Half-Blood Prince

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 183887

> >>Potioncat:
> <snip>
> The Hand of Glory was jarring. It pulled me out of the story long
> enough for me to think, "Oh, JKR is letting us know that Draco did
> get the Hand after all." But the more the HoG is discussed, the less
> plausible Draco's having it seems. At the least, it seems an awkward
> bit of writing. (jmho)

> >>Lynda:
> <snip>
> And I don't see why Draco's having a HoG isn't plausible. He either 
> bought it on his own when he was older and getting around on his   
> own or Daddy relented at a later date, or Mummy. Or even auntie    
> Bella.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
For me it's not so much the fact of Draco having the HoG as how it 
affects the story JKR has been telling about Draco.  I agree with 
Potioncat that the fact shows an awkward bit of storytelling on JKR's 
part, but it's something that *can* be handwaved, as Lynda points out.

However, in doing that handwaving, we lose a large chunk of Draco's 
story.  It's that scene in CoS when Draco *doesn't* get the hand that 
lent the character so much depth and interest to me.  We were told 
Draco was a spoiled little boy, handed everything he ever desired on 
a silver platter, the wizarding equivalent to Dudley.  But what we 
*saw* was a little boy who wasn't living up to his father's 
expectations and so wasn't given what he desired.

It was a more detailed follow-up to our first ever Draco-scene where 
what he *told* Harry about himself (doted on by his parents), was 
contradicted by what we *saw* (child left alone in a store, not 
having the coveted racing broom at Hogwarts).  So not getting the HoG 
in CoS was a layering on of Draco's story. 

But when we're told, in a very off-hand, everyone-knows-this, kind of 
way, that Draco *does* have that HoG, all the carefully built (or, I 
assumed carefully built) layers collapse.  Draco really *is* the 
spoiled little boy, the wizarding equivilent to Dudley.  Either that, 
or something really interesting happened off-page (his mother defied 
his father and bought him the hand; he defied his father and bought 
himself the hand; his Aunt undermined his father and bought him the 
hand), and JKR neglected to tell us.

But the last is so detail rich, full of plot implications and such, 
that I cannot accept JKR really thought we'd do all of this in our 
heads.  The only way I can make it work for myself, is to assume that 
the depth I thought I saw wasn't really there.  For some reason, with 
Draco, JKR was going with what she *told* us, not what she *showed* 
us.  Which is annoying.  It seems that JKR meant for Draco to get the 
hand all along, and what she'd really meant to write in CoS was 
Lucius saying, "Yes of course, Draco-dear, of course you may have the 
hand."  And that changes everything.

Betsy Hp