Draco's Hand of Glory (was: Re: Half-Blood Prince)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183934

Carol responds:
> > > JKR had plans for both Snape and Draco. They just weren't the
plans we were hoping for.
> > > That aside, I think that Draco *is* a major character in the
series  as a whole, but his arc climaxed at the end of HBP. The rest
is falling action, working toward the denouement.
> > > <snip>
> 
> Pippin:
> Getting trapped in an inferno and having to call on your worst enemy
for aid is falling action?

Carol responds:
Yes. Falling action isn't necessarily dull. The term doesn't relate to
perils nor does it mean that nothing happens to the character; it
relates to working toward the resolution of a plot or subplot. Draco's
plot/character arc reached its climax on the tower with his decision
not to kill Dumbledore. From that point on, he's a different Draco, no
longer seeking glory as a Death Eater but unable to escape. The
incident in the RoR doesn't change him in any way. It *reveals* the
change that has taken place in him, unwillingness to kill or injure
Harry or allow Crabbe to do so and concern for Goyle. (He even mourns
Crabbe, probably the only person to care about the brutal fool.) 

Pippin: 
>  I see Draco's arc as paralleling Neville's. Over the course of the
story, Neville learned that he was more of a hero and a leader than he
ever imagined. Meanwhile Draco learned that he was less of a villain
and a follower than he thought. The tower was a turning point, not a
climax, IMO. Draco saw that he didn't want to be used by Voldemort,
but he had no purpose of his own.  

Carol responds:
The climax *is* the turning point. That's the definition of the term.
See, for example, 

"Climax: In a work of literature, the most decisive and critical scene
or event is the climax. The climax is the major turning point of the
work; it is the culmination of the rising action, conflicts, and
complications of the story."

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3462/allegory.htm

"Climax: The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or
story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work."

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/fiction_glossary.html

It can be argued that the tower scene is the climax of the entire
series, with DH as falling action working toward the denouement,
Harry's defeat of Voldemort. It can also be argued that the climax of
the series is the resurrection of Voldemort in GoF, from which
everything else follows. (In a classical five-act play, the climax
usually occurs in the third act. Novels generally tend to have their
climax near the end, modern expectations being different from those of
the ancient Greeks.) Obviously, in a series of seven novels, each
novel will have its own climax, which in most cases will be different
from the climax of the series. And, of course, there are complications
and conflicts throughout, which are not resolved until the end of the
novel/series even when the climax has already passed. (Harry is
"mopping up" in DH, getting rid of Horcruxes and tempted by Hallows,
but in terms of the *series*, the climax has already passed. In terms
of DH, the climax is, of course, the Battle of Hogwarts, more
specifically, I think, Harry's self-sacrifice as opposed to the moment
when he finishes him off, which is preceded by a great deal of
exposition regarding Snape and wands and which happens quickly, almost
without excitement. 

If we're looking at individual characters rather than the book as a
whole, surely, for Draco, the tower is a more "decisive and critical
scene" than the incident in the RoR, terrifying though it is. (In
terms of the book as a whole, that scene works toward the resolution
or denouement by destroying a Horcrux, one of the obstacles in Harry's
path toward defeating Voldemort.) With regard to Snape's arc, the
apparent climax is the scene on the tower, but the real climax (IMO)
occurs long before, when he repents and comes to Dumbledore to plead
for help. The denouement for Snape's arc is, of course, "The Prince's
Tale."

Obviously, this is just one way of looking at the books. If only one
interpretation were possible, literary critics would cease to exist.
All I'm saying is that "climax" and "turning point" are synonymous for
most critics.

Pippin:
 
> In the RoR, we finally see Draco decide and act for himself, with no
help or expectation of reward from Dumbledore or Voldemort or Lucius.
Saving Goyle was an act of no importance to anybody but Draco. He
doesn't become a leader or a hero -- but he does become a man. Which
is, um, the point of a bildungsroman, right? 

Carol responds:
Except that, of course, the protagonist of this particular
Bildungsroman (HP as a series) is not Draco but Harry. But if HBP (not
DH) were rewritten with Draco as the protagonist, it would, indeed, be
a Bildungsroman. We see him (from the outside) transformed by his
seemingly hopeless task, his growing peril and desperation, his
disillusionment with Voldemort and the DEs, and the confrontation with
the helpless old man that he's supposed to kill at which point he
apparently experiences an epiphany. "You are not a killer, Draco,"
says Dumbledore, and Draco at last understands that truth. His words
and actions in DH show that the transformation caused by that
realization has already taken place. The Draco of DH is not the Draco
of books 1-5. He has already has been transformed by the events of HBP. 

In HBP, Draco is also a foil to Harry (as Laertes is to Hamlet, to
provide an example that I hope will be familiar to everybody). He
throws light on Harry through a contrasting response to a situation
that parallels Harry's throughout the books--he's expected to kill a
much older and much more powerful Wizard. He, too, becomes a man, but
in a different route and in a different way from Harry, for whom the
entire series, not HBP in particular, is a Bildungsroman. (Not
coincidentally, his birthday is June 5, about the same date as the
events on the tower, which seem to take place in the first week of
June.) IMO, his actions in the RoR (and earlier, at the Malfoy manor)
*reveal* what he has become (our choices show who we are) and the
moment of transformation came on the tower with Dumbledore, symbolized
and called to our attention by the slightly lowered wand.

> > Betsy Hp:
> > I think he *was* but, like Snape, his role was seriously reduced
in DH.  Which was too bad, especially considering the way I was
reading the series. ;)
> > 
> 
> Pippin:
> Snape's role was *reduced* in DH? It was utterly pivotal! <snip>

Carol responds:
On this point, I agree with you. In terms of the defeat of Voldemort,
that is, not in terms of his character arc, which had climaxed much
earlier but neither the reader nor Harry knew the truth. In terms of
his actions in DH. particularly bringing the Sword of Gryffindor to
Harry and giving him, in a last spectacular feat of magic, the
knowledge that made his self-sacrifice both necessary and possible, he
was extremely important. And his role in the defeat of Voldemort, from
before Godric's Hollow (his sin and repentance set the events of
Harry's life in motion) till his own death, is revealed as crucial,
not to mention the thematic importance of his love and courage and
redemption (none of which makes him a kind man or an understanding
teacher--I am not trying to give Snape an undeserved halo).

Carol, attempting to look at events and characters objectively, from
the standpoint of a literary critic and using standard literary terms