Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty/ Draco

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 177282

> >>Mus:
> > <snip>
> > Others get sorted.  Harry gets chosen.  
> > And what's the opposite of being "chosen" in this charming       
> > magical world?   Being put in Slytherin.  

> >>lizzyben:
> And that's what it always comes back to, doesn't it? There were     
> these little hints all along that could be ignored until the Big    
> Finale confirmed JKR's world-view. I keep forgetting that none of   
> this matters anymore - it doesn't matter who starts the fights or   
> who over-reacts or who is BMOC. Harry is the saved, Draco is the    
> damned. Harry is the Elect, Snape is the reprobate. Harry wins     
> because he's got God on his side. What's left to debate?

Betsy Hp:
You're absolutely correct of course.  And while I do quite like Draco 
and quite dislike Harry (especially by series end) I recognize that 
I'm completely subverting the text in having that opinion.

So why have I bothered with this argument...  I think because I see 
it as a bit disingenuous to say Harry's less popular than Draco and 
also an everyman.  Though it's more JKR who's being disingenuous than 
anyone making that particular argument.  Because while I really do 
think the text does not support average, everday, barely a blip on 
the radar of his fellow students, Harry, I do see that JKR is 
attempting (as she does throughout the series) to have her cake and 
eat it too.  

>From the moment Harry entered the magical world he was a superstar 
that far outshone the Malfoy family name.  But JKR has set Draco up 
to fulfill a certain trope.  So the superstar is made a nerd by 
virtue of his glasses, and the underdog is made the BMOC by virtue of 
his blond hair and poncy accent.  Which means, I suppose, that per 
JKR Draco is the BMOC and totally popular with everyone and would win 
every single quidditch match and poor Harry just has to struggle to 
get by.  Oh, but Harry always, always, wins and no one really likes 
Draco at all. 

> >>lizzyben:
> I really love Magpie's post about "angelic concern" AND "devilish   
> fun" because I'm now seeing it all over the narrative. Harry       
> is "Everykid" AND "The Chosen One"/Jesus, AND a super-celebrity    
> sports star. He's the "underdog" AND he always wins! He's normal-  
> looking AND he has girls chasing him. He's nice AND he gets         
> payback! He hates Dark Arts AND he uses some cool hexes on the bad 
> guys! And the ultimate expression of this: HP is a "revenge        
> fantasy" AND a "Christian allegory". Neat.

Betsy Hp:
Total agreement.  There's also the bit about treating Muggles fairly 
and the only people we actively *see* baiting Muggles are our 
heroes.  (The DeathEaters do it too, of course.  But they're much 
more anonymous.) 

> >>Amy:
> <snip>
> I don't know if it's been discussed before, but even given the heavy
> connotations of Slytherin = the damned in the final book, I'm hard
> pressed to believe that anyone reading this series will not see a
> forgiven, if not "redeemed" Draco in DH. The narrative was extremely
> sympathetic to him. I'd say one of the major anvils in DH was that
> Draco didn't want to be a Death Eater, in case no one got that from
> HBP. I don't know exactly who said it, but Draco has a normal       
> family, wife and kid, in the epilogue, and that if anything         
> indicated that he'd been "redeemed" in JKR's world.

Betsy Hp:
I'll agree that as per the way JKR views things, Draco is "redeemed" 
just as I think she'd label Snape "redeemed" too.

I personally don't agree, but I think it's because I have a very 
different definition of redemption than JKR does.  At issue for me is 
my utter repulsion at a philosophy that labels some people as "Elect" 
and others as "Not-Elect".  

So while Draco and Snape both acknowledge that as Slytherins they are 
lesser than and evil, and Snape is even given the opportunity 
to "convert" (Dumbledore's 'sort too early' comment), they are still 
amongst the damned.  They have dirty blood.  And while it's "diluted" 
now (whatever the hell that means), it's still not Gryffindor pure.

IMO, that's not redemption at all.  It's a half-life. But in JKR's 
world (as far as I've been able to glean) it's the best a Slytherin 
can ever hope for.

Betsy Hp (as per Harry's looks -- what Magpie said <bg>)