Draco and Harry / Draco's Bigotry

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 147197

> >>Betsy Hp: 
> > But what Draco has been taught is wrong.  Only his ignorace      
> > keeps that belief going.  Any competent muggleborn proves his    
> > parents' beliefs a lie.  If Draco had had a personal reason to   
> > hate muggleborns (say Lily Evans killed his brother, or some    
> > such thing) than it'd be a harder belief to change.  But since   
> > his belief is based on a fairly shaky foundation it will only    
> > take a minor amount of self-examination to destroy.

> >>Gerry:
> Well, as soon as he sets foot in Hogwarts he gets to know such a
> muggleborn. And guess what: he absolutely hates her.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Does he?  In the beginning I mean.  Draco doesn't interact much at 
all with Hermione in PS/SS, that I can recall anyway.  In fact, he 
doesn't pick out Hermione as an enemy until his father specifically 
tells him to *and* Hermione positions herself as his enemy.  Once 
those two things happen, Draco certainly makes his dislike of 
Hermione clear.  But, he doesn't dislike her *because* she's 
Muggleborn.

> >>Gerry:
> <snip>... but I think a major factor in his hatred of Hermione is 
> that she -is- the opposite of what she according to his prejudice 
> should be.

Betsy Hp:
Hmm, that's an interesting idea.  If true then Draco's willingness 
to get ideas from Hermione suggests that he's already moving away 
from his parents' beliefs, I think.
 
> >>Gerry:
> <snip>
> The more empty a prejudice is, the harder it is to get rid of for 
> lots of people, because their sense of self will not let them see 
> themselves as the kind of person who is misled by something so    
> completely ridiculous they should have seen through it             
> immediately. Percy is an example of someone who refuses to go      
> through this on a personal scale. Draco, who had six years of      
> Hogwarts in when to know differently, did not change one bit. So I 
> think it will take a huge amount of self-examination and courage   
> for Draco to change.

Betsy Hp:
But those six years were spent in Slytherin House, sheltered away 
from anyone who'd challenge Draco's ideas (at least, as far as we've 
seen).  And Draco is just entering the age when children start to 
reevaluate ideas they've been raised with.

I'd also say that HBP, at the very least, has put Draco through much 
more than we've seen Percy go through.  Draco has *already* seen 
that his parents (his *father*) made a mistake.  Draco has learned 
that, despite what his father told him, Voldemort is dangerous and 
cruel and very bad for the Malfoy family.  The self-examination has 
already started.  And, as I pointed out above, Draco has already 
turned to a Muggleborn for inspiration. 

Draco's bigotry has never struck me as that strong.  It's rote for 
him, and part and parcel with being a pure-blood, but he doesn't set 
out with his gang of thugs to beat up lone Muggleborn students.  
He's never refused to play quidditch because a Muggleborn is on the 
pitch.  And when Draco *does* join with the equivilent of the Nazies 
or the Klan he's disenchanted with it pretty quickly (as Geoff 
points out).

> >>Gerry:
> Now I do think Draco may change but it needs to be well written to 
> be believable.

Betsy Hp:
Yes, and I think that not only can JKR write Draco's change well, 
she's foreshadowed his change from the beginning.  As she's 
foreshadowed Harry and Draco becoming friends.  (Not bestest 
friends, Alla. Just to clarify. <g>)

Betsy Hp