Draco and Sirius (was Re: Apologies and responsibility)

[lady.indigo at gmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 139258

On 8/31/05, rlai1977 <rlai1977 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Firstly, prejudices not only can 'sometimes', but 'very bloody 
> often' get passed on from parents to their children. The kid 
> almost have no chance at all to form an opinion that goes 
> against that of their parents before he or she has become old 
> enough to think independently, or to have been exposed to other 
> opinions from sources they *have reasons to trust*, *especially*, 
> when the kid loves his parents/has a good relationship with them.


And I would usually agree with you there in terms of reality. I 
just think that in Rowling's mind this is less so. Draco's never 
been excused from how he acts based on who his father is, though 
JKR's beginning now to flesh him out a bit with the fact that 
while he talks a big evil game he doesn't have anything to back it 
up with. Besides, considering all the pressure put on Draco and 
the way his father screams at him for being beaten by a Mudblood 
female, I'm not sure that Draco's home life is as free of problems 
as you think, whether or not he's been pampered.

I also don't know where I ever excused Snape his prejudices, 
though since he himself was a halfblood and the only time we see 
him expressing anything along those lines is towards Lily, which I believe was out of embarrassment/trying to save face (wrongly, of course!), I doubt he even had those prejudices very much to begin with. He joined the Death Eaters out of a need for power and attention, in my mind, not because he wanted the wizarding world pure. Not to mention I brought Draco up as completely separate 
from Snape to begin with.

- Lady Indigo