J.K. Rowling is unnerved by reader empathy for Draco Malfoy. Well, of course she is. The thing is, people project. The character whos NOT QUITE irredeemable, like Malfoy, activates our protective instincts, touching the part of us that wants to believe human beings can change if they just try badly enough. And that speaks well of us. The fantasy world is filled with such characters. Indeed, hes not the only one in the Potterverse. See Snape. (Rowling is unnerved about the way people make apologies for him, too; a guy who allowed his bitterness to twist him to the extent that he joined a death cult, and later verbally castigated children.) BUFFY fans fall all over themselves making apologies for Spike, a mass murderer. Why? Because hes misunderstood; because Buffy is not fair to him. Its great that Malfoy possesses some depth. His misgivings prevent him from being just a two-dimensional little shit. He is a tragic figure. But the fact remains that he was also the guy who lied to try to get a good teacher fired, a guy who plotted the personal destruction of people he didnt like, and a guy who was just fine parroting what was essentially the Nazi party line, until it welled up all around him and he saw the logical extension of everything he had chosen to stand for. By the time he felt badly about it, many people had died. Its swell that he felt bad about it, even better that according to her recent easter-egg writings he evolved a little later in life. But when it counted he did precious little to make up for what he had done, except feel bad about it. (Hell, he was still trying to kill Harry during the Siege of Hogwarts.) If I feel sorry for Draco, it is not because of what he was, but for what he could have been; and if you want a imagine a great alternate-world Draco Malfoy story, imagine what the books would have been like if theyd focused on a kid like him whose parents wanted him to be a Death-Eater, and who **early on** decided that this was not the side he wanted to stand with. (Hurrrm. Maybe.)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:27:40 +0000