Cabinet FIRST!

[ornadv]

No: HPFGUIDX 158072


>Magpie:
>"Bad faith" refers to a false notion of self, one at odds with one's
>true nature but that one willingly accepts as a fact despite
>evidence to the contrary.

>Sydney:

>Magpie's pointed out what 'bad faith' means in this context, but you
>should read the whole essay-- "Draco Malfoy and the Dragon of Bad
>Faith" here: http://community.livejournal.com/hp_essays/86380.html
>Excerpt:
>"But more importantly, "bad faith" (or mauvaise foi in modern 
>French)has a very specific meaning in the existentialist philosophy 
>of Jean-Paul Sartre. Bad faith is a form of self-deception. To live 
>in bad faith is to live as if you have no choice in the way you 
>behave; it is to adopt a role and live your life according to that 
>role regardless of your own feelings or desires.[...] Sound 
>familiar? Let me refresh your memory:

>"I haven't got any options!" said Malfoy, and he was suddenly as 
>white as Dumbledore. "I've got to do it! [...] I've got no choice!" 
>(HBP, p552)"


Orna:
Thanks Magpie and Sydney for the "bad faith" – it is illuminating. 
Looking at the Malfoys from this angle – Lucius is in Azkaban, we 
don't know what his thoughts or choices are right now. Narcissa 
certainly has broken her role. She says it quite clearly "I've made 
my decision", "There is nothing I wouldn't do anymore!" which sounds 
like breaking through some long-hold façade. The way she talks to 
Snape clearly indicates she thinks and talks in ways Des aren't 
supposed to think – "How can he, when the Dark Lord himself
", and 
her very act of going to Snape, defying Voldemort's orders of 
secrecy. She doesn't walk to the orders side, she just wants Snape 
to do it, and so Draco stays alive. (Funny thought, still placing 
the danger to Draco in Dumbledore, and not in Voldemort, whom she 
recognizes as having given Draco a suicide-mission). But from the 
angle of choice – faced with the option of loosing Draco – she makes 
one. Ironically Voldemort gets here another mother to risk herself 
in order to keep her son alive (not like Lily, but still getting 
brave enough to defy his order). Must be tough on him, with Merope 
not staying alive for him, and Bellatrix (who by now looks quite 
crazy) being the one symbolizing the Voldemort-above-(hypothetical) 
motherlove loyalty. 

>Magpie:
>I don't think in Rowling's world you can stay on the sidelines being
>racist but choosing not to get involved, you know? That's a reason
>I thought Dumbledore's line to Draco about not using the word
>Mudblood seemed important, because it was somebody saying to him
>that the word did matter, and it mattered to Dumbledore even when he
>was about to die and this is the guy who offered him mercy. Draco
>hasn't rejected the values he was brought up with yet as far as we
>know, of course, but I think he would need to do that to truly make
>a different choice.

Orna:
Yes, that's an important place, IMO too. Draco uses this Mudblood 
word in connection with getting an idea from a mudblood. That's 
where his racist views are challenged, because he has to admit 
(twisted smile added) that he got ideas from "inferior" people. 
Actually it's Dumbledore who asks him about the enchanted coins 
being a bit like the way DA used to communicate (Hermione's idea, in 
fact). And then Draco says (admits) getting the idea of poisoned 
mead from Hermione. So it's true, Draco hasn't rejected by now the 
whole package, but Dumbledore's dialogue with him paths the way to 
it, by being not just a witty dialogue of "let's see how I'm going 
to stay alive", but a dialogue of "let's see what the truth on those 
matters is, and what your choices are after it". And that mercy 
isn't about "you didn't know what you're doing, OK; let's forget 
about all". His admitting to Dumbledore, (actually sounding quite 
horrified) in front of the Des that he didn't invite Fenrir was a 
step towards it. He is certainly very far away from calling him "a 
family friend". He could stay silent – seeing that his chances to 
wriggle out of it are worse now that the Des have arrived. But he 
did in a minor way make a public step from the Des to DDs side. So 
perhaps this is a tiny step not done in "bad faith".  I don't count 
his not killing DD here as a definite public step, since it was seen 
and acted by "not being able to do it". 

Orna