (Think of all 
> those kids who start rethinking their family philosophy when they
go 
> away to college.)

Gerry
What removing? He in Azkaban without the dementors. Besides, the boy i
s at boarding school, removed from parental authority for most of the
year. Not much of a difference here. 

Gerry