Draco and Intent: Re: Snape and Harry’s Sadism (was: Lack of re-examination)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 186687

> >>jkoney:
> > > You may be able to interpret the characters as you see fit, but that doesn't mean you are interpreting the way they were intended to be interpreted.

> >>Zara:
> > Nor did I state I was. Nor is it important to me that I do so.

> >>jkoney replies:
> That I don't understand. You don't feel the need to understand the story as it was meant to be told?

Betsy Hp:
For myself I can say I like to get an idea of how the story was meant to be told, but I reserve the right to disagree.  Does that make sense?  

This series provided a unique opportunity because I was reading it and interpreting it as the author was writing it.  And because it was set up in a mystery-like fashion (who can Harry trust?) I felt we, as readers, were being invited by the author to figure out the characters for ourselves.  I think JKR meant for this to happen (though only to a very tightly drawn extent) with Snape. But because she opened up one character to reader interpretation, they all became fair game. I strongly believe (mainly because Snape was the only "surprise" turn around of any noteworthiness) that JKR did not mean for this to happen.

> >> jkoney:
> > > Some people liked Draco in the early books. There was nothing good about him at all in those scenes. <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Oh, not true!  As someone who grew up with "Malory Towers" (a "school-days" series) Draco seemed prime to become Harry's best friend. Everything about our first scene with him screamed "learning moment to come".  So that's an example of my personal experience trumping what the author was trying to get across.

Because I was expecting the turn around I noted that Draco, despite his claim of being deeply beloved by his parents, was left completely alone in the dress shop.  I noted that he was trying desperately to become Harry's friend (which I thought rather sweet), and I cringed *for* Draco because he was so ignorantly going about it the wrong way.

Then there was Hagrid's impossible to condone "Slytherins are all bad" statement.  ("Oh, there's a moral hidden in that one," thought I.)  And there was the fact that when he had the ammunition to get Harry kicked out of school (the hidden dragon plot), Draco chose not to use it.  It seemed so obvious he was still wanting to be friends, that he and Harry thought the same way (dragons are cool!), and that, like with Hermione and the troll, all it needed was one good adventure for the two boys to realize they really weren't that different.

Now obviously, seven books later, I *completely* misread where JKR was taking Draco.  Just as obviously, JKR completely failed to give me the proper impression of the boy.

Betsy Hp