Draco...Interesting?
sistermagpie
sistermagpie at earthlink.net
Wed Sep 12 18:52:39 UTC 2007
No: HPFGUIDX 176992
> > Katie:
> He swallows all the crap that his parents have
> > > taught him hook, line, and sinker, and like all bullies - he's
a
> > > wimp, deep down.
>
> Pippin:
> There are a lot of bullies in canon who aren't wimps. Snape.
> Scrimgeour. Sirius and James.
Magpie:
I don't think Sirius, James or Scrimgeour are wimps.
>
> Magpie:
>
> > Dudley's a far better bully and far more run of the mill because
> > he's not highly strung and on the verge of a breakdown most of
the
> > time) .
>
> Pippin:
> Nobody tried to force Dudley to kill people. But he was certainly
> high strung and on the verge of a breakdown after his encounter
> with the dementors.
Magpie:
I wasn't referring to him after he was forced to kill someone. His
normal state was, imo, far more highly strung and spazzy than
Dudley, who seemed to rule his school quite pleasantly for years.
Draco, of course, couldn't even do that--Dudley could keep Harry in
his place and Draco couldn't. Dudley's a far more successful bully
and much more satisfied in his everyday life that we see. Dudley
only gets freaked out by Wizards. In his Muggle world he's doing
pretty well.
Pippin:
It's clear that something had a life-changing
> effect on him. I didn't really get that it was the dementors,
> but for the sake of the narrative all Harry needs to know is that
> people *can* change. Putting in how it happened would shift
> the emphasis from judging people by their choices to judging
> them by what's happened to them, which is not what JKR wants,
> IMO. It's Harry who's the essentiallist, not her, IMO.
Magpie:
I think Harry and JKR are together on this. I think Dudley and Draco
turned into exactly the person they always were, and their life-
changing experiences didn't make them who they were but showed who
they were. Dudley liked Harry when Harry saved his life. I don't
think he changed much beyond that. Even when Harry's pleased by
Dudley's change of attitude about him he's still Dudley--"He didn't
thank me" etc. The last thing I would take away from this series is
the lesson that people can change. There are some changes for plot's
sake, sometimes people take a while to show who they really are, but
I think JKR was quite serious when she referred to her characters as
chess pieces. I think they have their signature move and that's who
they are.
>
> Magpie:
> > I had always hoped for the kind of story we got in HBP so I was
> > pleased with that--I was totally disappointed when I realized
that
> > JKR is rather essentialist in the way she writes characters, so
that
> > putting a character like Draco through the wringer doesn't
result in
> > the character really growing or getting stronger.
>
> Pippin:
> Huh?
> That he chose not to let go of Goyle was tremendous growth
> and strengthening, IMO. Again we don't know how it happened.
> We have no choice but to judge Draco by his choices, not his
> experiences. It's certainly not what I would have expected from
> the boy who panicked when he saw what turned out to be Quirrell
> in PS/SS.
> A lot of people who liked Draco as a character liked him better
> than Ron and frankly hoped that Draco would replace him, either
> as Harry's friend or Hermione's love interest. For most of canon
> Draco was way ahead of Ron in the wish-fulfillment department:
> he looked to be more intelligent, more witty and more exotic and
> of course having the best of everything doesn't hurt.
Magpie:
I didn't find it much of a growth, no. Or perhaps I should say I
didn't find it much of a change. He grew and got stronger--he did,
after all, go from 11 to 17. But no, I don't think his character was
much transformed at all--just as I don't think Neville transformed.
He grew and got stronger too, but he was still, imo, showing who he
was. My experience of his story was still one of being underwhelmed.
After all that I think more significant change would have been a lot
more natural. I think I saw the changes that were there, they just
weren't very fundamental, imo. (Nor were they for Dudley, imo.) And
given the way his big moment saving Goyle is written, I get the
feeling people read more into it than the author intended. He
certainly shows himself to be a different man than Goyle, but if
this was a big moment of Draco showing bravery, I think JKR would
have lingered over it a bit and have Harry recognize it and think
about it too. I don't see such a huge difference between the 11-year-
boy who panicked in PS/SS and the 17-year-boy who wouldn't run out
of a fire leaving his friend unconcious in it. I think the second
boy was in the first boy all along--just as the Keeper who won the
Quidditch cup for Gryffindor fifth year was always in the one who
screwed up in the earlier games.
I'm not sure what Ron vs. Draco has to do with it--I'd be surprised
at too many readers considering Draco a wish-fulfillment for what
they wanted to be.
-m
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