[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry looking in the Mirror after HBP

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 164234

> bboyminn:
>
> But is Draco really being that 'grown up' in his actions?
> While Draco is moving forward with a single-minded
> purpose, it it not because he wants to accomplish the
> task of being a grown up. What he wants for himself and
> his family not to die.
>
> I see Draco as being very childish, independant of his
> apparent single-minded purpose. He strikes me as someone
> who thought he could /play/ at being a Death Eater. He
> strikes me as someone who thought he could ingratiate
> himself to Voldemort and his own Father, and just bask
> in the glow of that appreciation.

Magpie:
Actually, I think Draco clearly does want to accomplish the task of growing 
up, absolutely and independently from keeping his family alive--though that, 
too, is a maturing situation. This is the model for adulthood he has. This 
is what Death Eaters do (including ingratiating themselves with the Dark 
Lord), and being a Death Eater is being an adult.

He didn't want to play at being a DE, he wanted to be a DE. He was given 
what he thought was a man's job to do and tried to rise to the occasion and 
do it. He discovered that the reality wasn't what he imagined, that his 
views of being a DE were childish fantasies--and that was part of his 
personal growing up. (Which is how the author describes what he's doing 
during the year.)

Steve:
>
> Harry on the other hand, though reluctantly, accepts his
> fate. He is not torn the way Draco is. Certainly he wants
> things to be different, he wants to be normal, he wants to
> be free, but at the same time, he is not afraid to die
> for others. He is not afraid to sacrifice himself for the
> greater good. Dumbledore told him he could walk away, but
> Harry would never do that. If anyone had told Draco he
> could just quietly walk way, he would have been gone like
> a shot.

Magpie:
Of course Harry would walk away quietly if he could. The trouble is he can't 
walk away and still have Voldemort be defeated, so he can't walk away. 
That's a mature decision.

Draco's is slightly different. He, too, can't walk away without his family 
being killed, so he, too, reluctantly accepts his fate. He is afraid to die, 
yes, but that's not exactly childish--in general children are less afraid of 
death than adults. He's got a monster snake man threatening him--I'd be 
scared too.

What's different is that the task Draco's being told to do is a bad one. 
Where Harry not killing Voldemort would be leaving a problem for others to 
deal with, Draco's not killing Dumbledore would be the right thing to do. 
There's nothing objectively good about Dumbledore being murdered. They're 
facing different situations tailored to their different characters by the 
author.

So I'd say both of them have gone through different processes of growing up, 
but we can't use one as the model for the other, or punish them for where 
they start out or the individual road they are following.


-m