Resolutions/ Draco/Are we being too critical?

Jen Reese stevejjen at earthlink.net
Sat Jun 28 15:04:54 UTC 2008


No: HPFGUIDX 183492

Magpie:
> And real redemption (not redemption meaning buying themselves off 
> through penance or managing to love somebody somewhere)is not what
> it's about. We don't have to respect Draco--or even Snape--the way
> we respect good guys. That's partly, I think, why people keep 
> coming up with the Calvinism idea. And why JKR would even be asked,
> after the books were over, whether Snape could be considered a hero-
> -which she says he is, but with obvious qualifications.  

Jen: She also called her epitome of goodnes 'Machiavellian'! That 
particular interview comment encapsulated JKR's expectations for 
readers of DH: 

"Although [Dumbledore] seems to be so benign for six books, he's 
quite a Machiavellian figure, really. He's been pulling a lot of 
strings. Harry has been his puppet," she explained. "When Snape says 
to Dumbledore [toward the end of 'Hallows'], 'We've been protecting 
[Harry] so he could die at the right moment' — I don't think in book 
one you would have ever envisioned a moment where your sympathy would 
be with Snape rather than Dumbledore." (Shawn Adler, MTV, 2007)

I know you're talking within the story though.  For a reader like me, 
whose sympathy for & belief in Dumbledore were surpassed only by 
mistrust of Snape, JKR was right that Dumbledore came off as 
Machiavellian and Snape as the righteous one, particulaly in the 
Pensieve memories.  And when Harry believes that Dumbledore betrayed 
him & identifies with Snape & Riddle as 'abandoned boys', that 
signifies a change in Harry's perceptions.

In the end though, I agree the story wasn't about redemption as much 
as it was about truth & lies, and how characters acted in the face of 
a truth previously hidden to them.  For Regulus, Snape & the Malfoys 
(Narcissa mainly), when the truth was revealed they chose to betray 
Voldemort.  In that way JKR delivered on her theme of choice, how 
one's actions can make all the difference.  

Montavilla:
> But, I don't think JKR was headed there at all.  And, instead of
> getting better, almost all the characters got considerably worse. 
> James, Sirius, Lily, and Lupin all became less impressive by the
> end of the book.  Dumbledore went from being beloved mentor to
> looking as manipulative and arrogant as Voldemort.

Jen: JKR sacrifices her adult characters for the children.  Her 
chosen epigraph announced the trend would continue: "Bless the 
children, give them triumph now." (Aeschylus)  It's why I expected 
something different with Draco's story & the younger generation of 
students, that they would heal the rifts started during Voldemort's 
first rise to power.  Instead JKR was primarily interested in only 
three children, how the Trio would save the day, and all the other 
characters were shuffled off-stage and shuffled back on when the Trio 
needed help at a critical moment.  





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