No Sympathy for Draco

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 161264

Kenneth:
> Why so much sympathy for this heel?  Never mind the adolescent 
> namecalling (Mudblood etc). Here is a guy who sends a deadly 
poison 
> into the school with the intention of murdering someone, a guy who 
> makes sure a girl gets a deadly necklace hoping that someone will 
touch 
> it and get killed and who is willing to use unforgivable curses 
against 
> other kids.  Oh, and he is trying to ensure murderous death eaters 
get 
> into the school so they can wreak mayhem.
> 
> In any other UK at his age he would be held "At Her Majesties 
Pleasure" 
> for a term not less that 25 years. In many places he would already 
be 
> hanging from a rope or simmering gently in his chair.  He should 
be put 
> down as soon as possible.

Magpie:
I'm not sure what kind of response you're looking for.  I mean, I 
think we all know what happened in the book. You either feel sorry 
for the character or you don't.  Personally, while I found Draco's 
story compelling I can't say that the main thing I felt was 
sympathy. I did feel some, I think, but I felt more hope than 
sympathy--I think I may have felt more sympathy for him in earlier 
books. Maybe to me sympathy feels like something you'd give to a 
character that's just being destroyed with no hope--like Harry at 
the end describes what he feels for Draco as a drop of "pity" but I 
felt that less, I guess because I felt like throughout HBP Draco was 
becoming a stronger character and a stronger Malfoy is less pitiful 
and so less repulsive. There was something different to root for 
with him.

So I think JKR came up with a great story for the character which I 
don't think depends on feeling sympathy but feeling empathy, which 
is sometimes more important, and also seeing the potential for 
change. I think the book tries to make clear that Dumbledore thinks 
he's worth not putting down as soon as possible. In fact, another 
minor factor of his story in HBP is Harry in small ways running into 
the fact that other people find value in the character.

So I guess my main response to this is just to say: because without 
sympathy there's no story there.  Draco's starting out the way he 
does, then facing some hard truths about his true character and the 
true character of the people he's joining, is I think something 
that's going to ultimately be good for the good side--and for 
himself.  Dumbledore sees good reason to prefer rehabilitation and 
change in a person rather than just getting rid of people who don't 
start out as assets (he may have found his best man that way already 
in Snape).  DEs may see this as Dumbledore being soft or wanting to 
see good in people, but I think Dumbledore's clearly smarter than 
that.  If Malfoy changes sides, due to the events of HBP I think the 
good side would be getting a better Malfoy than the one who was a 
DE.  Getting rid of Draco at this point seems to me like throwing 
away something that could be an advantage, however small (and since 
this is a YA series it wouldn't be so small it's meaningless). From 
Harry's pov, there's no development in Harry just judging him and 
having him go away.

-m