Danger in designating an "Other" / Slytherins / DH as Christian Allegory

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 173994

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Which, if this were a Roald Dahl book (who wrote inhuman human 
> > characters very well indeed) would work for me. But you don't    
> > show me a suffering child and then expect me to believe their    
> > suffering is less meaningful than another child's because they're 
> > evil because the author says so.  I've heard that sort of        
> > rhetoric before.  It never leads to a good place, IMO.  (I'm     
> > thinking of Draco's agony in HBP that didn't go anywhere in DH.)

> >>SSSusan:
> You don't think readers could *sense* Draco's continued agony in   
> DH? Wow, I felt Draco's agony!  He seemed scared to DEATH, for his 
> life and for his family, in those scenes at Malfoy Manor.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Oh, yes.  Draco continued to suffer in DH, in exactly the same way he 
suffered in HBP.  I was referring more to the lack of change, that 
Draco wasn't allowed to change even a little...  Eh, but that's more 
personal preference and wouldn't have bothered me too much (except to 
wonder why the heck JKR even *created* Draco in the first place).

Really, it all comes down to the lack of Slytherin flag in the RoR, 
and the lack of any Slytherins on the side of good at the final 
battle.  Not a single one of Harry's generation.  So the only so-
called "good Slytherins" were those who'd fallen under the sway of 
Dumbledore's cult of personality.

So the logical conclusion is: Slytherins are lesser than, impure, 
unworthy.  As Pippin said, they'd represent the selfish side of human 
nature (though frankly I think JKR meant for Slytherin to mean all of 
the negatives of human nature).  But then she wanted to eat her cake 
too.  So she made Draco almost three dimensional.  So much so you 
feel some sympathy for him.  But that doesn't work with the 
Slytherins = anything and everything bad.

So why waste time creating a pitiful creature that we're all supposed 
to spit on anyway?  Part of it is I think JKR prefers creating real 
characters to stereotypes.  So she creates Draco who's supposed to 
be "spoiled little rich boy" (tm) but then she screws it up by giving 
the kid a father who *doesn't* spoil him and is actually rather hard 
on him instead.

It confused the issue.  And I do wonder if future readers, who'll be 
able to zip through the books in a few weeks or so might not get as 
caught up in it we did.  They might boggle a little in a sort 
of "wait, didn't he have what should have been a sea-change moment 
back in... Ah, well, moving on" way.  But there won't be as much 
invested, I guess. 

Sort of like the pointlessness in the entire "Half-Blood Prince" 
thread.  That was another story line that went no where.

> >>SSSusan:
> Maybe by 'going anywhere,' though, you mean him taking a some 
> specific moves towards the White Hats?  Or...?

Betsy Hp:
Yeah, I made the mistake of thinking House Unity was going to be a 
big deal in the last book.  And Draco symbolized the other side.  
That house unity had nothing to do with it meant that Draco didn't 
have any reason for being, really.  Which surprised me as much as the 
lack of meaning in the Sorting Hat song.

Betsy Hp