contrast to his friends’ appointments and relative lack of authority with students, becomes the leader of Dumbledore’s Army by acclamation. That he is selected as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in Half-Blood Prince and struggles with the selection of teammates is another necessary piece of the schoolboy’s development.
• In many of the narratives, the gradual reform of a hitherto unpleasant or incorrigible character takes place; often he or she is reformed by the main character.
There are three “unpleasant or incorrigible” players in the Potter dramas: Dudley Dursley, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy. Dudley, after Harry saves his life in the opening of Order of the Phoenix , is transformed from a spoiled selfish brat to a young man who, if still socially retarded, feels and tries to express his real concern for cousin Harry when Dudley leaves Privet Drive in Deathly Hallows . I will explain in chapter eight how Harry serves as Snape’s means of transcendence, even salvation, in the Deathly Hallows Shrieking Shack death scene.
And Draco Malfoy? The boy Harry hates above all others?
[In Harry’s conflict with Draco Malfoy] Rowling is closely following the boarding school story tradition, in which class differences frequently provoke bigotry . . . violence, vengefulness, and snobbery are only parts of Draco’s character. He is also the schoolboy voice of racism and race purity in the Potter books . . . Draco’s bigotry, imbibed [from] his parents, is similar to the kinds of prejudice frequently presented in British school stories as a problem for the hero or heroine to deal with. 16
This “unpleasant and incorrigible” character and his prejudice act as Harry’s principal foil throughout the seven-book series. It is no accident that Draco is the first Hogwarts student and wizard his age that Harry meets and that he makes a cameo appearance in the Deathly Hallows epilogue. Draco chooses to serve the Dark Lord in Half-Blood Prince , enthusiastically obedient to the “bad faith” of his family name, just as Harry chooses to be in Gryffindor House rather than Slytherin during the Sorting his first year.
Their battles throughout the years culminate in the fall of the House of Malfoy and Draco’s agony. Harry feels pity for him after Dumbledore’s death on the tower and rescues him from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts. This act of mercy results in Harry’s being able to tell Draco’s mother, Narcissa, that her son is still alive, which news inspires her in turn to deceive the Dark Lord about Harry’s survival at the risk of her life. The Malfoys, Death Eaters one and all, sit down in peace after the Battle in the Great Hall, however uncomfortably, with the victors.
Reformed? Redeemed? Sort of. The Malfoys at the end of Deathly Hallows , like Flashman (Tom Brown’s nemesis), who is expelled from Rugby for drunkenness, seem abashed and broken but have not become champions of the good, true, and beautiful overnight. The Potter books and Tom Brown both use the hero’s antagonist as a foil against which to celebrate the virtues of modest landowners and nongentry or at least the relatively poor and unpretentious.
As much as Draco and his parents are stock players advancing public school story morality, Luna and Neville are more important:
Frequently, schoolboy and schoolgirl heroes find themselves defending their weaker comrades from school bullies. Tom Brown’s role at Rugby School involves his protection of the saintly and frail George Arthur; Darrell Rivers, in Enid Blyton’s First Term of Malory Towers, must defend and encourage Sally Hope, who has trouble at home and is the subject of sneers at school. In fact, throughout the Malory Towers series, Darrell looks after a succession of troubled and friendless girls who are bullied or mistreated by their heartless and elitist schoolmates . . . Rowling’s central character, like those heroes in all
• In many of the narratives, the gradual reform of a hitherto unpleasant or incorrigible character takes place; often he or she is reformed by the main character.
There are three “unpleasant or incorrigible” players in the Potter dramas: Dudley Dursley, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy. Dudley, after Harry saves his life in the opening of Order of the Phoenix , is transformed from a spoiled selfish brat to a young man who, if still socially retarded, feels and tries to express his real concern for cousin Harry when Dudley leaves Privet Drive in Deathly Hallows . I will explain in chapter eight how Harry serves as Snape’s means of transcendence, even salvation, in the Deathly Hallows Shrieking Shack death scene.
And Draco Malfoy? The boy Harry hates above all others?
[In Harry’s conflict with Draco Malfoy] Rowling is closely following the boarding school story tradition, in which class differences frequently provoke bigotry . . . violence, vengefulness, and snobbery are only parts of Draco’s character. He is also the schoolboy voice of racism and race purity in the Potter books . . . Draco’s bigotry, imbibed [from] his parents, is similar to the kinds of prejudice frequently presented in British school stories as a problem for the hero or heroine to deal with. 16
This “unpleasant and incorrigible” character and his prejudice act as Harry’s principal foil throughout the seven-book series. It is no accident that Draco is the first Hogwarts student and wizard his age that Harry meets and that he makes a cameo appearance in the Deathly Hallows epilogue. Draco chooses to serve the Dark Lord in Half-Blood Prince , enthusiastically obedient to the “bad faith” of his family name, just as Harry chooses to be in Gryffindor House rather than Slytherin during the Sorting his first year.
Their battles throughout the years culminate in the fall of the House of Malfoy and Draco’s agony. Harry feels pity for him after Dumbledore’s death on the tower and rescues him from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts. This act of mercy results in Harry’s being able to tell Draco’s mother, Narcissa, that her son is still alive, which news inspires her in turn to deceive the Dark Lord about Harry’s survival at the risk of her life. The Malfoys, Death Eaters one and all, sit down in peace after the Battle in the Great Hall, however uncomfortably, with the victors.
Reformed? Redeemed? Sort of. The Malfoys at the end of Deathly Hallows , like Flashman (Tom Brown’s nemesis), who is expelled from Rugby for drunkenness, seem abashed and broken but have not become champions of the good, true, and beautiful overnight. The Potter books and Tom Brown both use the hero’s antagonist as a foil against which to celebrate the virtues of modest landowners and nongentry or at least the relatively poor and unpretentious.
As much as Draco and his parents are stock players advancing public school story morality, Luna and Neville are more important:
Frequently, schoolboy and schoolgirl heroes find themselves defending their weaker comrades from school bullies. Tom Brown’s role at Rugby School involves his protection of the saintly and frail George Arthur; Darrell Rivers, in Enid Blyton’s First Term of Malory Towers, must defend and encourage Sally Hope, who has trouble at home and is the subject of sneers at school. In fact, throughout the Malory Towers series, Darrell looks after a succession of troubled and friendless girls who are bullied or mistreated by their heartless and elitist schoolmates . . . Rowling’s central character, like those heroes in all
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